Final yr’s Sport Awards had a plethora of latest sport bulletins as typical, and amongst them was developer GPTrack50’s brand-new motion RPG, Silly By no means Dies. It had a catchy teaser trailer that left a long-lasting impression with its unconventional music, however not a lot was shared outdoors of the sport’s identify and its common aesthetic. I obtained an opportunity to go behind-the-scenes and study extra in regards to the sport from GPTrack50 to commemorate Silly By no means Dies’ new gameplay trailer on the Future Video games Present: Spring Showcase 2026 occasion.
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Actually, speaking about GPTrack50 at this time limit places me in a little bit of a clumsy state of affairs. GPTrack50 was established in late 2022 by NetEase Video games. It’s led by Hiroyuki Kobayashi, a former Capcom producer that helped ship Capcom’s largest tentpole franchises from the yr 2000-2016 together with Resident Evil 4, Dragon’s Dogma, Satan Could Cry, Sengoku Basara, and so forth. He was additionally concerned within the planning of the mainline Sengoku Basara entries and Dino Disaster. Kobayashi performed a big function in managing Capcom’s IPs once they acquired movie and anime variations, as properly.
I attended this preview occasion for Silly By no means Dies earlier than the information broke that NetEase Video games would not fund Nagoshi Studio beginning in Could, and there’s phrase that this initiative was affecting different studios below NetEase Video games’ umbrella. The lamentable destiny of Visions of Mana developer Ouka Studios nonetheless leaves me irritated, too; information of their closure by NetEase Video games was publicized the day that Visions of Mana launched. All I can say is that what I noticed of Silly By no means Dies appears fairly neat, and I sincerely hope GPTrack50 is ready to not solely ship Silly By no means Dies, however hopefully continues to make cool video games past its launch, as properly.
Humanity has been almost extinguished because of a sudden conflict in Silly By no means Dies, and now zombies are simply roaming round now. Gamers take management of a lovestruck zombie by the identify of Davy. He stumbles upon Julia within the freezer of an ice cream store and falls in love together with her frozen corpse at first sight. Trying to find a option to resurrect Julia, Davy eats a mysterious egg by likelihood which grants him particular powers. A scientist named Dr. Frank informs him that if he manages to defeat the King Of Monsters (KOM) with it, he’ll get hold of the flexibility to avoid wasting his newly discovered particular somebody.
GPTrack50 describes Silly By no means Dies as a “Funky Zombie Motion” RPG with the tagline “Chew! Rip! Rise!!” It’s a run-based sport, during which Davy repeatedly dives into the Dungeon to see how far he will get. Davy will degree up quicker and quicker on subsequent runs, although particular particulars on this side of the sport weren’t shared at the moment. As an alternative, the main target of this preview occasion was laser-focused on its gameplay.
There’s a heavy emphasis on taking part in aggressively; the builders even talked about that there are not any guard and dodge buttons. Gamers will be capable of parry incoming assaults, and the sport even calls this system the “Silly Parry.”
The moment-to-moment gameplay in Silly By no means Dies consists of two core pillars: Model Eat and Physique Hack. In addition to his regular base zombie type, Davy can eat his foes to show into one among ten totally different kinds. Gamers can “retailer” as much as two different kinds that Davy acquires from feasting on his run, and might seamlessly swap between these two kinds alongside along with his Zombie model. In the meantime, Physique Hack encompasses equippable gear that transforms Davy’s arms, head, and legs when worn. Gear that modifications Davy’s left arm modifications his moveset; the Physique Hack function might be utilized on all of Davy’s type modifications.
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I used to be anticipating solely a small slice of Davy’s kinds on this first preview, and figured they’d unveil extra over time. GPTrack50 caught me off-guard and revealed all of them, so right here’s an inventory of what Davy can remodel into and a small description of what they will do.
– Fundamental unarmed melee strings with gentle and heavy assaults
– Can chunk enemies to achieve different Kinds in a run
– Velocity-based Model that assaults with claws and legs
– Has an uppercut launcher and ascends whereas attacking in a round movement
– Can leap off close by partitions to achieve entry to larger locations
– Flies round for motion
– Assaults primarily with projectiles, so it’s extra range-based
– Can double leap and glide
– Huge, tanky model that may assault plenty of enemies without delay
– Can roll right into a ball and ram itself into enemies
– Has a spin-to-win transfer
– Focuses on mid-ranged fight using swarms of bats to assault
– Has a pink AoE zone round it indicating their efficient vary
– Can suck the blood of foes to get well power
– Modifications Davy’s physique right into a corporeal, ethereal state so he can keep away from plenty of assaults inherently
– Fires off purple fireballs for assaults that break up into a number of projectiles, and has just a few AoE talents that have been showcased
– Since this model floats, Davy can keep away from floor traps simply
– Huge physique Model that swings round a huge rock membership
– Can swing it into enemies to ship them flying
– Distinctive model that primarily makes use of an ice sword for its assaults
– Can freeze enemies and by hitting frozen enemies, Davy absorbs their power to extend the dimensions of the ice sword
– Possesses the flexibility to dive into the bottom prefer it’s water, and might emerge from the bottom assault enemies
– Can summon enormous water wave wall to assault from the entrance
– Has a capability that may surf round on the bottom with a surfboard
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– Wields a scythe to assault from near mid ranges
– Capacity that may drop a skeleton head on enemies
– Has a cost up talent that vastly will increase the dimensions of the scythe the longer it’s held
– Slain enemies might be resurrected into skeletons that battle with you
– Fights with a whip
– Can management gravity to spherical up enemies and shove rocks into them as soon as they’ve been gathered up
– Can ascend excessive into the air to do a dive kick maneuver that explodes upon affect
All of the totally different designs of every Model was my favourite a part of the Silly By no means Dies preview occasion. Although all of them vastly look totally different, they nonetheless all retain Davy’s cap not directly. I feel the artwork path of this title is already shaping as much as be very spectacular.
A number of examples of Physique Hack gear gear have been proven off, although it was solely a small pattern not like the huge Model showcase. A few of these included:
One other enjoyable instrument in Davy’s arsenal is his Davy Burst state that prompts upon repeated bites. GPTrack50 compares this short-term burst in energy akin to the star power-up in Mario video games. Davy’s creativeness distorts the visuals in a vibrant, colourful, borderline acid-trippy method, and even has emotive cartoony drawings over the enemies to additional emphasize that that is how Davy sees them on this state. There are googly eyes, sketched blushes, and all types of visible touches that jogged my memory of one thing I’d’ve seen in late 90’s Nickelodeon cartoons.
This largely wrapped up what I noticed of Silly By no means Dies. It’s essential to notice that Kinds are one thing that Davy obtains per run, and usually are not persistent everlasting issues he brings again to his base of operations. He obtains kinds from biting enemies all through runs, and he can solely maintain two different kinds moreover his base Zombie model which is all the time on him. Then again, Physique Hack gear appear to be everlasting unlocks that may be taken with Davy into runs.
Silly By no means Dies is coming to PlayStation 5 and PC, although no launch date hasn’t been shared but. It’s constructed on Unreal Engine 5 and will likely be single participant. The sport will help English audio solely, however may have subtitles for English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese language (Simplified & Conventional), and Brazilian Portuguese. There was additionally an ‘and so on’ listed within the supported subtitles, so I’m not sure if extra subtitle languages will likely be revealed at a later time. I’m fairly to take a look at the complete launch primarily based on what I’ve already discovered, and I hope GPTrack50 is ready to keep its course amidst troubling instances in how NetEase Video games is treating its growth studios at present.