Dead Grid
- March 24, 2022
- ATOM VOID
- 30h median play time
Get on Steam"Dead Grid" is a tactical zombie shooter game where players recruit and gear up a squad of mercenaries with hundreds of weapons and items. The game is viewed through 3D environments represented by cards, offering a unique perspective. There are 15 individually voiced mercenary characters, 5 classes, and 17 attribute stats to customize, with unlimited tree skill respecs for experimentation. Various challenge modes and achievements are available to test your skills against others. Your approach to facing hordes of zombies can vary from silent takedowns to loud explosive attacks.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game offers a unique blend of card battling and turn-based RPG mechanics, providing a fresh take on the zombie genre.
- The developer is a solo creator who is actively engaged with the community, regularly implementing feedback and updates.
- The gameplay loop is addictive, with a satisfying progression system that encourages replaying missions for better loot and upgrades.
- The game can become repetitive and grindy, with missions scaling in difficulty too quickly, leading to frustration.
- There are balance issues, particularly with enemy health scaling and the effectiveness of certain weapons and abilities.
- The tutorial and explanations of game mechanics are lacking, which can make it difficult for new players to fully understand the gameplay.
- story122 mentions
- 10 % positive mentions
- 87 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The game's story is minimal and largely revolves around a lone soldier's quest to eliminate zombies through a series of increasingly difficult missions. Players find the narrative lacking depth, as the gameplay primarily consists of repetitive mission cycles with little context or progression beyond combat and loot collection. While the mechanics are engaging, the absence of a compelling storyline may lead to player fatigue over time.
“You complete missions with increasing difficulty (not just because the difficulty of later missions is increased, but because every time you repeat a mission, that difficulty increases too) with the objective, I suppose, to last as long as possible.”
“Loot supplies and gear, while along the way you can recruit a growing pool of survivors who offer a variety of benefits and perks, some passive and some active from mission to mission -- such as support fire from a sniper, or someone who can lead excess zombies away from your team with distractions or deliver medical supplies mid-run.”
“The game almost had no story or meaning whatsoever; it needs a change, otherwise more and more will just leave this game dead for good.”
“If there's a story, it's hidden, but the bottom line is you start as a lone soldier with the innate desire to kill all zombies.”
“Returning back to the same missions over and over, only to face the same zombies, just in larger quantities, was not fun.”
- gameplay116 mentions
- 36 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by deep and engaging combat mechanics, blending turn-based strategy with deckbuilding elements in a zombie-themed setting. Players appreciate the addictive gameplay loop of fighting enemies, leveling up, and acquiring loot, though some express concerns about balance and repetitive mission structures as difficulty increases. Overall, the game offers a unique and enjoyable experience, with room for improvement in pacing and tutorial guidance.
“Very deep and engaging combat mechanics, and good balance between missions and inventory management make for a very addictive concoction even in early access.”
“A fantastic core with a lot of promise in future development, Dead Grid has a satisfying gameplay loop and a presentation with a lot of charm.”
“The gameplay loop is simple: fight enemies, level up, get loot, get skills, kill more enemies.”
“”
“”
“”
- grinding36 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of the game has received mixed feedback; while some players find it enjoyable and rewarding, others feel it becomes tedious and overly repetitive, especially due to enemy health scaling that can make progress feel meaningless. Many appreciate the satisfying gameplay loop of farming and upgrading, but caution that the grind can be excessive, potentially deterring those who prefer a more streamlined experience. Overall, the game offers a blend of fun mechanics, but the grinding may not appeal to everyone.
“Be warned though, it can be grindy, too grindy for some to enjoy this kind of game.”
“This game needs to give meaning to grinding, not just keep rescaling the enemies as bullet sponges. It felt like what you do for a few hours had not much meaning except relying too much on your sudden 500% damage burst from skills. I mean, what's the point of grinding if you will just be skipped through endless enemy rescaling?”
“Sometimes, other than the grindy hell to pass the level, I don't find much. You grind your level, upgrade your gear, until the enemy rescaling wall takes over. For example, you fight enemies from 9 HP to 130 HP, then after that you suddenly fight a 1400 HP common enemy, and jump again to 10k. Like, what does my grinding even mean?”
- graphics22 mentions
- 55 % positive mentions
- 32 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the cartoony style and decent animations, while others feel it resembles a mobile game and lacks detail, particularly in character equipment. Despite its simple visuals, many find the aesthetic enjoyable and reminiscent of classic titles, contributing to an entertaining experience overall. However, there are calls for improved graphical fidelity to enhance immersion.
“Aside from that, it's a fun grinding-based zombie game that has plenty of decent animations and pretty satisfying UI elements and visuals in general.”
“Even if the game plays on a 2D screen in battle, there is a lot of graphical fidelity to enjoy here.”
“I love the mix of card and fun PS2 graphics.”
“If only the graphics were a bit better, at least so that you could actually see the real equipment, not just weapons, on your mercenaries instead of their default looks.”
“The graphics aren't going to blow you away; personally, I like it, but it does stylistically feel like a mobile game almost.”
“Don't be put off by the simple graphics or board game style of gameplay.”
- music12 mentions
- 83 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is praised for its nostalgic 90s vibe and overall quality, contributing to the old-school aesthetic. While the soundtrack is enjoyable, some players find it somewhat repetitive and suggest that additional tracks would enhance the experience. Overall, the music complements the game's addictive mechanics and thematic elements effectively.
“The whole game has an old-school vibe, and a great soundtrack.”
“The music is awesome.”
“Nice soundtrack too.”
- replayability6 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game offers strong replayability, particularly due to its rogue-like mechanics that allow for small improvements to carry over into new playthroughs. Players appreciate the replayable stages that provide better rewards, enhancing the overall experience even in its early access phase.
“Rogue-like done right, with very small improvements carrying through to new games, adding to replay value.”
“It lends itself greatly to the replayability, even if it is still in this very early access.”
“Replayable stages for better rewards is awesome.”
- humor4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is consistently praised as hilarious, with multiple users highlighting its comedic elements as a standout feature.
“Hilarious!”
“Hilarious!”
“Humor.”
- monetization2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Players find the monetization model refreshing, noting that the game resembles a loot gathering mobile game but surprisingly lacks any microtransactions, which enhances the overall experience.
“It's almost bizarre how much playing this feels like a loot gathering mobile game (in a good way - honestly!) where you almost expect microtransactions, but there aren't any.”
“It's also almost bizarre how much playing this feels like a loot gathering mobile game (in a good way - honestly!) where you almost expect microtransactions, but there isn't any.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Users have noted a surprisingly high GPU load despite minimal on-screen activity, suggesting that optimization issues are present and may be addressed in future updates.
“One thing that surprised me is the amount of GPU load even though not much is displayed on the screen. I guess this will be addressed later in development as an optimization.”
- stability2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game has received positive feedback regarding its stability, with users noting that it is impressively bug-free for an early access title. This has encouraged players who typically avoid early access games to reconsider their stance.
“Impressive EA game - I usually don't purchase games in early access, but the reviews that claimed this was bug-free were dead on.”
