Dead Matter

About

Dead Matter is a single player and multiplayer open world role playing shooter game with horror and post-apocalyptic themes. It was developed by QI Games and was released on September 15, 2023. It received negative reviews from players.

A rogue-lite that aims to quench the community’s thirst for a title that properly balances survival mechanics with fulfilling gameplay. Dead Matter is a true sandbox survival horror. Players will fight to survive in a zombie-packed, post-apocalyptic world that fosters whichever play-style fits you best. Settle down and defend your home from outside threats with an expansive crafting and barricadi…

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19%

Audience ScoreBased on 617 reviews

gameplay15 positive mentions

optimization29 negative mentions

Some aspects of the game, such as gun animations, looting mechanics, and map interactions, show promise and have improved over time.
The game features a large open world with many zombies, creating an intense survival atmosphere appreciated by some players.
Developers have shown dedication and continue to work on the game, with improvements in recent updates making it more playable than initial releases.

The game suffers from severe performance issues including low FPS, frequent crashes, and poor optimization even on high-end systems.
Numerous bugs and glitches affect core gameplay, such as zombies walking through walls and cars, broken AI, unresponsive controls, and missing or broken features.
Development has been mismanaged with broken promises, delayed or halted updates, lack of communication, and perceived as a cash grab or scam by many backers.

optimization
94 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
6%
63%
31%
Optimization in this game is widely criticized as abysmal, with frequent frame drops, stuttering, crashes, and poor performance even on high-end hardware. Despite some minor improvements, the game remains largely unplayable and poorly optimized, making it frustrating and difficult to enjoy. Many players consider the lack of optimization a major reason to avoid the game until significant fixes are made.
- “As a solo player, I'm absolutely blown away by the performance improvements.”
- “The foundations are there, the performance optimizations, bugs, AI, UI, gameplay, replayability, graphics, sounds, etc. are all very work in progress.”
- “Performance has hit a mark of playable at least with my computer's specs (which are pretty powerful).”
- “Currently it is simply a broken game, with extremely bad performance that is not fun at all… do not buy!”
- “Even on high-end systems, the game struggles to maintain a playable frame rate, with constant stuttering, lag spikes, and crashes plaguing the experience.”
- “Dead Matter had promised a world of thrilling survival horror in a post-apocalyptic setting, but what players got instead was an unplayable mess riddled with performance issues, bad design choices, and questionable practices that left a sour taste in the mouths of even the most dedicated fans.”
graphics
77 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
60%
21%
The game's graphics are generally criticized for poor optimization, causing severe performance issues even on high-end PCs, with lag, stuttering, and crashes common. While some users acknowledge the game's foundation in weapon design and certain visual elements as promising, most find the overall visuals unpolished, glitchy, and far below expectations for an Unreal Engine title. Additionally, the graphics settings are reported as confusing or nonfunctional, further hindering the experience.
- “Ok, the graphics are actually very good and weapon designs/animations are above most of the games.”
- “Cause even with UE Nanite, Lumen, etc., showing that much detail on screen, environment, assets, lights, with realistic graphics and that many zombies, even if they all look the same, is insane.”
- “Absolutely amazing work from the devs with the recent update. Dead Matter is finally a base game that is playable, challenging, and fun with the large landscape and amazing graphics. Although it has its flaws and zombie models look a bit janky at the moment, with the new character creation system I'm so excited to see what's coming. Thank you devs for all the hard work you do.”
- “I have a 2080 ti and an i9-9900k, yet I get barely 60 fps on minimum graphics and the game stutters badly no matter the graphic settings; unfortunately, the game looks very poor, with especially bad lighting.”
- “The game on epic settings looks like absolute garbage; it's blurry and looks like an oil pastel painting. The graphical settings, if you try to alter them, only have the placeholder names of 'header' so you can't even tell what you're changing if you want to lower specific settings.”
- “For Unreal Engine, the graphics are a crime; there are already mesh issues, invisible walls, open gates you cannot pass through, but metal pipes you can.”
gameplay
73 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
67%
12%
Gameplay in this game is widely regarded as unfinished, buggy, and lacking a cohesive core loop, with mechanics feeling unrefined or inconsistent—though gunplay and looting systems receive some praise. Many users report technical issues, clunky controls, and a lack of engaging survival elements, resulting in a frustrating and stagnant experience despite potential shown in certain areas. Overall, the gameplay is seen as promising but currently marred by numerous flaws, missing depth, and poor implementation.
- “At one point in time we had a working multiplayer experience with awesome gameplay.”
- “The game is not dead, looking promising and good gameplay mechanics and environments!”
- “A very good looter shooter with rock solid animations and looting, I was very happy with the overall functionality of the game's core mechanics.”
- “There is no foundation or core mechanics in this game after 6+ years.”
- “Overall, the game is a non-cohesive mess of mechanics stapled together.”
- “Multiple facets of gameplay are outright not set up or extremely bugged, with multiple issues lingering from the closed alpha builds through numerous patches.”
stability
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
6%
94%
The game suffers from severe stability issues, including frequent crashes, numerous bugs, and poor optimization that often render it frustrating or even unplayable. Despite some promising core gameplay elements, pervasive glitches, lag, and game-breaking errors dominate the experience.
- “I was an early supporter of this game and it had great promise but after several years and multiple updates it continues to be complete garbage with crashes, glitches and is often just unplayable.”
- “Buggy mess: from the very moment you launch the game, it's evident that Dead Matter is plagued with bugs and glitches.”
- “Players are constantly faced with game-breaking glitches, rendering the experience frustrating and unplayable at times.”
monetization
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization of the game is widely criticized as a blatant cash grab, with users accusing the developers of prioritizing profit over meaningful development and abandoning the project. Many feel misled by promotional materials and express frustration over the lack of ongoing support or accountability.
- “This project feels like a cash grab at this point, with no accountability or meaningful progress.”
- “The development team clearly gave up on this years ago, and just want to get a cash grab while they can and be done with it.”
- “It seems they put more time into the advertisement videos than the actual game.”
story
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
40%
30%
The game lacks a coherent story, with missions and quest systems largely non-functional or missing, resulting in minimal narrative content. Players are unable to progress through trading or missions due to persistent bugs, and many quest-related elements appear incomplete or placeholder. Overall, the story aspect is severely underdeveloped and detracts from the gameplay experience.
- “Full disclosure: I briefly worked on some of the quest and narrative design for this title; though I'm not sure how much of that work remains in the project's current state.”
- “Some quest NPCs don't have skins, they're greyboxed; also, you can type your own quest in the quest boxes because the developers never programmed any.”
- “Some quest NPCs don't have skins, they're greyboxed; also, you can type your own quest in the quest boxes because the developers never programmed any.”
- “The game has very little to no content, no story.”
- “The missions in this game are still not functional, not even a bit.”
- “As such, you can't even begin the missions, much less complete them.”
humor
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
80%
20%
The humor in the game is largely seen as unintentional and frustrating, with users criticizing passive-aggressive responses and poorly handled situations rather than genuine comedic elements. Many express disappointment and sarcasm, highlighting mismanagement and lack of progress rather than true humor. Overall, attempts at humor often come across as ineffective or ill-timed amid the game's issues.
- “But I'll tell you one thing, I think you're all funny sticks; you buy an alpha game and complain about the bugs or the fact that the game isn't finished yet.”
- “Okay, well, this is the level of humor and social competence we're in for, let me... lower my expectations a bit, but drive on nonetheless!”
- “It's so much better that it's not even funny.”
- “This needs so much work it is not funny.”
- “Please do not back this project, it has been so mismanaged it's not funny, and it will not get any better.”
replayability
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
Replayability is currently hindered by technical issues, poor multiplayer functionality, and unengaging gameplay, making the experience less enjoyable than earlier alpha versions. Although some improvements have been made post-update, many players feel the game is less playable now than during the initial alpha phase. Overall, the lack of stable servers and weak game mechanics significantly reduce the incentive to replay.
- “I personally have had a few of my points taken into consideration and changed, plus the lead developer himself has worked with me to get the fps up to a more playable standard very quickly.”
- “I'm actually impressed with the first update; it is now a lot more playable and had fewer crashes.”
- “Instead of buying this, support the game Vein; it is free, has working multiplayer, and is in a much more playable state.”
- “The closed alpha was in a better, more playable state than the current version, and there's no way to roll back and play that version.”
- “This is by far the worst game I've ever played and the worst launch ever. It's supposed to be a multiplayer game but has no servers to play on, so all you can do is play single player. Before you even get into the game, you get a max of 15 FPS in the lobby, never mind the actual game. The zombies look horrible and act stupid; you can literally just walk with them and they pose no threat. I found a car, got in, and when I tried to run over the zombies, I just went through them. When I stopped driving, there were zombies in my car but neither the car nor I took damage. Even the closed alpha 3 years ago was more playable than this. Calling this game crap would be a compliment; this game is far worse.”
- “I played a lot of early access games like Mist, No One Survive, and many others that I still have, and the visuals are way better and so much more playable than this.”
atmosphere
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
83%
17%
Players have mixed feelings about the game's atmosphere: some find it immersive and engaging, praising the interactive world and survival vibe, while others feel it is lifeless and lacks depth, with certain elements like gunshot sounds detracting from the overall experience.
- “I know I have played only 2 hours so far but it's a pretty good game, loving the atmosphere and the interactivity within the world. Yes, it has some bugs, hopefully future updates can fix that, but man, I'm really impressed so far. It's a dream game for me; it's DayZ but single player. I recommend it to anyone who is mildly interested in survival zombie games.”
- “Atmosphere and concept show high potential – immersive, sandbox survival experience.”
- “I like the atmosphere.”
music
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users criticize the music for being poorly timed, boring, and poorly balanced with sound effects, resulting in an overall negative audio experience.
- “Sound is bad, including effects, music, and sound levels.”
- “Poorly timed music, and bad balance of weapons and everything else in the game.”
- “The music is boring.”