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The Dead Await

The Dead Await Game Cover
53%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:humor
Most mentioned negative aspects:story, gameplay
62% User Score Based on 37 reviews

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PCWindows
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The Dead Await Game Cover

About The Dead Await

The Dead Await is a single player open world role playing game with horror and post-apocalyptic themes. It was developed by Shotx and was released on May 18, 2026. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

The Dead Await is a deck-building open world survival RPG set in a zombie apocalypse. The world as we know it ended, torn apart by hordes of ravenous monsters. Humanity still clings on in the sea of blackened ruins, cold ashes, and man-eating creatures. You're the leader of a caravan of survivalists whose goal is to figure out the truth behind the zombie apocalypse and, if possible, build the foun…

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Reviews

62%Audience ScoreBased on 37 reviews
humor1 positive mentions
music3 negative mentions
  • Innovative blend of genres including deckbuilding, RPG, survival, and card combat with engaging core mechanics.
  • Challenging early combat and progression that rewards strategic deck and team building.
  • Open-world exploration with multiple settlements, rich loot, crafting, cooking, and trading systems providing varied gameplay activities.
  • The game suffers from bugs, crashes, and clunky UI elements that hamper the overall experience.
  • Inventory management and trading systems are cumbersome and over-complicated, leading to frustrating item and weight issues.
  • Art style, animations, writing, and storytelling are weak or unpolished, detracting from the immersion and appeal.

  • story

    19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    16% positive mentions, 68% neutral mentions, 16% negative mentions

    The story centers on a typical zombie apocalypse survival theme with open-world RPG elements but is criticized for its lack of depth, repetitive fetch quests, and limited content in early access. Inventory management issues, particularly having to discard story-related items due to lack of stacking, detract from the narrative experience. Despite its flaws, ongoing updates and the potential for future development keep players cautiously optimistic.

    • “The storyline, although nothing new, follows the main character on a journey to discover what caused the zombie apocalypse and maybe find a cure.”
    • “The story is still in progress, and in the 38 hours I've played over the last couple weeks, I've seen the developers patch every crash I've encountered and reported.”
    • “I think the game needs some balancing and improvement to quest tracking, but overall I quite like it and am looking forward to its growth.”
    • “You spend a couple hours getting access to resources squared away and then it becomes a walking simulator, losing all the tension and resulting in basically a couple of fetch quests which all only have a single line of resolution.”
    • “U will also have serious inventory issues since about 20%-30% of items cannot be stacked, including letters which contain either story or codes for unlocking console features. To save space, you have to throw those letters away. This is the first game I've seen that allows you to throw story items, whereas in other games, story-related items never occupy your inventory. I think this is a huge gameplay design issue.”
    • “[/spoiler] Due to its early access state and the fact that only Act I is available at this time, I wonder about the direction the developer will take regarding storytelling.”

  • gameplay

    14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    21% positive mentions, 58% neutral mentions, 21% negative mentions

    The gameplay offers a solid core experience focused on deck-building card battles with interesting combat styles and equipment impact, but it is bogged down by tedious grinding, inventory management issues, and unpolished secondary mechanics. Exploration feels repetitive and resource-draining, leading to a generally boring loop despite some innovative ideas. While easy to understand, the overall gameplay requires refinement to fully realize its potential.

    • “If you are like me and don't care that it's not perfectly polished, doesn't have the exact mechanics of games you played before, give it a try.”
    • “The game has been in development for a while and it has a strong opening, with interesting deck-building mechanics impacted by your equipment, different styles of combat, and a lot to discover.”
    • “Some great ideas and gameplay.”
    • “The gameplay is grind, grind, grind, and grind some more because your traveling vehicle keeps eating through your resources (gas, drinks and food) even when you have parked it in a town hub and are exploring on foot.”
    • “You will also have serious inventory issues since about 20%-30% of items cannot be stacked, including letters (which contain either story or codes for unlocking consoles). To save space, you have to throw those letters away, which is the first game I've seen that allows you to discard story items. In other games, story-related items never occupy your inventory, and I think this is a huge gameplay design issue.”
    • “The exploration gameplay is driving around using gas money, getting hit with events that probably cost money like bandit tolls, trying to avoid roaming zombies that fight you dropping HP that needs more money in healing items while your car breaks down immobilizing you and costing repair money so the zombies don't reach you to hand you your medical bill, to reach boring town hubs and scavenge pennies from trash heaps as you burn down gas money on your idle parked car and use your savings to stock up on food, gas and drinks to crawl to the next town.”

  • music

    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    40% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 60% negative mentions

    Users find the music fitting overall but note that frequent and abrupt changes during combat, especially tied to card plays, can be jarring and repetitive, detracting from the experience. The opening’s shifting soundtrack alongside the narrative also leaves a negative impression for some.

    • “Music is fitting.”
    • “Audio/sfx/music”
    • “The opening: although it provides a bit of background on what happened, the narrative and the constant music change between 'scenes' really give me a bad impression of the game.”
    • “The soundtrack, especially during combat, would be suddenly cut off and changed based on the cards I play during combat.”
    • “Music is a little repetitive.”

  • graphics

    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    75% positive mentions, -50% neutral mentions, 75% negative mentions

    The graphics feature a unique art style that fits the post-apocalyptic theme, though some users find the animations and design unappealing, criticizing the execution as an awkward and unattractive attempt at artistic direction.

    • “Unique art style.”
    • “Art style, direction, and animations.”
    • “The graphics take some getting used to, but they fit the post-apocalyptic style of the game.”
    • “From the terrible art style that wants to be artistic but only manages to look like a combination of ugly deformed Balkan NPCs cooked up by an AI for a no-budget horror game, to unsuccessful imitation of 90's fashion sense dressed in color-blind neon colors that were washed away in the washing machine.”
    • “The graphic is a bit getting used to, but it fits the post-apocalyptic style of the game.”
    • “Art style/direction and animations.”

  • humor

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The humor in the game is subtle and revolves around playful observations, such as the ironic comment about movement speed mechanics. Overall, it adds a light, tongue-in-cheek tone without being overtly comedic.

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Play Times

1h Median play time
1h Average play time
1-1h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs
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Game News

The Dead Await Leaves Early Access

May 18 on bluesnews.com
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Frequently Asked Questions

The Dead Await is a open world role playing game with horror and post-apocalyptic themes. Common tags for The Dead Await include indie, exploration, deckbuilding, inventory management, building and others.

The Dead Await is available on PC and Windows.

On average players spend around 1 hours playing The Dead Await.

The Dead Await was released on May 18, 2026.

The Dead Await was developed by Shotx.

The Dead Await has received mostly positive reviews from players. Most players liked The Dead Await for its humor but disliked it for its story.

The Dead Await is a single player game.

Similar games include Urban Strife, Dead Age 2, Dust to the End, Dead State: Reanimated, Plains of Pain and others.