Grade: A
A 2d side-scrolling rogue-like has the player fighting, clawing, and scraping for survival any way they can.
Dead Pixels is a retro zombie survival game with rogue-like elements. It’s a game with a 2d side-scrolling perspective, but you have some ability to move up and down the map as well. The player perspective is in the classic Golden Ax style. The levels are procedurally generated, and so each run you make is unique. A run in the game takes about 30-45 minutes a pop. There are dozens and dozens of items, weapons, abilities, and valuables to buy and sell at the trader shops. The goal overall is simple. Do whatever it takes to survive.
What’s the challenge level?
Like any rogue-like worth its salt, the first runs of Dead Pixels were rough. Really rough. You’ll find yourself stuck without ammo, swarmed by zombie hordes, and fruitlessly just running for dear life before being inevitably consumed. You quickly realize that shooting every single zombie will have you run out of ammo before the next trader can be found. You have to carefully balance your purchases and resources and make sure you have enough of what is most important. There’s an existential resource balancing act throughout that borrows from the best zombie movie tropes.
The weapon given at the start of the game is a simple shotgun, but you can upgrade to pistols and machine guns in the later streets. There are also throwable grenades and one-time use items like med-kits or distraction fireworks as well. When the inevitable tight spot occurs, that’s when it is time to pull out the stops. Using one-time items can be a life-saver, as my incendiary grenades showed in my only successful run.
Retro design with bits of 21st century graphics
While the graphics were purposefully retro, there were glimmers of 21st-century design throughout. For instance, there was a tiny bit of screen fuzz as you got close to a level end, like static on a radio. Another example was in the opening credits, where there was a realistic-looking drop of blood drip sliding slowly down the screen’s foreground. I loved that the game designers went all in on the retro design but broke their own design rules in strategic ways to elevate the mood.
Speaking of mood, Dead Pixels had an absolutely killer soundtrack. The hard metal jams rocking in the background were perfect for this game. I found myself head-banging in my chair as I “banged” the heads of the zombies at the same time.
Overall, Dead Pixels was a thrilling experience that I’d highly recommend for any zombie aficionado. The devs captured the plight of a zombie apocalypse in a perfectly balanced survival game. In my only successful run, I alternated between running for dear life and shooting my way to escape. The best way to express the feeling of this game is to describe the sigh of relief when you finally fight through the escalating waves of zombies and arrive at salvation. It’s the ultimate unclenching of butt moment, and I said aloud, “PHEW!”.
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