Dead Reset

The appeal of games lies largely in their breadth. There are as many different genres as there are birds in the forest, and if you are fickle and willing to "try something new" that's how you live life la vida loca. Sure, Dead Reset isn't reinventing the wheel, nor is it trying to in any way, but rather it pays homage to the B-horror films of the 80s and 90s. The unique thing, well, something we don't see every other day, is interactive films - because, hand on the Bible, the Koran or the Biltema catalogue, it's actually more of a film than a game. You observe more than you are involved, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing.

Seconds before an army boot crushes Cole's skull into coleslaw. Pun intended.

Just as this text begins, so does the adventure of Cole Mason, the guy we have the honour of controlling in {Dead Reset}. He has no idea where he is, who he is, or what to do. With the help of the guns for hire guy Slade, Cole is thrown into the middle of an urgent operation to remove a 'foreign object' from a woman's stomach. A throbbing, pulsating and rather disgusting little lump is to be cut open and removed. Easy peasy? Well - the thing is, it's not just Alien that inspired Wales Interactive/Dark Rift Horror but also Groundhog Day. It's Monday all week, plain and simple. Before you can say "scalpel, check" Cole has time to die five times and wake up and do the same procedure over and over again, but with the rather big difference that he remembers what has happened in the previous lives. Something has gone very wrong with the experiments on the research base. Experiments involving time travel and prison inmates lead to high doses of death - over and over again.

Nothing unique, but fun. Definitely. Dead Reset is never scary, nasty or stressful - it's a shrug when it comes to horror (largely thanks to the monster looking like a worn-out mop) but the entertainment factor is there and it impresses throughout. The actors definitely do their part to contribute to the atmosphere that the developers were clearly aiming for. It's stereotypical and rather silly, but it fits the mould for B-grade horror films of this type. We have the quiet, clever protagonist in the form of Cole, the tough alpha male Slade, the tough and independent female researcher Fearne, and Magson - the boss who you don't know where to place (although you know she's a complete nutcase) and who you mostly just want to smack in the face with a frozen salmon fillet.

There is some depth to be found in this otherwise rather short story. A playthrough takes just under a couple of hours, but there are four different endings to discover and over 400 unique scenes to enjoy. Most of them involve copious amounts of blood, guts, and Cole Mason who dies over and over again. If you pause the game, you can see how many scenes you've unlocked, what choices are possible in the eight chapters {Dead Reset} offers, and a tab that shows how friendly you are with the other characters. The latter feels very gimmicky because even if you feel like you are sworn enemies with someone, the game sometimes has a different experience and thinks " you guys are best friends, right?"

Magson stands and admires the mop alien. Weir - a rather insignificant side character is probably trying to reason with her.

Daniel Thrace, the actor behind the involuntary surgeon, does a good job. You like him and do your best to keep him alive - but once you do that, the game's design opens up to take a big swing. Try to be as big an arsehole as possible. Try to get as many people killed by the ragamuffin alien as possible. {Dead Reset} is such a game, a playhouse where the research team are your lab rats. It's about two choices you get to make from time to time, so it's not bottomless depth à la Baldur's Gate 3 but there's enough content to at least justify a second or even third playthrough.

The surroundings are charming, the acting is competent, and the choices are perfectly fine - but what is actually bad? Nothing, really. If you're okay with the fact that this is actually an indie production where the alien/monster looks like it was built by a low-talented preschooler using papier-mâché to embrace that low-budget horror feel, then the flaws are really just part of the recipe. The only real negatives I can come up with are that it's a bit short, never scary, and the system that shows the relationships with the side characters is unnecessary and quite misleading. I would have liked to see/hear a more prominent soundtrack as well. Perhaps the biggest criticism is that it's more of an interactive film than a game, a bit like Netflix's venture with Black Mirror: Bandersnatch a few years ago.

The relationships really swing back and forth. Initially you hate Slade deeply and sincerely but the story takes a turn and he, along with Fearne, become your new BFFs.

All in all, {Dead Reset} offers a fun journey. It's good - all the way through, but never more than that and never less. It's a solid 7/10 and definitely something I'd happily recommend - especially if, like me, you love old school slashers with lots of gore and guts that slap and behave like guts in general. More out-of-body guts for the people, is my takeaway from {Dead Reset}.