Zombies, the living dead—in pop culture, these creatures that exist between life and death, occupying the lowest tier of the monster hierarchy, seem to possess an inexplicable charm that has allowed them to appear in various forms across generations. Human creators indeed seem to favor these terrifying yet pitiable monsters, constantly imbuing them with dramatic flair: sometimes horror, like Night of the Living Dead; sometimes humorous satire, like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies; and sometimes romantic and foolish, like Stupid Never Dies.
Of course, you might not have heard of Stupid Never Dies, as it is rarely mentioned alongside the aforementioned two works—it's not even a AAA title. It is an unreleased action RPG themed around "zombies." But if you enjoy gaming and love zombies, it is still worth being the game you pay most attention to in the coming months.
The reason is simple—these two producers are extremely, extremely fond of "zombies," to the point that they made zombie games at their previous company, started their own company, and are still making zombie games. They are Hiroyuki Kobayashi and Eiichiro Sasaki, former senior developers at CAPCOM. Stupid Never Dies is a project personally planned by Hiroyuki Kobayashi after leaving CAPCOM and establishing GPTRACK50. Although the proposal underwent several adjustments, the theme of "zombies" never changed.
Now, with the release date approaching, we interviewed these two zombie enthusiasts to learn more about this action RPG starring a "zombie."
Eiichiro Sasaki (left) and Hiroyuki Kobayashi (right)
Q: From current trailers and announced information, Stupid Never Dies seems full of homages and parody elements to existing works. Which works did you mainly reference when creating the game?
Kobayashi:The "attack-mutation type" action of the zombie protagonist David references Denji from the manga Chainsaw Man—continuing to attack even when defeated. For comedic elements, we referenced Hollywood films like Guardians of the Galaxy and DC's live-action movie The Suicide Squad: featuring a makeshift team that argues yet fights together, deriving that buddy-comedy dynamic from there.
Speaking of loser protagonists, there's also Kick-Ass—these works have influenced this game.
Q: Many players say this game reminds them of the movie Warm Bodies, as both share similarities in story setting and atmosphere. Have you two seen this movie?
Kobayashi:Yes, I personally really like Warm Bodies. It tells a story of a zombie falling in love with a human, akin to Romeo and Juliet. However, Sasaki, along with the director responsible for conceiving the script, the producer, and the writer, had not seen the film at the time. During our initial script meetings, we decided that "having a zombie protagonist and a deceased human heroine would be interesting." Everyone only learned about the existence of such a movie after finding the concept of human-zombie romance intriguing.
Precisely because we hadn't watched it, our game didn't clash with the movie in terms of plot—after all, they only overlap in the "zombie and human" aspect. Of course, we didn't copy Romeo and Juliet either, and the fact that the heroine is already dead creates further differences. I knew about the movie beforehand, and after reading the script, I felt it was fine, so it was OK.
By the way, after that, to avoid overlapping themes, I made everyone watch Warm Bodies again.
Q: Since its announcement, Stupid Never Dies has given an impression of great freedom, unconstrained by common sense. As a producer, what do you hope players feel when they first see this game?
Kobayashi:In fact, there are indeed many good games on the market right now, giving players plenty of choices. When we first brought this game to TGA last December, since it was a new IP, we desperately wanted to make an impact and ensure people remembered the two characters: the zombie protagonist David and the heroine Julia. So, instead of showing standard gameplay footage, we created a music video where the two happily sing, adding some zombie-human comedy elements and featuring our self-produced theme song. The response to that MV was quite good.
Who would have thought that Julia's popularity would skyrocket? But remember, she isn't actually a playable character in the game, which could have led to accusations of false advertising. So, in the first trailer released this March, we quickly emphasized that Julia was dead and not a player character to prevent misunderstandings from spreading.
Q: Since Julia is so popular, is it possible for her to revive in the full version of the game?
Kobayashi:I can give a small hint here: in the new trailer released during the September 4th demo event, you'll see a scene where Julia shoots David in the head with a pistol, after which he is sucked into somewhere. You can also see some performances common in romance and action movies.
In that trailer, Julia is moving and speaking. As for why—I don't want to spoil it. The fact that she wakes up midway through the story is a hint. She might really come back to life; I'm not sure myself (laughs).
Q: The visual and special effects in this game are very prominent, sometimes raising concerns that they might negatively impact the expression of action elements. How do you view the balance between visual presentation and combat action performance?
Sasaki:Of course, it doesn't affect player control, as we've been careful since the adjustment phase to ensure the two don't conflict.
Even for individual effects, we strive for uniqueness and aim to reflect the tone of this game—we call it "Funky Zombie Action." So, when designing visual presentations, we have always been thinking about how to convey this style 100% to players.
Kobayashi:Moreover, since this is an action game, we naturally paid attention to avoiding cutscenes that hinder control, keeping this in mind throughout development. At the same time, all members tried to make the game visuals interesting and distinctive, leaving a deep impression on players.
Q: The title of this game, Stupid Never Dies, is designed very cleverly. How was it originally decided? And what message do you hope players take from the title?
Sasaki:Speaking of the protagonist David, he's a guy who has never fought or been in a relationship. But in this story, he experiences death for the first time, falls in love for the first time, and even wants to challenge monsters far stronger than himself. Normally, anyone's first reaction would be to flee, but after meeting the girl of his dreams, he becomes reckless for love—as long as he can be with the girl he likes, he feels he can do anything. David is exactly this kind of protagonist, a "fool" in every sense.
In Japan, there is a saying, "A fool dies but doesn't heal," meaning that truly stupid people cannot change their nature no matter how much they struggle. We parodied this saying and added "Never Dies"—because he is a zombie, he couldn't die in the first place.
Kobayashi:Since he's already dead, he can't die again, hence "Never Dies." Actually, when we were deciding on the title, the characters hadn't been fully fleshed out yet. During early script meetings, someone came up with the line "Stupid Never Dies," and everyone agreed, "That's great, let's use it as the title." We were worried that the word "Stupid" might not sit well, but after going to the US, we found it to be a very common term. The team thought it was fun, so we decided to name the game Stupid Never Dies.
Q: The protagonist is a zombie, meaning he cannot die, but he can still experience a "death" in gameplay terms (Game Over), correct?
Kobayashi:Yes, the zombie's "undead" nature is a pun. In the game, even if the player is defeated, it doesn't immediately show a Game Over screen. Instead, you are sent back to the shopping mall, which serves as the protagonist's "home." According to the game rules, the character hasn't died; they've just been beaten back home and will try challenging powerful enemies again. We designed the game with this concept in mind.
Q: David can bite and transform into various enemies through the "Style Devour" ability. What was your primary focus when designing these transformation forms?
Sasaki:Our primary focus was deliberately maximizing the gap between strengths and weaknesses—for example, some monster forms have incredible strength but suffer from extremely slow movement, while others are incredibly fast but have shockingly low attack power. We intentionally emphasized these stark contrasts. The reason is simple: using a single style well can certainly lead to proper combat, but combining multiple styles is what we find most interesting and what we most want players to experience.
Let me give some more specific examples. The "Cyclops" style form in the game has great strength but is very slow. Using normal tactics, it takes considerable time just to approach enemies; if enemies move slightly faster, you can't even touch them. However, if you simultaneously possess the "Harpy" style form, which can fly, you can approach from above the enemy, switch to "Cyclops" for a heavy hit upon closing in, and then escape using "Harpy." This becomes a very effective strategy. We designed such extreme strengths and weaknesses precisely to encourage players to try various combinations and explore the merits of each form.
Kobayashi:In addition to the basic zombie form, this game features up to 10 monster style forms, each with its own personality and various combinations of strengths and weaknesses. However, there is absolutely no "jack-of-all-trades" form.
Q: So, what efforts did the development team make to ensure that each Style form feels distinct to play?
Sasaki:Basically, the attack and jump control systems are unified across all styles, but each form has its own unique actions. For example, in the "Merman" style, pressing the jump button causes the player to dive underground, performing the opposite of a jump; whereas with the same input, the "Harpy" style allows continuous flight by holding the button.
We did this so that players would feel these styles are like player characters taken from different games, each full of personality, as if they truly came from 11 different games.
Q: We know that GPTRACK50 studio previously received investment from NetEase, but this time you chose Sega as the publisher. What was the background and process behind this decision?
Kobayashi:Actually, we didn't just approach Sega immediately. We communicated and coordinated with publishers worldwide to help them understand this game. Ultimately, Sega expressed willingness to invest seriously in global marketing budgets and truly expand the game's reach, so we chose to sign with Sega, securing global distribution for this title. That's how it happened.
Q: Mr. Kobayashi previously mentioned in an interview that your initial proposal was heavily rewritten by the team, with only the idea of "making the protagonist a zombie" retained. Looking back, why was only this idea kept?
Kobayashi:GPTRACK50 is a studio I founded, but you can't start a project with nothing. So, in the early days of the studio, I personally wrote a simple 8-page proposal, with the protagonist set as a zombie. I showed it to core members, led by Sasaki, saying, "This is just a stepping stone; build upon it and add whatever you want to make." The result was that my original idea was changed beyond recognition.
But since I had already reported to the company once, it wouldn't be good to leave none of the original content. So I asked Sasaki, "At least keep the zombie as the protagonist," and he retained it, resulting in the zombie protagonist we have today. Why a zombie? The reason is simple: my initial proposal featured a zombie, and both Sasaki and I love zombies. However, the zombie in my proposal was more mature and cooler than David; the character that ended up being created was different. Of course, I like David very much too.
Q: Before coming here, I played the Steam demo for this title and noticed something quite interesting: the game lacks an "enemy lock-on" feature, which is quite rare in modern action games. Why did you choose this design approach?
Sasaki:When developing this game, we wanted players to feel the pressure from enemies—the deeper David dives into the dungeon, the more often he is surrounded by enemies. Often, while fighting on one side, pressure comes from another, and soon enemies arrive from the sky as well. To make combat as fluid as possible, we deliberately omitted any hard lock-on mechanics, allowing Everythinggj to be handled through the player's own stick and camera controls, resulting in the current state.
However, since the demo is already live, we have received feedback from many players, so we plan to release an adjusted, more beginner-friendly version of the demo soon. Whether you are preparing to play for the first time or have already played once, please be sure to try the game again after the update patch is released. We believe you will definitely feel the difference.
Additionally, this demo only covers the combat in the prologue of the full version, so there are relatively few enemies. If you're just dealing with a sparse few enemies, it's natural to want to lock on to this one or that one, and I completely understand that feeling. But as you progress further, enemies will swarm in all at once, and you'll find yourself surrounded. At that point, you'll realize that it's faster to just swing wildly than to lock on everywhere. This is by design, and players will naturally understand this as they play further.
Kobayashi:The lack of a lock-on feature has indeed been mentioned many times, and we are already making adjustments. Additionally, many players reported that the "Harpy" style form is difficult to hit, among other issues, which will be improved in the next update to make it easier to land hits. Please keep an eye on upcoming announcements for related adjustments.
Q: During the previous demo, we noticed another interesting difference between this game and currently popular action games—at least from what we've seen so far, this game seems to lack traditional evasion and defense mechanics. What is the reason for this design?
Sasaki:Since this is a brand-new game built from scratch, we consciously aimed to create an experience different from other action games. This game also has parry-like elements, but unlike recent games that require precise timing to parry, we wanted to express the feeling of "the enemy's fist is coming, just charge in regardless, and somehow it will work out" rather than having the protagonist coolly block attacks. Therefore, we didn't make the parry timing strict; if you feel danger and press the button, it will basically activate.
Kobayashi:So, compared to the popular "parry, block, dodge" combo gameplay recently, the combat feel of this game is certainly different. In short, we want everyone to attack freely, because attack is the best defense; you don't need to passively block or evade.
Q: What efforts did you make to make this concept work?
Sasaki:First, if you look closely at the game, you might notice that David continues to attack even while taking damage—he'll keep swinging even if his neck gets knocked askew. In other words, he doesn't need to defend; we wanted to convey the feeling of "fighting back even if you have to tank the hits."
Of course, you can't just mindlessly rush through and expect to clear the game; taking too much damage will still result in game over. So what do you do when your stamina drops? Do what zombies do best—eat. Eating restores stamina. So the game's loop is: fight wildly, fight back even when hit, bite into enemy flesh to recover when stamina runs low, and then keep fighting.
Kobayashi:Once we established this loop, it became an action game where you can be a bit reckless without penalty. We implemented some interesting designs, such as being able to recover health by eating boss meat even during boss fights.
Q: So what happens if you can't eat and don't have any equipment to save you in an emergency?
Sasaki:Unfortunately, that really means game over: if you can't eat meat and your stamina gauge hits zero, the run ends. Also, the only monster you can't use to recover is the skeleton—it has no meat, so eating it provides no recovery.
Q: How long do you expect it to take to clear the game?
Kobayashi:Players skilled at action games can probably finish the story in about 20 hours. For average players, it should take around 30 hours to clear the game. However, there is endgame content after the main story, so there's actually a lot to do. The 10 styles appear sequentially throughout the game, and simply finishing the story isn't enough to truly master them all—you can continue enjoying and refining your skills in the endgame content.
Q: David is the weakest zombie, and stories of underdogs rising from the bottom resonate easily with audiences today. Did you reference any classic "loser protagonist" archetypes when designing David?
Sasaki:The protagonist of the movie Kick-Ass is also an otaku who is unpopular and weak in fights; David is largely modeled after him. Before becoming a zombie, the protagonist was a young man who had never fought or dated a girl. Additionally, while Spider-Man gained powers from a spider bite, David gains abilities by eating eggs, which is also a reference to Spider-Man.
Q: The game features a "Style Devour" system where you bite enemies to gain new abilities. Could you share the design process behind this system?
Sasaki:Since we specifically made the protagonist a zombie, we used elements unique to zombies to build the game. What are a zombie's special abilities? As everyone knows, one is "undead," and the other is "eating." So in this game, Everythinggj from recovering stamina to stealing abilities from enemies is based on "eating." You recover stamina by eating, and you gain enemy abilities by eating. It's a skill that exists precisely because the protagonist is a zombie.
Q: In the demo, the first boss David encounters is the Headless Horseman. Is this battle a scripted defeat? Finally, can David eat him after becoming stronger?
Kobayashi:Yes, that segment is a scripted defeat, after which you will formally battle this boss. However, the Headless Horseman is not within the range of "devourable transformations," so players cannot transform into him.
Sasaki:When devouring, every enemy definitely has a "core," which looks like the egg-like object seen in the visuals. Eating the cores of fodder or weak monsters grants "Instant Skills," which are one-time use abilities similar to grenades. Eating elite monsters allows you to steal their Style—there are 10 types of elites, and the character's appearance changes accordingly.
Of course, bosses also have cores. The game has a "Zombie Recipe" system—upon reaching a certain level, you can choose one of three cards to obtain a powerful recipe, which are super abilities only obtainable by defeating bosses. As for transforming into the boss itself, unfortunately, David's digestive capabilities cannot handle it, so we designed the recipe system to reinforce positive feedback.
Q: What interesting abilities might you obtain after defeating a boss? Can you give us two examples?
Sasaki:Commander General Surtr is a major boss. Defeating him grants fire-attribute attacks—hitting enemies triggers explosion chains, where igniting one enemy causes连环 explosions in the surrounding area.
Kobayashi:You could say that the skills obtained after defeating bosses are all good items that are definitely worth using. Additionally, defeating some bosses grants you music; for example, defeating the Headless Horseman unlocks his battle theme. Collecting music is also a key element of this game. Once you obtain music, you can change it freely at the DJ booth, so please be sure to challenge the bosses.
Q: In the game, what are the methods for destroying and devouring enemy cores?
Sasaki:It's essentially eating, but this "eating" requires some technique.
For another example, the Lizardman's core is on its back, requiring you to cleverly maneuver behind it to eat it. Elite monsters generally drop their cores after being defeated, which you can then eat at your leisure. However, for skilled players, we have designed specific strategies for almost every elite monster to expose their cores while they are still alive. Finding these opportunities allows you to eat the exposed cores while the enemy is alive, which is much more difficult than eating them after defeat.
Using this method to eat cores allows for unconditional leveling up, adds 20 seconds to the time limit, or fully restores the character's stamina, serving as a reward for challenging spirit. You can choose whether to attempt these difficult strategies or safely defeat all enemies before eating.
Q: There are 11 Style Devour forms, but you can only equip two at a time. What combinations does the development team find interesting? Were any styles deliberately nerfed for being "too powerful"?
Sasaki:Once players get used to the game, every style becomes incredibly powerful—the studio is constantly discussing how "this one is too strong, that one is too strong" and repeatedly debating adjustments. As for recommendations, the "Power + Speed" combination mentioned earlier is very beginner-friendly.
On a more technical note: there is also a monster called the "Yuki-onna" (Snow Woman) in the game, which attacks by freezing enemies directly, rendering them immobile. As mentioned earlier, players can use speed to close in, then strike hard with power before retreating. But if you freeze enemies, they can't move, allowing you to slowly approach during that window and land heavy hits.
By the way, my personal favorite is the “Lich.” It acts like a necromancer, using special attacks to summon skeletons that assist in attacking enemies. You can let the skeletons draw enemy aggro, allowing you to freely attack from behind, which creates a completely different style of play.
Q: The official website describes this title as an “Explosive Growth” action game. How should we understand this “explosive” aspect?
Sasaki:In the game, each of David’s explorations has a time limit. There’s only a limited amount of time per dungeon dive. For example, initially, you’re given only 10 minutes, which likely allows you to reach only floors 2 or 3. Once you exit the dungeon, your character level resets.
Each time a player completes a dungeon run, the character’s growth speed increases further. Initially, leveling progresses slowly (1, 2, 3...), but eventually becomes a super-fast sprint (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9...). You might reach levels 20 or 30 in just a minute or two. Thus, within the same amount of time, you become stronger and can venture deeper.
Kobayashi:Here’s the interesting part: on your first dive into the dungeon, it takes five hits to take down a basic Lizardman. The second time, it’s three hits. By the end, when you’re stronger, you can defeat them in one hit. David’s leveling speed increases rapidly—each run starts at level 1, but the rate of progression accelerates. We call this kind of growth “Explosive Growth.”
Q: Based on the action sequences in this title, is “offense as defense” the core concept?
Kobayashi:Keep attacking—we often describe *Fool's Immortality* at press events as an “Aggression-Mutation” type, an action style centered around “attack,” requiring players to maintain high-speed movement. This is also why we removed blocking: blocking stops movement, and we want players to keep moving constantly.
Sasaki:This might share similarities with high-speed action games: you get a breathless experience where constant movement and offense form the combat loop. But it’s not just about button-mashing: you must devour enemies to recover stamina when low, choose which skills to steal, and decide how to switch styles. Every moment requires thoughtful decision-making and instant judgment, making it quite a mentally engaging game.
The game also features a “Body Modification” system, allowing you to customize four parts of David’s body: head, right arm, left leg, etc. You must choose which equipment to carry—a heavy greatsword deals massive damage but requires charging, while a missile pod can hit distant and airborne enemies. The combination of randomly acquired Styles and strategically chosen Body Gears forms the two main pillars of the game’s strategic gameplay. The key lies in how you combine and utilize them effectively.
Therefore, beyond its high-speed action, this game offers significant strategic depth. Players who aren’t skilled at action mechanics can overcome many challenges through smart thinking. For instance, if a boss is level 20, skilled players might defeat it at level 15. You can decide whether to grind to the same level or overlevel to 25 to crush it easily.
Q: The game features two enhancement systems, “Body Modification” and “Style Devouring,” whose effects stack. Will this lead to an overpowered protagonist and broken balance in the late game?
Sasaki:Good question, and rest assured—enemies become ridiculously strong in the latter half of the story. Not only do their numbers increase, but powerful foes also appear. Meanwhile, David grows to a point of extreme stat inflation, ensuring players experience intense satisfaction.
Additionally, as mentioned earlier, besides zombies, there are 10 different monster Styles. However, the same Werewolf encountered in shallow layers versus deep layers has completely different abilities—this is expressed through rarity. A “Legendary Werewolf” would be ridiculously strong. Moreover, each Style has five different skills. You won’t know which one you’ll get until you encounter, defeat, and consume its core.
If you don’t get skills that suit your playstyle, you go elsewhere to find better ones—constantly searching, replacing, and building a stronger “deck.” It’s all about continuous trial and challenge.
Q: At the start of the game, Zombie David moves incredibly slowly in the shopping mall, only speeding up after acquiring a Roomba. Is this also your way of expressing love for zombie-themed works?
Sasaki:Well, absolutely (laughs)! I really love zombies, especially classic ones. I actually wanted him to move even slower, but the studio staff complained heavily. So I wondered if there was a way to keep the zombie vibe while allowing fast movement. Before I knew it, the idea of riding a Roomba to move quickly emerged.
Q: The game is scheduled for release on October 22nd this year. Can we assume that development is basically complete? What will you focus on during the remaining month?
Kobayashi:Yes, game development is basically complete. As for what’s left, my main tasks are interviews and promotional activities, while most other development team members are already resting or on long vacations. However, the PR team is still working hard, preparing materials like public-facing videos.
Q: What kind of experience do you want to leave players with through *Fool's Immortality*?
Kobayashi:GPTRACK50 has many members who love action games, so we hope players see this as “an action game made by action game lovers, for action game fans.”
We aim to provide a completely new action gaming experience unlike anything before. Actually, we ourselves wanted to play various types of action games that weren’t available on the market, so we decided to make and play them ourselves—and we invite players to join us. That’s how this game was born.
Sasaki:It’s not something so obscure that players wouldn’t know how to play. Those familiar with standard action games can pick it up easily without much explanation, while adding new experiences like style switching and devouring. We hope everyone enjoys it without any hesitation.
Kobayashi:Of course, this is also ingrained in our studio’s DNA. We will continue developing action games in the future. We won’t suddenly switch to adventure games, and we definitely won’t make dating simulators (laughs).
Q: Finally, please share a few words with Chinese players.
Kobayashi:*Fool's Immortality* is GPTRACK50’s first title since its establishment. Just like the game’s “Explosive Growth” system, our development process was also “explosively” fast, with the team growing rapidly. The game took about three years to develop. Although it was tough at times, everyone enjoyed creating something they loved, making the development process itself very enjoyable. We believe players will have fun too. If you’re interested, please start with the demo. If you enjoy it, consider buying the full version. We’d be thrilled if you gave it a try. Thank you very much.
Sasaki:Players who tried the demo and media outlets often comment that it feels like “old-school action games.” I used to work on arcade games, so perhaps that influence is indeed present, which is somewhat nostalgic. However, as a game, I believe we’ve created something new. I encourage everyone to try it out personally. Thank you.