
Dead Format is a survival horror game set in iconic film eras. It's 1990s Scotland, and your brother has gone missing after becoming obsessed with a mysterious new VHS format. Follow his trail through the tapes and uncover why the government wants to ban "Video Ghastlies".
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About
A lost brother. A cursed VHS format. A government cover-up.
Dead Format is a survival horror game that takes you on a nightmarish journey through iconic eras of film. Set in 1990s Scotland, you play as a desperate sibling searching for their missing brother who was last seen obsessing over a mysterious VHS format. Dive into the tapes, fight your way through cinematic worlds, and find your brother before it’s too late.
Your apartment is the hub. Here you can review clues, catch your breath, and prepare for the journey ahead. Use the Television set and insert VHS tapes to open the door to new worlds, each one with its own inspiration. Search for clues and face the nightmares in universes inspired by Silent Era Cinema, Italian Giallo films, and 80s Body Horror.
Search for supplies to stay alive and uncover key items to solve puzzles, unlocking your path forward.
Arm yourself with weapons and tools inspired by the film worlds you’ll explore.
Discover homemade VHS footage that blurs the line between fiction and reality.
Your apartment is the only place you can save the game. Find shortcuts and new paths to progress on your journey.
Each world comes with its own enemies, puzzles, and unique areas to explore.
Everything in Dead Format is created just for the game. This includes the VHS footage, which is recorded and edited by Katanalevy. Each tape provides a nostalgic window into the worlds players will explore.
Chris Evry (Katanalevy) is a Scottish solo developer drawn to creating experiences that are a blend of the darkly visceral and gothic sublime. He is the creator of Cardiac, Symphony of Seven Souls and Daemonologie.
Genres
Stats
All-time low is the lowest price we've recorded for this game since we started tracking it.
Languages: English
Engagement
Hours played at review time, across 41 reviews with recorded playtime.
Reviews
Themes across 40 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
Reviews
+ Идея с прохождением в самой кассете имбища просто + Пару раз меня даже напугала игра (меня трудно напугать) + Визуал и музыка зачёт - За то, что нет норм концовки даже секретная это не хорошая концовка (ну тип просто прикол хз). Мне было интересно, что с братом и т.д.
In short: If you are just somewhat a fan of horror movies and know what Giallo is or have maybe even seen a silent horro movie of the ancient days of horror movies, then this is for you.
Amazing game! A love letter to the whole horror genre!
After playing this game all the way through, I cannot recommend it. - The gimmick of traversing the horror worlds via videotapes creating portals is really neat and has a lot of potential. Frankly I would have wanted to spend all game in the gothic black and white setting. - The main antagonist turns every excursion into the movie worlds into 'Walk a few steps, hide for five mintues. Walk a few steps, hide for five minutes'. Waiting is not a substitute for engrossing gameplay. - The enemy mechanics and behaviors are inconsistent. The amount of ammo needed to put them down fluctuates, making planning difficult, and you NEED to defeat them all because A. evading them and moving forward is difficult if not impossible since corridors are often too cramped and enemies take up more space than they look like they do, and can kill you in two shots if you get close anyway, and B. while some enemies despawn if you move far away enough, most of them don't. They'll just wait for you to leave your hiding place, or even attack you while you're hiding. To be frank, I would suggest getting rid of the zombies and aliens altogether, and replace them with the violinist, claymation monster, doll and chicken lady, one in each level, and maybe just have them not respawn once you put them down. - The lack of an Autosave function means you need to go back and save MANUALLY to preserve any progress, or risk losing a LOT of playtime. Plus, every time you go back to save, all of the enemies respawn, and you have finite ammunition, so... that's an issue. - I don't know what settings I need to use to make the game work visually, but it was either make game move normally but to where I can't see anything, or see all the details and move at two frames per second. Even if my computer has issues, that's no excuse for the rest of the game. It has potential, but... this ain't it.
Całkiem dobry horror. Bardzo podobał mi się miks mediów i ich wykonanie. Dźwięki, budowa poziomów na dobrym poziomie. Filtry w każdej z lokacji tak odmienne ale przy pierwszej miałem problem ze znalezieniem jednego przedmiotu przez nieczytelność otoczenia. Poradziłem sobie. Listy i notatki od brata tez mogły by się nie pojawiać przy każdym wczytaniu zapisu. Ilość amunicji zupełnie zbędna jak dal mnie. Można obciąć do 1/3 i tak by wystarczyło.
The description for this game does not explain well enough the concept, nor do it justice. The idea is you pick up the first video tape, a real, very old horror movie, put it in the player and the apartment door opens into it, where you find another video tape of a diffferent, also real, movie and you will have to find certain elements within one movie in order to progress within another, all while you are hunted by an unkillable creature (no spoilers). The gunplay is great, the locations are well-realised and the fact they brought these old movies to life makes you feel like you're playing the video game versions of each one. The puzzles are intuitive and the graphics are brilliant, a fine and well polished game indeed
A very interesting game, not without its jank, but worth your time if you like original ideas in your indie titles. Performance wasn't amazing but some of the visuals were fantastic.
difficulté mal dosé . beaucoup d'aller retour. Quelques lieux sont difficile à se reperer et dans l'obscurité . J'ai vu le final sur youtube et j'ai bien fait de ne pas insister dans le jeu . Y avait il vraiment une histoire dans ce jeu ?
Absolutely loved this game, everything is spot on. From the filmed intros to the movies, to the graphics, to the sound design and atmosphere. Will definitely replay at some point.
It's like Resident Evil, but It's actually somewhat scary.
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Trends
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Audience
Estimated from the language of this game's reviews — a proxy for where players are, not official Steam demographics.
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