Dead Format - Review - PC Steam

As someone who grew up rewinding VHS tapes until the tracking lines looked like ghosts, Dead Format hit me right in the nostalgia cortex. It’s a game that doesn’t just reference horror history, it drags you bodily through it, kicking and screaming, one cursed tape at a time. And honestly? I loved almost every minute of it. Dead Format feels like it was engineered in a lab specifically to target my weaknesses. Analog horror? Check. VHS grime? Check. A stalker enemy that makes me freeze like a deer in CRT headlights? Absolutely. This is a game that understands the tactile, uncomfortable charm of retro horror and builds an entire world around it, sometimes brilliantly, sometimes frustratingly, but always with style.

The story begins in a rundown Scottish apartment block in the late ’90s, where you break into your missing brother’s flat. He’s been spiralling into obsession over a strange, off‑brand video format called GHL, a kind of cursed VHS that seems to warp reality. His notes are frantic, his tapes are scattered everywhere, and the apartment feels like it’s been lived in by someone who hasn’t slept in weeks.

Slotting one of these tapes into the VCR doesn’t just play a video, it transports you into the world recorded on it. Each tape is a self‑contained nightmare inspired by a different era of horror cinema. One moment you’re wandering through stark, monochrome corridors straight out of silent‑era expressionism; the next you’re knee‑deep in neon giallo lighting or trudging through fleshy, pulsating body‑horror landscapes.

As you explore these worlds, you slowly piece together what happened to your brother. His messages become more fragmented, his handwriting more erratic, and his experiments more dangerous. The deeper you go, the more the apartment hub itself begins to change, subtle at first, then unmistakably corrupted. It’s a clever way of showing the story bleeding into reality, and it kept me hooked.

Dead Format plays like a love letter to classic survival horror. You juggle a tiny inventory, solve puzzles that span multiple worlds, and backtrack through interconnected environments that slowly open up as you unlock shortcuts. What I loved most is how items found in one tape often solve puzzles in another, it makes the whole game feel like a single, tangled ecosystem rather than isolated levels.

The stalker enemy, the Vulture, is the game’s biggest wildcard. She hunts by sound, crawls out of screens, and forces you to move slowly, deliberately, and often in total silence. When she works, she’s terrifying and a genuine threat that turns even simple rooms into panic chambers. But she can also be a bit much, especially later on, where her frequency starts to feel more exhausting than suspenseful.

Combat exists, but it’s not the star. Weapons are thematically brilliant (the flesh pistol is disgusting in the best way), but aiming is stiff and movement is slow. It’s functional, but it’s clear the game wants you to avoid fights rather than win them.

Each tape world has its own visual identity and this is where Dead Format absolutely shines. From grainy monochrome to lurid neon to wet, glistening body horror. The filters, lighting, and textures feel handcrafted, not just slapped on. The live‑action footage that introduces each tape is a perfect touch, campy, eerie, and authentically analogue.

The sound design is equally strong. Footsteps echo in unsettling ways, ambient drones hum like broken CRTs, and the Vulture’s audio cues are enough to make your stomach drop. It’s a game that understands how much horror lives in the spaces between sounds.

Pros

• Gorgeous, era‑specific horror aesthetics

• Clever multi‑world puzzle design

• A genuinely unsettling stalker enemy

• Live‑action VHS segments that enhance the atmosphere

• A hub world that evolves with the story

• Strong sense of place and tone

  
  

Cons

• No map, which makes navigation occasionally frustrating

• Movement and combat feel stiff

• Only one save point in the apartment

• Stalker encounters can become overwhelming

• Story ends a bit abruptly

• Some backtracking feels like padding rather than tension

Dead Format isn’t just another indie horror game, it’s a cinematic, analogue‑soaked experiment that feels like rummaging through a haunted video store at 2 a.m. It’s stylish, clever, and often genuinely unnerving. Yes, it has rough edges. The movement is slow, the combat is clunky, and the stalker can overstay her welcome. But the atmosphere? The creativity? The commitment to its VHS‑rotted aesthetic? That’s where the game shines.

For horror fans, especially those who love retro survival horror, analogue weirdness, and games that feel like lost media, Dead Format is absolutely worth your time. It’s flawed, but it’s also one of the most memorable horror experiences I’ve played in years.

XPN Rating: 4 out of 5 (GOLD)

Dead Format is available now!