Ray's the Dead

There's some fun to be extracted from this, especially given that Halloween is upon us, but sadly this is a game that won't live long in the memory.

Ray's the Dead is a hard game to either recommend or trash, balanced neatly between being a charming and much-smarter-than-it-looks zombie-fest and a buggy mess punctuated by painfully blatant '80s nostalgia.

There are parts of Ray's The Dead that are enjoyable. The idea of being a Pikmin-like zombie game is appealing, as is the fact that the game wants to tell a more nuanced story around your character's life, death, and rebirth. However, the controls lack precision, while the inherent strategy falls apart thanks to haphazard enemy placement and odd design decisions. For a title with this long of a wait, it should've been better.

So while Ray’s The Dead has an interesting and unique gameplay mechanic, it’s hard to recommend it in its current state. And although its 80s references and zombie theme captured a niche audience on Kickstarter, it’s difficult to say whether this inconsistent effort could appeal to a larger group – even when its issues have been fixed.

Ray’s The Dead is not a perfect game, but it’s an awesome option for the spooky Halloween season. If you are looking to have a fun, surprisingly deep story experience with a game and revel in what makes Halloween such a beloved holiday, then Ray’s The Dead should be on your list.

Even though Ray's The Dead's gameplay isn't particularly fresh, its variety and cleverly presented story make it a fun experience.

Ray's The Dead is entirely unique, and features a visual style I will still be talking about in years to come. That doesn't mean that the game isn't deeply flawed.

More than seven years after its initial announcement, Ray's the Dead just doesn't feel like a finished game. Clunky gameplay and numerous bugs don't do the imbalanced and overly difficult encounters any favors, while certain other concepts in the game feel underexplored and go unutilized. It's potential to delve into unique puzzle mechanics is overshadowed by obnoxious and frustrating combat segments and bugs impacting critical elements of the gameplay. Ray's the Dead might have a lot of heart, but that heart is contained within a cumbersome rotting corpse crawling with bugs that make coming back from the dead more chore than triumph.