Dead Reset was provided by Wales Interactive for review. Thank you!
Most of the time, when I play video games, I want an engaging experience that will challenge me in different ways. I don't generally play FMV games, as it's primarily just watching videos and making choices as to how to move forward. However, as I was looking through games that got Verified recently, Dead Reset stuck out to me. So, I dived right in to see what this horror-filled interactive video would be all about, and I came away impressed and a little saddened that I have been missing out on FMV games for so long.
Right off of reading Oliver's review of another FMV game, Road to Empress, I was excited to see what was in store for me, though the subject of the game was very different. Dead Reset follows Cole Mason, a former surgeon who is abducted and brought to a weird facility to perform a surgery. However, things don't go according to plan, and he becomes stuck in a timeloop, reliving the horrors and death that awaits him.
I don't want to reveal too much, as I feel experiencing the story trumps any summary you could look up and read, but it definitely brought me in. Chapter 1 was a little on the slow side, but as the situation started to unravel and we discovered a little more of what's going on here, it started clicking. There were never any grand revelations that completely wowed me, nor were there any moments I felt didn't belong. It was concise and entertaining, and I can't complain about that.
For the most part, the set pieces fit in beautifully and looked like they really belonged. Apart from one or two control panels that looked similar to a toy I would give to my daughter, and some door handles that just looked flimsy, it was a believable world that helped the dark atmosphere reeking of dread stay alive and effective.
The acting can be a hit or miss, but I would say it fits. This is a horror FMV, and there were many scenes, especially at the beginning, where it felt a little ridiculous. There's a scene in the opening where everyone gets attacked and dies, and I genuinely believed the actors were leaning into the ridiculous tropes that come from horror movies, especially when people die. I still can't tell if it was on purpose or not, but in a way, I found it endearing. There are moments where the acting is solid, and I particularly like Daniel Thrace's performance as Cole, but it was never too much for me to stop enjoying the ride.
However, there were some inconsistencies scattered throughout. One that stood out to me was a gunshot in someone's arm. In one scene, they are grabbing at their arm, but in the next, they are wrestling someone to the ground and putting pressure on that arm to hold themselves up. And then right after that, they are grabbing their arm again. It just seemed a little unbelievable that someone could do that much, almost right after being shot.
Still, even with the acting and inconsistencies, the whole journey through Dead Reset was entertaining and enjoyable. I also particularly like how the time loop mechanic actually makes me feel more confident about the choices I would make through the story. There are multiple chapters to watch through, each riddled with choices to make. Usually, I wouldn't like this kind of mechanic because of what I could be missing, but there was something that gave me more confidence to choose because of the time loop.
There's also a ton of blood and gore. It's pretty crazy to see as much as it is, and this game won't be for the faint-hearted. There are parasites, limbs coming off, flesh torn off, and more. It's a lot, but it also fits with the theme.
With each decision made, relationship bars will go up and down. We can bring up how liked or disliked we are by each of the other crew members, as well as see different tasks that can be hit throughout your story. There are four endings to unlock, and I did find motivation since I wanted to discover and learn more about the story that I couldn't gather in one playthrough. However, a large number of the tasks, while giving some neat hints, were just there as checkpoints. I didn't find that they served much of a purpose.
If you want to discover more of the story, you will have to replay the game from the beginning as well. While this isn't inherently bad, there is also no indication of the choices you made previously. You can infer and make other choices based on what you remember, but otherwise, it isn't clear. There is a way to skip scenes, which is nice, but I was hoping there would be a quicker way to go through scenes I have already experienced to get to the newer ones. None of this stopped me from playing again to get another ending, but I would consider it noteworthy regardless.
I had little doubt that there would be any performance issues on the Steam Deck with Dead Reset, seeing as this is all pre-recorded videos, and I was right. At 90 FPS on the Steam Deck OLED, I was getting an average 8W - 9W battery drain, which means around 6.5+ hours of battery life. Setting the framerate to 60 FPS can bring down the average drain to 6W - 9W, adding an extra hour or two of battery life, but either way to play works. There isn't much more I can say, though; it just runs and runs well.
There is a settings menu where we can change brightness, language, toggle subtitle size and background, and turn analytics on, but that's about it.
The game doesn't support 16:10 resolutions, but it does have cloud saves and controller support. There are no HDR settings.
Dead Reset is an entertaining and enjoyable interactive FMV that may have turned me on to trying out other FMV games. Following Cole's journey in this horrific situation, trying to survive and figure out why he is stuck in a time loop. It's an intriguing narrative, and while the acting can fit into horror tropes and there are some inconsistencies, it doesn't harm the overall experience. I do wish it were easier to go back and try new scenes to get the new endings, but being able to skip scenes so simply helps.
Without a doubt, the game is flawless on the Steam Deck. There are no performance issues, since these are all pre-recorded videos, and it looks great on the OLED screen. There shouldn't be any problems playing this on the Deck.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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Dead Reset is a fantastic FMV filled with intrigue, gore, and entertainment, and it's a joy to play through on the Steam Deck.
