Sneak Peek: Dead Reset Preview

Okay, so imagine this. FMV games, which, by the way, are kind of like those old-school choose-your-own-adventure books—remember those?—have somehow sneaked back into our gaming lives. They’re like this creative playground for indie folks, low-budget filmmaking, you know? The Shapeshifting Detective has this whole mystery thing going on with actors working in a tight little storytelling box. Pretty neat. Then there’s Not for Broadcast, which, honestly, is just a hilarious trip.

Anyway, there’s this developer, Dark Rift Horror, right? And they let us peek at Dead Reset. Spoiler alert: it might just be a narrative-focused horror mystery worth checking out. You dive in as Cole Mason, a surgeon who suddenly finds himself on the floor of what looks like a space station—yeah, totally getting Aliens vibes. Out of nowhere, this guard yanks him up, drags him to an operating table, and, oh boy, there’s a patient with some creepy growth. You’ve got a gun in your face, an authority figure barking at you to operate, and a friend of the patient panicking for help. Classic pressure cooker scenario.

Every now and then, Cole’s got these binary decisions to make, each shaping the story’s twists and turns. Like when you’re about to operate, maybe you snatch the gun? Or scoot out? I went for the surgery, and, well, cue the alien horror show—chaos everywhere. And get this, after getting shredded, Cole wakes up again. Yep, time loop. Fun times, huh?

I only got a taste of the first chapter out of eight, but talk about loops within loops. Tried one route, ended up with Cole minus an arm thanks to a pesky gun. But after a few restarts, I made some headway, managed to box up the alien, and ended with a nice dollop of mystery.

The actors, man, you can tell they’re into it, even if some intense bits got a little wobbly. There’s this rushed feeling between Cole waking up and suddenly being all buddy-buddy with strangers—it’s a time thing, I suspect, not an acting one. Horror does that, makes strangers feel like family under duress. Chapter one? Bloody mess galore. We’re talking guts, gunshot trauma, and yes, there’s a hilarious little alien that’d be kind of goofy if you saw it too clearly. It’s all quick flashes and arcade-style gun effects, classic B-movie charm yet strangely compelling.

Honestly? I had a blast with the Dead Reset demo. We got just a glimpse, just a taste to suck us into its narrative vortex. Cole and company make a solid team, leaving me curious about this whole time warp and alien skin monster thing. So, mark your calendars—Dead Reset crashes onto the Nintendo Switch eShop September 11th. Worth a look, if you ask me.