There’s something immediately disarming about Dead Pets. It looks loud, colourful, and chaotic — a cartoon fever dream about demons trying to make it in a punk band. But spend a couple of hours with it and you realize: this isn’t just about playing gigs. It’s about burnout, ambition, friendship, and the uncomfortable reality of still “figuring it out” in your 30s.
And somehow, it blends all these struggle with humour extremely well.
Good morning Void City!
You play as Gordy, front woman of the band Dead Pets, living in the wonderfully weird New Void City. The world is surreal — Demonic characters, neon-soaked streets, absurd side designs — but emotionally, it’s grounded. Bills are due. Relationships are fragile. Energy is limited. Dreams cost time… and a lot of money.
The setup is simple: keep the band alive while juggling life. The execution? That’s where Dead Pets shines. Dead Pets blends narrative adventure with light management mechanics. Each day you decide how Gordy handles situations.
- Work a shift at the diner to earn cash
- Practice with the band
- Go to Yoga
- Burrow money
These among others are choice and every choice affects stats like money, mental health, social standing, and band progress. The loop isn’t punishing, but it is tight. You can’t do everything. Something will slip.
And that’s the point.
The game captures the modern creative grind beautifully — the constant trade off between stability and passion. Do you take extra shifts to stay financially safe, or risk it to rehearse for a show that might flop?
It’s stressful in a very real, very relatable way.
Perfect blend of gameplay and story beats
To keep the pacing lively, the game weaves in small minigames, including rhythm-based band performances and fun interactive shifts as a waitress. They’re not mechanically deep, but they add depth and prevent the experience from becoming a graphic novel. Performing with the band, in particular, feels satisfying because it represents the payoff for your earlier decisions. When a show goes well, it feels earned.
Where Dead Pets truly shines is in its writing. The tone swings comfortably between absurd humor and emotional vulnerability. Characters are messy and flawed in ways that feel human despite their demonic appearances. Conversations are sharp, awkward, and often painfully honest. The game explores creative burnout, fear of failure, drifting friendships, and the quiet pressure of falling “behind” in life. It doesn’t offer easy solutions, but it does offer empathy.
My Conclusion
Dead Pets is a fantastic combination of minigames, graphic novels and life simulation. For a very affordable price you can experience all the struggles of life in a stylised, overflowing with humour and wacky characters game. If anything about this game intrigues you, rest assured everything surrounding it will pull you in even more.
