Dead Format
A downloadable game for Windows
Dead Format is a survival horror game set across iconic film eras. It's late 90s Scotland, and your brother has gone missing after becoming obsessed with a mysterious new video tape format called GHL. Follow his trail through the tapes and uncover why the government wants to ban the "Video Ghastlies".
This is the demo of the full game!
Wishlist the full game on Steam!
If you have any feedback or bugs to report please put them in this form!
Survive the cursed tapes
Your apartment is the hub. Here you can review clues, catch your breath, and prepare for the journey ahead. Use the television set and insert GHL tapes to open the door to new worlds, each one with its own inspiration. Search for clues and face the nightmares in universes inspired by Silent Era Cinema, Italian Giallo films, 80s Body Horror, Found Footage and more.
Classic Film meets Survival Horror
- Scavenge and Solve: Search for supplies to stay alive and uncover key items to solve puzzles, unlocking your path forward.
- Unusual Arsenal: Arm yourself with weapons and tools inspired by the film worlds you’ll explore.
- Live-Action Video: Discover eerie live-action footage that blurs the line between fiction and reality.
- Classic Survival Design: Your apartment is the only place you can save the game. Find shortcuts and new paths to progress on your journey.
- Survive Twisted Worlds: Each world comes with its own enemies, puzzles, and bosses to defeat.
A Mixed Media Game
Unique blend of indie film-making and game. The live action footage, which was recorded and edited by myself with friends and family (thank you so much for being a part of it!). I experimented with all sorts of techniques including stop motion, sculpting, latex mask making, green-screen, puppetry, VHS signal distortion and abstract water-tank fx. Each tape provides a nostalgic window into the worlds players will explore and tips for gameplay.
Controls
| ACTION | MOUSE KEYBOARD | CONTROLLER |
|---|---|---|
| Walk | WASD | Left Analogue |
| Interact | E | Cross/A |
| Inventory | Tab | Triangle/Y |
| Crouch | Ctrl | R3 |
| Sprint | Shift | L1/LB |
| Peak | Space+WASD | R1/RB+Left Analogue |
| Aim | Right Mouse | L2/LT |
| Fire | Left Mouse | R2/RT |
| Reload | R | Square/X |
| Quick Item | 1-4 | D-Pad |
| Menu | Esc | Start |
What is in this demo?
- Investigate the apartment of your missing brother
- Explore the early parts of the silent era and the body horror 80s
- Watch live action film clips with home-made practical fx all recorded through real VHS!
Recommended Specs: Please Read!
| Processor | Ryzen 7 2700X / Intel i7-9700K |
| RAM | 16 GB |
| Graphics Card | AMD RX 5070 / Nvidia 2060 |
| OS | Windows 10 or 11 |
If you have any feedback or bugs to report please put them in this form!
Download
Install instructions
Download and extract the .zip file. Double click the DeadFormatDemo.exe file to run the game.
If you have not previously installed them then you may have to install the UE5 prerequisites. You can find the installer in the folder DeadFormatDemo\Engine\Extras\Redist\en-us\UEPrereqSetup_x64.exe
Any issues or questions, please email me katanalevy@gmail.com
For feedback please put them in this form!
Development log
- Dead Format Demo Now Available!30 days ago
Comments
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I cant tell you how much i enjoyed this game really good something unique i like unique when it comes out i am buying this game
This was FUN! I loved the visuals and the atmosphere was amazing!! I can't wait to see what you've got going next!
Honestly, this was such a unique concept. Probably on my top 5 horror games. Can't wait for the full release!
The introduction alone has me convinced this game is going to be amazing
I want to download this using the itch.io desktop app but it isn't correctly set up for that. It says "hosted on incompatible third party website" but then just links back to this page
I'm not sure if it's possible with games over 1GB. You have to externally host them for larger games. If I get some time I'll see if there are any third party sites they do support for the app.
spanish :(?
I've built the game to hopefully allow for various localisation some time after the full launch of the game.
ok </3 :c thanks
Increible demo, esperocon muchas ansias el juego completo
Awesome game love the home videos very cool and looked like a lot of fun to make. cant wait to get to play more!
This was amazing dude, make sure to check out my video!
I loved the visual effects of the movie worlds. I was amazed by how you felt like you were in an old horror movie. It's such a cool concept for a game. I look forward to see the full game! Amazing work!
This IMMEDIATELY went on my Steam wishlist. This is hands down one of the coolest games I have ever seen on Itchio. I was so upset when I got to the end of it. Please keep this up. I am extremely excited to play the full game.
This is going STRAIGHT in my wishlist haha!
Really excellent idea of using tapes to progress, heal and other bits. I hope with the full release we do find something to help go through the dead part, felt like I missed something :P I tried to even crouch to be quiet, but they were still coming.
I did read the news paper, but I forgot to unpause when i was reading, but without it, I don't think I'd have had a lot to think about.
I am excited to see the demo! I hope to see what more comes from you! It was also cool to see Easter Eggs of previous games, like Symphony of Seven Souls.
Here is my full gameplay!
really cool idea and very well done! i loved it!
This game is awesome, its fun and scary. A new style of horror. Watch me beat this game here
Thanks for playing!
This game is SICK! (aside from some frame issues) The game ran smooth, the puzzles were clear, and the concept is unique and different from other VHS style horrors you find. Getting to see what you have to confront beforehand in film, versus having to face it in game is amazing. Excited for the full release, filled out the form as well. Great work!
Hey thanks for playing, great video! I think your system may not be able to handle the game at full settings while you are streaming at the same time. I'd recoomend turning down some of the graphics options. You can also adjust mouse sensitivity from in there too. Also it would be great to know if you were running the game from a mechanical hard drive or from an SSD? I think the video stuttering may be cuased by the game trying to stream video from the hard drive and also recording your stream at the same time.
ah you may be right. it was my internal hard drive, and i didn't mess with any of the graphical options either. I'll probably give it another run through to see if that fixes anything, and if not I'll look in a little more. just not used to my pc struggling with anything lol, but thank you for the tips!
Yeah it uses a lot of advanced UE5 features and Lumen ray tracing is turned on by default so switching that off at least can help a lot! Also image scaling is off so you get your monitor's full resolution. Turning on TSR, DLSS or FSR and adjusting the resolution percentage will have a huge impact.
I've been trying to stay on top of optimisation for the game, but I'll be spending more dedicated time on it before the full game comes out.
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played it for 3 hours good game!
There is SOO much love put into this game, holyyy i cannot wait to see more and where the story goes. All the mixed media is so beautifully done and its just so easy to see how much thought and creativity went into this. Keep up the amazing work!!
This game has a very unique concept, can't wait for it's full release!
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Super fun concept — I was hooked right away. Great work!
this game was good
The found footage style and strong atmosphere are really well done. Can't wait for the full game!
W GAME DEFINITELY LOOK FORWARD TO THE FULL RELEASE
The game has a great atmosphere, well done.
Bro, this Game is a Masterpiece. I Can't Wait For The Full Version. 😲 5/5
Hell of a demo and great first impression. Can't wait to see what the full game is like!
For being a demo, this was rock solid indeed! Amazing concept for far and cannot wait for it to become a full game with many more tapes to explore! Made a video on it.
I have 2 words for you Dev, bloody awesome! I am so excited for the full release of this game :)
Very awesome game. I got it on my wishlist.
really creepy game
I love the nostalgia for the old film.
Thanks very much for playing and sharing on your channel! I think the performance issues might have been causing a lot of the glitches and crashes you ran into. Might be worth lowering some settings to get a better experience.
i loved the aesthetic, the graphics looked great & it was genuinely creepy
i got past the violin dude but couldnt figure out how to progress past the two women that came up from the ground or the lab puzzle, however i would never claim to be the best at puzzles in games so there is that haha i usually just look at the walkthrough to get past the puzzle and get back to experiencing the story but i still had fun. i did however play it while streaming on twitch and every time i put the first tape in the vcr my obs studio crashed and my stream went offline. i tried 2 or 3 more times and the same thing happened. then i finally switch from game capture to display capture to show the game and closed out all other programs i had running at the time (stream deck, SnapCam, voicemod, etc) and it played fine after that.
i think it has alot of potential and i would love to play the finished version in the future
Thanks for playing! Sorry to hear you had some issues with the capture. It's probably something to do with it streaming the video media file from the hard disk to play it, if OBS is trying to write to that same hard drive at the same time. Or perhaps even a codec conflict. Glad you managed to get it working in the end and hopefully there will be some alkthroughs up when the full game comes out as there will be a few more puzzles in the game!
Can you upload it to google drive or some other. I facing downloading issues for this link?
Sorry to hear you are having issue with it. Normally Filen is a very good premium service but since you are the 2nd person to mention issues I have moved it over to GDrive now. Let me know if you are still getting issues.
Very nice 👍
Amazing Game , Here is the Turkish Gameplay!
Great video! Tanks for playing and for translating for your audience!
I particularly liked that each GHL has a particular style, will be interesting to see if you can flit between the worlds when you get back to the hub. If you're a fan of schlocky horror from the 80's then you'll definitely get a buzz from 'Sewer Smile.' I loved the John Carpenter reference and that each 'zone' has its own mechanisms and puzzles.
WHEN IS THE FULL GAME OUT??? SHUDDUP AND TAKE MY MONEY ALREADY!
Thanks so much for playing and for sharing on your channel! So glad you enjoyed it and love it when someone gets the John Carpenter references. Aim is to have the game out by the end of the year so I'm working like crazy on it at the moment.
Congratulations to the creators of "Dead Format" a great action-puzzle game. I'd like the creators of this game to please subscribe to my channel. Thank you. I'm really excited for your help. Best regards!
Thanks for playing and sharing on your channel!
Thank you, please subscribe to my YouTube channel, it is very important to me, greetings
Next time be so kind to upload the game to gofile or mediafire. It took me two days to download the archive properly as it kept dropping the download too many times.
Sorry to hear that! Typically Filen is really good as it's a premium service compared to the free ones. I'll test the download speeds later and make sure the service is working correctly tho, thanks for letting me know.
This is about the coolest idea for a horror game I've come across, and it's implemented really well here. I seriously can't wait for the full game. I need more now!