Dead Format Demo Impressions

We should have learned a lesson about haunted VHS tapes by now.

What is Dead Format?

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Publisher: Oro Interactive

Developer: Katanalevy

Platform: Played on PC

Availability: Q4 2025

Dead Format is a survival horror game set in 1990s Scotland. The premise is simple: your brother has gone missing after becoming obsessed with a mysterious new VHS format. The player character must piece together and follow his trail through the tapes and uncover why the government wants to ban "Video Ghastlies".

The demo starts you out in an apartment, which serves as the hub for this horror romp. Within this space you’ll be able to review clues, watch the VHS tapes you find, and just generally get a breather from the horrors that roam. Using the VHS tapes you come across, you’ll enter disturbing worlds inspired by Silent Era Cinema, Italian Giallo films, 80s Body Horror, Found Footage and more.

Our Impressions

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The atmosphere of Dead Format is top-notch. The videos have a The Ring-like quality to them, and the areas each VHS tape generates captures the feel of the videos perfectly. There are only two tapes to play through in the demo, but each is distinct in the threats you face and the aesthetic they adhere to. The graveyard/catacombs area is spooky, shrouded in fog that hides the gothic architecture in a black-and-white chromatic landscape, while the other feature is much more grimy, grotesque, and alien. Sound design in these areas is also excellent, using both ambient noise and creatures to really set that sense of dread. 

On the graphical side of things, I think the game looks great, and the shifting aesthetic really impressed me. There were some serious performance hitches throughout that I hope get addressed, though. I ran into some stuttering and outright freezes a few times while playing. Those hitches can sometimes cause inputs to be lost if they directly coincide. 

Overall, the game looks phenomenal, and my only regret is that I don’t like the horror genre enough to fully appreciate everything that it’s doing.

Dead Format is set to release later this year.