We’ve heard of people going to great lengths to impress someone they like. We mean, we saw something similar not long ago in Stupid Never Dies, but fighting through a zombie apocalypse just to get a date is taking things a little too far. Or being a tad desperate. Or both. We’re not judging, though, especially after seeing how that works out in Cute & Dead, a rather silly VR arcade shooter that combines shooting undead creatures with rescuing girls and taking them dancing. Yes, dancing, of all things. Apparently, even the end of the world can’t stop the school disco.
All This Trouble for a Date?
Our hero has finally gathered enough courage to ask the girl of his dreams to the school disco. The thing is, the timing couldn’t have been worse. Zombies have overrun the city, and more than thirty girls are now trapped in various locations. Since it’s absolutely ridiculous to be the sensible person here and look for somewhere safe to hide, we decide to rescue the girls and make sure that disco happens, even if we have to fight every zombie in town to accomplish it. Ah, the joys of being young again. Or perhaps just horny. Probably both.
We travel through eight handcrafted maps, shooting enemies while searching for girls who have been locked behind coloured doors. Finding them isn’t enough, though, because each door requires a corresponding key. This means we have to explore the surroundings and keep an eye out for anything that might help us reach the next survivor. There are also secrets scattered throughout the levels, so exploring is part of the fun.
The locations include suburban neighbourhoods and a military base, and some of the girls have managed to get themselves trapped in places like bathrooms and basements. No worries, Nerdy comes to the rescue! All joking aside, it’s a fun game with well-executed mechanics. At no point did we want to stop exploring, and we thoroughly enjoyed spending time in this colourful world.
To deal with the zombies, we have ten different weapons at our disposal, and to make things even more interesting, they’re not exactly what you’d expect to find during a zombie apocalypse. So, we hope you’re in the mood for using squirt guns and freeze rays, as well as soda-can grenades and a toy bazooka for that extra oomph. Each weapon also comes with an alternate firing mode, and we found them satisfying to use against the undead. But zombies aren’t our only enemies. We also had the absolute pleasure of dealing with mummies and skeletons. Amid all this madness, we had our loyal dog to keep us company and lend us a hand. Well, a paw. Or perhaps a few teeth and claws.
Let’s Dance!
Once rescued, the girls join us at the disco, where we can dance with them and participate in mini-games. There are four types of activities, including dancing and reaction-based challenges. The characters’ personalities determine which ones they’ll take part in. For example, Daisy is a country girl who enjoys rodeos, while Jane is a librarian with a particular fondness for horror novels. These little details help flesh out the characters somewhat and give them some individuality beyond being people we need to rescue. For example, one of the mini-games has us hitting bubbles of specific colours in rhythm, since fighting through a zombie apocalypse isn’t enough to impress the girls. We also need to prove that we can keep up on the dance floor. There’s even a VIP area where we can serve them food and drinks. We went from shooting zombies with toy weapons to playing bartender. Quite the career change, if you ask us.
The disco is great for doing something outside the usual shooting and exploration. It’s a lovely little VR game that’s easy to enjoy in short, fifteen-minute sessions. The activities are fun and easygoing, and the game never overstays its welcome.
Groove On!
Cute & Dead offers a lovely combination of arcade shooting and rescuing characters for a disco. It sounds amusing, and it certainly is, particularly when enjoyed in short VR sessions. If you have a VR headset, we wholeheartedly recommend checking it out. It’s one of the most enjoyable new VR titles we’ve come across, and we’d hate for you to miss it.
Our score: 9/10
- Developer: Deep Type Games
- Publisher: Deep Type Games
- Platforms: Meta Quest, PC VR (Steam version planned)
- Genre: VR Arcade Shooter
- Mode: Single-player
- Playtime: Approximately 15 minutes per run (developer estimate)
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