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Interactive Moving Images: Stay Dead

Imagine playing a game with a friend next to you on the couch perched on the arm of your office chair and saying to that friend: "You thought this was a movie, didn't you, but it's actually a fighting game with 150 different techniques distributed in 5 stages." Of course, you'd only say that if you weren't a person at all but were, instead, the press release for BRUCEfilm's Stay Dead. "Forget about the old interactive movies from the 80's" you'd go on to say, "Stay Dead is a fast action arcade game with total freedom of action, combined with a cinematographic direction." Perhaps you'd add that it's out now and then re-enact the utterly brilliant trailer. Watch.

Pay attention, there's a quiz to follow.

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1) Has the actor with a speaking part:

A) secured the script in his lap having never seen it before.

B) been shot in the leg.

C) messed his trousers mid-sentence.

2) Which developer's logo does BRUCEfilm's remind you of?

A) Lucasarts.

B) Lucasarts.

C) Lucasarts.

3) Does one of the enemies go FWAAARRRGGHHH?

A) Definitely.

B) It's more of a DWAAAARRRGH.

C) FWAAAAAARGGHHHH!

4) Is there just one sound effect for punches?

A) I counted two.

B) I think it's half a sound effect.

C) Yes. And a bonus one for being hit with a stick.

I only have the answer to question two. It's B, Lucasarts.

I haven't played it but it looks to be a sort of rhythm action beat 'em up, with actual footage of people pretending to beat each other up as a reward for the correct inputs.

You can buy Stay Dead now or you can just watch the trailer again and chortle to yourself.

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Adam Smith: Adam wrote for Rock Paper Shotgun between 2011-2018, rising through the ranks to become its Deputy Editor. He now works at Larian Studios on Baldur's Gate 3.
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