Hiroyuki Kobayashi Rejects Soulslike Label for Stupid Never Dies
Hiroyuki Kobayashi says stupid never dies is not a soulslike, and he told his team not to make it one. The producer framed the game as a zombie action RPG with a clear progression system ahead of its Fall 2026 launch on PC via Steam and PS5.
Kobayashi on Stupid Never Dies
"if you’ve never held a controller in your life, clearing Stupid Never Dies is going to be a challenging task," Kobayashi said in an interview with Famitsu. He added, "the game is not a soulslike-style title" and "I explicitly told my team that wasn’t the genre they’d be going for."
The distinction matters because Stupid Never Dies has already been the subject of that rumor, and the studio is presenting it instead as an action RPG built around timed dungeon runs, enemy defeat, item collection and leveling. Kobayashi also said the ending will take about 20 to 30 hours on average, which puts a practical ceiling on what players should expect from the campaign.
Sasaki's progression system
Eiichiro Sasaki, who directs the game, said certain elements of progression reset when the player dies or clears a dungeon. Some abilities carry over and accumulate, so players never get thrown back to zero.
That system is the real counterweight to the soulslike comparison. Stupid Never Dies lets Davy steal defeated enemies' abilities through the Style Eat mechanic, unlock up to ten different monster combat styles, and equip up to two styles at a time while switching between them in real time. The Overtech system adds weapons and implants that work regardless of monster style, and the Davy Burst gauge can instantly raise stats and level Davy up dramatically when activated.
Fall 2026 on Steam and PS5
GPTRACK50 says development is about 90% done, and the game is scheduled to launch in Fall 2026 for PC via Steam and PS5. A live demo event in Los Angeles already put the project in front of players before this latest explanation of its combat model.
Davy, the game's bottom-tier zombie protagonist, is trying to bring his crush Julia back to life, but the more useful detail for players is simpler: Kobayashi wants challenge without punishing genre rules. If the team keeps that balance intact, Stupid Never Dies should land as a faster, more flexible RPG than the soulslike label suggested.
