Hello everyone,
Better Than Dead enters Early Access on May 12.
It feels strange to write that.
This game has been in my head, and then on my screen, for a long time. I have worked on it alone, trying to give shape to something very specific.
Better Than Dead is not a big game made by a big team.
It is a violent, handcrafted game about pressure, revenge, fear, and movement.
The first run is already complete.
There are 14 levels playable from start to finish. I did not want to fill the game with empty content just to make it longer. Every level was built by hand, with its own place, its own atmosphere, and its own reason to exist.
A lot of the difficulty in making Better Than Dead came from trying to hold together things that almost fight each other.
No traditional HUD.
A modern bodycam perspective.
But underneath that, something closer to the raw rhythm of an old arcade shooter.
I wanted the violence to feel close and unstable. Not clean. Not heroic. Not safe.
I also spent a lot of time trying to capture the atmosphere of Hong Kong and Chinese-inspired environments. The signs, interiors, streets, colors, and details mattered to me. I know I am looking at that world from a distance, but I tried to approach it with care, and with respect for a certain kind of 80s and 90s cinema that I have always loved.
Early Access, for me, is not about pretending the game is something it is not.
The first run exists. Now I want to make it stronger.
I want to refine the pacing, difficulty, balance, clarity, performance, game feel, and overall consistency. I want to listen to the people who play it, understand what works, understand what gets in the way, and keep shaping it without losing its identity.
After that, I want to build To Heaven.
To Heaven is planned as a harder, darker extension of the game. A second mode with additional levels and a different conclusion. Something that pushes the experience further.
I also have other ideas, like extra modes or a level select system with ratings and scores, but I do not want to turn this devlog into a list of promises. I would rather be honest and build things properly, one step at a time.
I want to thank everyone in the Discord server, all the playtesters, and MicroProse for helping the project reach this point.
Some of you reported bugs.
Some of you sent videos.
Some of you told me when something felt wrong.
Some of you understood what the game was trying to be before it was fully there.
That helped a lot.
Better Than Dead is a harsh game, but it is also a very personal one.
I hope that comes through when you play it.
Thank you for following the project.
More soon.