Dead Ahead

Dead Ahead wants you to believe you’re humanity’s last hope. Realistically, you’re just the unlucky soul stuck defending a rustbucket school bus against a never-ending conga line of undead freaks. Equal parts tower defense, light tactics, and pixelated chaos, it’s a game about hurling survivors into the grinder over and over and hoping one of them comes out the other side with both arms attached.

The setup is simple: your bus breaks down in America’s least friendly post-apocalyptic neighborhoods. On the right? A blockade. On the left? You, a ragtag militia of hoodie-wearing misfits, and a dream. In between? A buffet of zombies ranging from groaning shamblers to bullet-reflecting juggernauts called “Lubbers” that make you wish you’d stayed home and studied law instead.

You’ll deploy units using “courage,” drop support gadgets with “rage,” and watch as your brave crew either gets the job done or immediately turns into enemy reinforcements. It’s a tight feedback loop, blow stuff up, collect coins, level up your squad, then do it again. And again. And again. It’s not deep, but it is hypnotic in that “one more run” kind of way, even when your AI allies insist on jogging face-first into a fire trap for the fifth time.

Dead Ahead almost nails the arcade-loop-meets-apocalypse aesthetic. The pixel art’s gory charm is undeniable, with each zombie lovingly rendered in crunchy detail and each survivor’s death just the right amount of tragic. The soundtrack, however, overstays its welcome fast, looping into oblivion like a haunted ringtone from 2011.

But for all its charm, Dead Ahead is a game at war with itself. The gameplay is fun in short bursts, but it’s dragged down by clunky menus, repetitive missions, and a monetization system that asks for your wallet even after charging an upfront fee. Oh, and don’t get too attached to your save file, it may vanish like your optimism after Stage 6.

Still, when it works, Dead Ahead is a bizarrely satisfying cocktail of strategy-lite combat, pixel gore, and grimy humor. It may not be the smartest zombie game out there, but it sure knows how to sink its teeth in.

Come for the bus. Stay for the brains. Leave before the bugs.