Dead Pets: A Punk Rock Slice of Life Review – The Essential Performance

Dead Pets: A Punk Rock Slice of Life is a rock music slice-of-life game developed by Triple Topping and published by Akupara Games. You must navigate life of Gordy, a 30-year-old female band member whose world is constantly changing. Gordy’s life seems to have stagnated compared to her family, friends, and others around her. The band gets a big break with a potential new manager who can make them successful. But Gordy’s mental wellbeing is shattered by an unwanted assault. Will she be able to make a band a success or is it too late for her dreams and time to move on with life?

The game starts with a humorous tone and it never loses this, however it quickly grows serious after Gordy’s assault. Not just with the gravity of the incident, but also how the lives of others are changing around her. Even though Gordy keeps a brave front, she’s clearly struggling to balance everything while keeping her dreams alive. Her emotions are never played for laughs. How she feels, especially after the assault, strikes a nerve. Having to act like nothing happened while her assaulter assists the band is a true gut-punch. Seeing that her friends are pursuing other dreams outside the band makes Gordy wonder if the band truly has hope, and her family comparing her to her more “successful” sibling doesn’t help.

If you have ever gone through a period where you aren’t sure what the future holds, this story could be relatable. Seeing the lives of your friends change could make you relate to Gordy’s struggles. Interacting with someone who has hurt you sparks complex emotions inside you, making you sympathize with Gordy and search for a way out. Even if you can’t fully relate to Gordy’s struggles, there’s always something in the story that will strike a chord with you.

Gordy’s resources throughout Dead Pets are limited. She has real-world responsibilities, like paying rent, but must also finance her band’s newfound success. You must also consider Gordy’s well being, band “power” or interest, and her desire to be sociable. There are several times she must make a choice, balancing her mental well-being with her desires. For example, you can ask Gordy’s family for a loan but this will make her feel uncomfortable.

These choices affect how the game proceeds and will give you one of many endings. However, said choices are not inconsequential in the short-term. If you do not have enough resources to make a choice, you are forced into making the other. For example, if you don’t have enough money to lend a friend, you must turn them down. You might also not have enough mental well-being and must be sarcastic during a friend’s emotional moment. This forces you to carefully consider what resources you have available and what you can afford to choose. Asking friends for money seems like a horrible decision that ruins your social points, but can you afford to pay for medical procedures and rent without that money? If you are too drained of mental wellbeing, you won’t offer support to a friend in need. However, this may assist you in helping another friend without any issue.

These costs are a great reflection of the impact of real-life decisions. It may be easy to attempt to be a saint who helps everyone, but if you genuinely don’t have the mental wellbeing or money to do that, the game won’t let you. Trying to be too nice is nearly impossible, forcing you to choose moments where you can’t be a perfect person. It seems harsh but it also reminds you that Gordy’s life isn’t easy to navigate. She still has times where she can’t offer support or pay on time. Dealing with that reality isn’t easy but it also helps you understand the story’s themes.

Making tense decisions is slightly undercut by the game’s lack of explanations or consequences. For example, you are introduced to Gordy’s diner job early on. It’s one of your main sources of money as well as a reflection of her stagnating life. What the game doesn’t tell you is that you can actually work at the diner more than the mandatory work sessions. This artificially reduces the money supply despite the fact that Gordy could actually improve her life with extra shifts. While more shifts won’t necessarily make Gordy a better person, it solves a lot of her money problems. It also creates dissonance at times where Gordy is looking for money, but she never brings up more shifts at the diner. Even if you run out of money, there’s only one instance where it’s an actual problem. This hurts some choices since if you know that money isn’t that much of a big deal, it cheapens the value of making said choice.

The lack of explanations also affects some of the mini-games. Working in the diner is described as seating customers, taking their order, serving them, then clearing the table. However you are expected to serve drinks and the game never mentions this. Without finding the ability to do this by chance, you might be stuck at the diner with no way to proceed. There are other duties that you must perform as well, such as serving cake or differentiating orders that are never mentioned.

Dead Pets’ mini-games can also be inconvenient through its mechanics. Gordy has an office job mini-game where she must perform simple math equations. Unfortunately, she may be asked to input a two-digit answer in a one-digit space. This isn’t possible and she is forced into failure. In another example, you must sometimes serve cake to diners. However, you can only take a maximum of two cakes, which inconveniences you when serving three or four diners.

Coupled with bugs that make you unable to proceed or remove text from bubbles, the gameplay can drag the story down. You might wish to make Gordy more successful, but frustratingly the game acts against you. This turns the amusing mini-games into sources of repetitive dread.

Dead Pets: A Punk Rock Slice of Life strikes an amazing balance between humorous and serious topics. Seeing Gordy’s struggles is relatable for anyone who feels concerned about changes in their life. However, the game’s mechanics drag the story down and there are bugs that can ruin your experience. It’s a feminist game with a message for everyone that you should ignore at your own peril.

Victor reviewed Dead Pets: A Punk Rock Slice of Life on PC with a provided review code. This review is based on the version of the game available at the time of writing and our score will not be changed.