ActionIndie
Dead Effect
Give it 4 hours
Gets good by 4h then rated almost like by veterans
Fully opens up by 7h rated like by long-time players
Reach the ending 24% of players who started
Started playing 56% of owners
Steam reviews 73% positive of 3,784
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours almost 1 in 2 reviews are negative (44%); after 7h it's 1 in 8 (12%).
- Fully opens up by hour 7.
- 24% of players who start reach the ending.
- The biggest drop-off is between “Sleeping Quarters - Awakening” and “Communication Hub - Welcome back”: from 100% to 70% of starters.
- Only 56% of owners have even the first achievement — the rest barely played.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 3,802 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 298 reviews: 6.3h for positive, 2.5h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (55.5% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Sleeping Quarters - Awakening Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 100%
- Communication Hub - Welcome back Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. Most players quit here 70% −30
- DTox Center - Back in the fight Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 50% −20
- Data Fields - Double trouble Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 42% −8
- Cargo Bay - One way to end Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 31% −12
- Propulsion Shaft - Lab rat Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 28% −2
- Propulsion Core - Way to hell Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 27% −2
- Decontamination Zone - Live to fight again Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 26%
- Zero Laboratory - Man of the people Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 26%
- Arterial Passage - Army of darkness Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 25%
- Inner Net - The darkest hour Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 25%
- System Core - System shock Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 24% −1
- Man of steel Complete game on basic difficulty. 24%
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (61)
story milestone ending side
- Sleeping Quarters - Awakening Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 100%
- Communication Hub - Welcome back Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 70%
- Eagle eye Kill 100 monsters with headshots. 54%
- DTox Center - Back in the fight Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 50%
- DTox Center - Lie down and stay there Kill at least 5 zombies at the same time without reloading. 50%
- Data Fields - Double trouble Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 42%
- Data Fields - Weapon specialist Kill at least 7 enemies with headshots. 42%
- Communication Hub - I need money Collect all credits in the whole level. 33%
- Zombie slayer Killing 500 zombies. 33%
- Communication Hub - Save my life Eliminate the combat turret without getting hit. 31%
- Data Fields - Area clear Kill all the contaminated to clear the whole area. 31%
- Cargo Bay - One way to end Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 31%
- Stungun rookie Killing 50 zombies with the stungun. 29%
- Propulsion Shaft - Lab rat Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 28%
- Zombie destroyer Killing 1000 zombies. 27%
- Propulsion Core - Way to hell Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 27%
- Decontamination Zone - Live to fight again Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 26%
- Zero Laboratory - Man of the people Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 26%
- Arterial Passage - Army of darkness Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 25%
- Inner Net - The darkest hour Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 25%
- Propulsion Shaft - Be perfect Use all the augmentation terminals. 25%
- Man of steel Complete game on basic difficulty. 24%
- System Core - System shock Finish the mission at the basic level of difficulty. 24%
- Propulsion Core - I want to be the best Find and use all the augmentation terminals. 23%
- Decontamination Zone - Don't need my ability Finish the mission without using the special ability. 21%
- Sleeping Quarters - Immortal Use the healing terminal when you have only the last segment on the health bar. 19%
- Stungun novice Killing 100 zombies with the stungun. 18%
- AlphaComplex - Death on arrival Survive within the specified time limit. 18%
- AlphaComplex - The final sacrifice Survive within the specified waves of infected enemies. 17%
- Take it to the max Upgrade at least one weapon up to the maximum of all your values. 17%
- DTox Center - Nothing to sacrifice Eliminate the miniboss without getting hit. 17%
- Arterial Passage - Don't waste my time Eliminate all the combat turrets without getting hit. 17%
- I like healing Use the regeneration chamber 20 times. 14%
- Zero Laboratory - Bull's-eye Kill at least 6 zombies with headshots without reloading. 13%
- Nexus - First blood Survive within the specified time limit. 12%
- Nexus - Fight to the end Survive within the specified waves of infected enemies. 12%
- Hangar13 - Last man standing Survive within the specified time limit. 12%
- Treasure hunter You must collect 500.000 of all available credits in whole game. 11%
- Isolation - Out of justice Survive within the specified time limit. 11%
- Isolation - Believe in a hero Survive within the specified waves of infected enemies. 11%
- DeltaSector - Cowboys from hell Survive within the specified time limit. 11%
- Nucleus - Born to raise hell Survive within the specified time limit. 11%
- Nucleus - Living legend Survive within the specified waves of infected enemies. 10%
- DeltaSector - Shadow of death Survive within the specified waves of infected enemies. 10%
- Hangar13 - Man of honor Survive within the specified waves of infected enemies. 10%
- Sleeping Quarters - Stungun specialist Use only the stungun to finish the mission. 10%
- Inner Net - Specialist Finish the mission using only one type of the weapon. 9.2%
- Propulsion Shaft - Shake it baby Kill 10 zombies with headshots using your special ability. 8.6%
- Arterial Passage - Running man Finish the mission without using the special ability or healing terminals. 8.5%
- I am legend Complete game on new game plus difficulty. 7.9%
- Cargo Bay - I don't like healing Finish the mission without using the healing terminal. 7.7%
- Decontamination Zone - You cannot kill me Finish the mission without losing any health. 7.7%
- Stungun master Killing 500 zombies with the stungun. 7.2%
- Zombie champion Killing 5000 zombies. 7.2%
- System Core - Take him down! Finish the mission without using the healing terminal. 7.2%
- System Core - Smash and burn baby Finish the mission in less than 7 minutes. 7.0%
- Cargo Bay - Shoot 'em down Finish the mission using only the secondary weapon. 6.7%
- Zero Laboratory - I have everything Finish the mission with the success rate exceeding 85%. 6.7%
- Inner Net - That was easy Finish the mission without losing any health. 6.5%
- Propulsion Core - Hurry up Finish the mission in less than 10 minutes with the success rate exceeding 75%. 6.1%
- Zombie overseer Killing 10000 zombies. 5.9%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-19.