Hong Kong-Inspired Bodycam FPS Better Than Dead Lands on Steam May 12

Monte Gallo's bodycam FPS Better Than Dead launches in Steam Early Access on May 12, the developer confirmed alongside a new gameplay trailer packed with Hong Kong cinema-style action. The trailer doubles as the title's release date reveal.

The studio plans to keep the game in Early Access for six to 12 months. When it exits that window, the full release will add a hardcore mode called "For Heaven," additional levels, and what the developer is calling the game's true ending. The Early Access build still ships with a full campaign, framing May 12 as a substantial package rather than a gated demo. The Steam page notes that the team will use the Early Access period to improve and expand the game based on player feedback.

Better Than Dead first surfaced last year as part of the small but expanding bodycam subgenre, the photo-realistic FPS niche popularised by Bodycam after that game's viral gameplay reveal. The genre has steadily picked up new entries since. I think the visual hook is what pushed the subgenre into wider attention — first-person footage framed to mimic police body camera output, with the compression artefacts, head-bob, and off-kilter framing that style implies.

Where Better Than Dead diverges from its peers is the setting. While it shares the gritty tone of Bodycam, the trailer leans hard into Hong Kong action cinema, citing John Woo and Yuen Woo-ping as direct inspirations. The press release describes the game as built around immediacy and tension, with mechanics stripped down to movement, reaction, and execution.

"Encounters are short, unforgiving, and decisive. Mistakes are costly. Success is earned."

— Monte Gallo

I read that pitch as closer to a tactical shooter rhythm than a power-fantasy one, in line with the documentary-style camera work the bodycam genre has settled on.

Better Than Dead arrives on Steam on May 12.