10 Dead Doves – PC Review

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Developed and published by Duonix Studios, 10 Dead Doves is a single-player, narrative horror game with elements of adventure and comedy to ease players’ journey. After successfully meeting their funding goal on Kickstarter in 2023, 10 Dead Doves was released on December 13th, 2024, and is available to purchase on Steam for £20.99.

10 Dead Dove-craftian Horrors

Two friends are hiking in search of an urban legend, with a mystery of dying birds and horrors lurking, and looming.  – what’s not to enjoy? Read on to decide if 10 Dead Doves is a 10/10 Dead Love.

Screenshot of the game 10 Dead Doves - You can see the main character Mark, standing in front of a monolith covered in grafitti. This is in a forest setting.
Monolith. Monolith. MONO. LITH.

Gameplay

Players are introduced to the game with a found-footage sequence of two friends wandering around the Appalachian wilderness, Marcus Stetson and his hiker buddy, Sean. The former is an experienced backpacker and the latter, is a comedic relief and general hijinks instigator.

You walk through the forest as Mark, walking through a trail following the sounds of a kazoo somewhere in the distance. This is where players are introduced to the controls, which similarly to the game’s retro themes, uses tank controls. This does take some time to get used to but easy to grasp.

A screenshot of the game 10 Dead Doves. You can see the main character Mark and his friend walking towards a gas station. There is a caption that says "a magician never reveals their secrets"
Mark and Sean – Supply Run Simulator.

You catch up to Sean, the aforementioned kazoo player, next to a locked gate that leads to Paradise Lot. After crawling through a tunnel to get to the other side, you unlock the gate to start exploring. Walking through abandoned camping sites, the pair discover a significant amount of dead birds in the area. After answering a ringing phone and continuing, more birds fall to their deaths.  Mark falls to the ground, unwell and unlike himself continues further on and reaches a graffitied monolith. Thus begins the first of many strange dream-like sequences and intros to some of the unusual characters.

Along the journey, you discover more about the motivations of the main characters, their relationships as well as what it means to discover the urban legend of a mythical place called the Ant Farm.

On the trail

In terms of gameplay, the majority of it involves walking through the Appalachian Trail, discovering clues, and solving puzzles. Players have access to a Journal, Inventory, Map, and Visions. There is no hot bar or quick equip option, so using an item involves going into your inventory and selecting it.

This review was tested with both a mouse and keyboard and a controller, with the controller being the most comfortable option.

Screenshot of the game 10 Dead Doves. You can see a bulletin board overfilled with various different coloured flyers and adverts. In red paint and bold lettering, read "Ant Farm or Bust"
Keeping up with the Appalachian Trail bulletin.

Graphics & Audio

For this review, 10 Dead Doves was played on PC via Steam. There were no graphical errors or glitches during my playthrough, and everything ran smoothly.

The game’s overall concept and art style work well together, capturing the nostalgia of late 90s horror flicks and retro horror games. The game uses fantastic sound design and combines it with a fixed-camera style, which injects horror effectively throughout the story. To me, it is reminiscent of the games my older siblings would play on our PlayStation, such as Resident Evil, combined with the likes of Blair Witch Project films.

A major positive discovery is that the game is fully voice-acted, with great cinematic cutscenes. This is quite rare in indie games but Duonix managed to achieve this successfully, as most of the emotional and comedic tones would have been lost without it.

A screenshot of the game 10 Dead Doves. The image is in black and white, with Mark walking towards a tent like object.
The first of many dream sequences in 10 Dead Doves.

Longevity

Most players will be able to complete the game in a couple of hours, over the weekend. It could take anywhere between 4 -5 hours. Although for newcomers to the genre, this may be longer. There are also no Steam achievements to earn. Which I found jarring and seemed a wasted opportunity. 10 Dead Doves is the perfect game to include some interesting and strange badges in my opinion!

Final Thoughts

Overall, 10 Dead Doves is a wonderful and weird experience, that constantly keeps you on your toes. You never really know what to expect, whether it is a vivid dream sequence or a Saw-like test that’s timed. As someone who struggles to play horror games, 10 Dead Doves does a perfect job pacing the horror with perfectly timed comedic relief, lulling you into a sense of safety only to surprise you again. The gameplay isn’t overly complex, which works well as it allows the story to shine. The voice acting is commendable and fits the overall tone of an early 2000s horror movie, combined with an original score making 10 Dead Doves a fully-packaged game made with passion.

I award 10 Dead Doves the Thumb Culture Platinum Award.

 

Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.

If you’re interested in adding more horror games to your library, why not check out Kyle’s review of Go Home Annie.

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