Brain Dead 13 is an interactive movie game reminiscent of Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace that uses full-motion video (FMV) to present the story and gameplay, which consists entirely of quick-time events, where players assume the role of Lance Galahad in order to defeat Dr. Nero Neurosis from conquering the world at his castle and its residents as the main objective.

During gameplay, exploration is freer than in most previously released interactive movie games, with most rooms linked to crossroads that leave the route for finding the Brain Chamber up to the players. Even crossroads are done as quick-time events. Failure to choose a path as soon as Lance reaches a crossroads and to use the other actions as well as choosing the dangerous path results in the game displaying the failure scenes, in which Lance is killed by Fritz or by his other enemies or obstacles or he falls to his doom.

The death scenes are often rather violent, but over-the-top in their cartoony approach. However, the player has infinite lives, and after the death sequence, there is a revival sequence, where Lance revives in ways that depend on which scene he was killed in.