There are so many roguelikes and roguelites now that it's getting harder and harder to stand out, and that's something Have a Nice Death doesn't quite overcome. By and large, this is a perfectly decent side-scrolling action game, but it doesn't reach the upper echelons of this competitive niche.
You play as Death, fatigued by his paperwork-heavy job and frustrated by his subordinates, who've been doing too good a job of bringing souls to the afterlife. You set out into the sprawling, randomly generated departments of Death Inc., defeating those bosses and getting things back in order.
One of the game's biggest strengths is how it looks — like a Saturday morning cartoon, it's crisply animated and full of personality. Equally, attacking enemies feels great, with fast-paced combos and options to attack above or below making for kinetic bouts. There are various iterations on your main weapon, and lots of secondary offensive options to discover that expand your attack pool; ranged fireballs or heavy sword swings, for instance.
Each run has you exploring various floors before fighting a boss, then moving onto the next department. It's your standard roguelike structure, and the bosses are more often than not the best parts of each attempt at making it through. There're some really imaginative designs and attack patterns in these encounters, but sadly the same can't be said for most of the other enemies. Level design and basic enemies are lacking, and a lot of the game quickly becomes very repetitive as a result. Add on top some very hard-to-read attacks, especially when a lot of baddies are on-screen, and it can be a little discouraging to keep going.
However, there's a good, steady sense of progression, and elevators that take you to the end of each department alleviate some of the repetition. When you get on a good run and build yourself up with beneficial buffs and powerful attacks, the game starts to sing. There's definitely plenty to like about Have a Nice Death, but its flaws prevent it from reaching the heights of its contemporaries.
Comments 7
I initially thought this article was about PSVR2 when I glimpsed at the headline.
I disagree. I am loving the game and it does progression nicely. Just the other day I bought the AK-xolotl game and my God the progression is so slow and bad in that game that it makes it unfun. But I understand some of the criticisms like the lack of variety
I do think its unfair to just compare every roguelite to dead cells
I'm getting Roguelike fatigue.
How would the difficulty of this one rate? I loved Rogue Legacy and could beat the main game just fine, but I tend to lose interest in anything too difficult. 😹
@glassmusic im played on switch. Dead cells and hades is like 10x better. Lack of enemy design,level too short,boss is damn hard etc etc.
I’m one third into the game and there’s some crazy difficulty spikes, but the gameplay loop is actually very enjoyable. However I agree level design could be more dense. Most of the rooms are corridors without any environmental objects or traps, and thus the game relies a lot (too much ?) on its boss encounters. These are great, and the art style is simply amazing, but I wonder how repetitive it can get past the 20th hour.
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