In this preview we are going to discover Have a Nice Death, a spooky roguelike in which death will be your main fear
The roguelike genre continues to grow in popularity, leading development teams to make titles all the time more interesting and varied. In this case we got to try it in preview Have a Nice Deatha game made by the guys at Magic Design Studios, known for delightful art style oriental made in Unruly Heroes.
The title has Death as its protagonist and is a roguelike in early access only available on Steam for a few weeks. Since launch Have a nice Death is having great success among players and trying it we are ready to tell you what we think about it preview.
Death is in burnout!
The syndrome of burnout it does not please anyone, not even a cold and gloomy being like Death. In fact, on the verge of a nervous breakdown due to an excessive workload, he bursts into a fury never seen before, wondering why a similar situation has come about. After a short time, he discovers that its employees are lounging and loitering blissfully, upsetting the balance of souls. To restore order, the protagonist will have to use his scythe and show his subordinates who is the boss to put them back in line.
The plot of Have a Nice Death is immediately particular, with a decidedly witty black humor capable of leaving its mark. Each character is well characterized, with dialogue full of jokes and iconic moments, creating a pleasant contrast to the gloomy setting of the game. We can definitely confirm in this preview of Have a Nice Death that the story isn’t the main part of the game, resulting in it anyway very accurate in every respect, from hilarious cutscenes to conversations with singular characters.
Death Proof – Have a Nice Death Preview
Turning to the gameplaythe most important element of the game, it is solid and functional but at the same time it presents problems that are difficult to neglect. The mix of action and 2D platforming it makes the exploration of the various levels pleasant, thanks above all to the excellent mobility of the character. Just like in a metroidvania, we will have a map where we can follow various roads that will lead us to different places, some will lead to the exit for the next level while others will hide objects and equipment useful for the character. Keep in mind that i levels are not very complexthe crossroads are not many and are often repeated with roads that rejoin, leading the player to always explore all the paths.
As for the fights, at the beginning of a run we will have the famous one available scythe of Death, a melee weapon that will allow us to unleash combos in an agile and scenic way to defeat our enemies. Going forward we can find new ones equipment (maximum two that can be equipped) as ranged magic and powerful physical weapons. There will also be many passive skills such as statuses to apply to the enemy (bleeding, poisoning, etc.), increased defense, increased chance of critical damage and more.
Problems come when we try to understand some unclear power-ups, with confusing and cryptic skill descriptions and effects, without a clear explanation of what a particular effect entails. Furthermore, the skills, although some may be interesting, are not very varied, in fact we will often find ourselves choosing between the usual ones already seen, feeling a feeling of repetitiveness.
Where are my care – Have a Nice Death preview
Continuing our preview of Have a Nice Death, in addition to various equipment, skills and upgrades, we will be able to increase the strength of our scythe by using souls released by some enemies during our run. In addition to damage, the scythe will be able to evolve changing shape, always increasing the damage, the range, but also the moveset of the weapongiving a nice feeling of variety to the combos.
Death has many ways to power up but in any case it is frustrating to face the various levels of the game, especially for life bar fault. In short, while being able to enhance the maximum life, during the various levels it will be very rare to be able to cure or recover the lost lifeas healing items are very rare and often only recover a small amount of life.
Making matters worse are some hostile enemies, particularly those of large dimensionswhich with a single blow take an exaggerated amount of life from the protagonist, making the adventure frustrating. It has happened many times to us not to complete the run because we could not find ways to heal ourselves and despite being upgraded and armed to the teeth with a devastating build, it was not enough to complete the game. Often hitting enemies first and with a quick combo will stun them, blocking them with no chance to react. Reflexes and dodging are the key to surviving this challenge where fast-paced action reigns supreme and the first to take damage succumbs.
A deliciously cute horror – Have a Nice Death preview
The artistic style of Have a Nice Death turns out to be right away the most successful aspect of the game. Each level has a different setting, increasingly bleak and gloomy, using one wide range of grays and dark colors which create a great feeling of depth to 2D backgrounds. The details will not be lacking and this title is full of details and care for every aspect of the scenarios that despite being in the afterlife, they are full of life. The animations of Death and every single character are flawless, smooth and a sight to behold for our eyesincreasing the epicness of encounters with enemies and bosses.
What stands out the most in Have a Nice Death is it style cartoon, a particular choice for the type of dark setting that is, however, brilliant seeing the final result. Being in the afterlife with delightfully cute spooky pumpkins and funny zombies always with a big smile creates a strong contrast that is pleasant for the player. At times it will seem like we are in an animated film by Tim Burton with a strong sense of humor and it is difficult not to be charmed by this strange chemistry.
Technically, the title has no gaps of any kind, resulting light and well optimized, running quietly even on low-end PCs with 60 fps or more. After about 10 hours of play we found no noteworthy bugs and being still in early access this demonstrates the excellent work done by the developers so far.
Conclusions
In conclusion to this preview dedicated to Have a Nice Death we can say that the first impressions are very positive. The guys at Magic Design Studios proved to be very creative, giving one art direction to the original and visually fascinating game without flaws. The problems arise when it comes to the gameplay and the roguelike aspect that partly works but still needs some great refinements before the final version of the game. Definitely one greater variety and clarity of equipment, skills and various upgrades would make the title more varied and less repetitivetaking as an example from Hades that in the roguelike genre has confirmed itself as one of the most successful titles, with an incalculable quantity and variety of enhancements.
The mechanics of life recovery should also be revised considering that it is currently too frustrating and punitive, perhaps adding other methods to heal or increasing the amount of healing items found during the runs. Some opponents, especially the large ones they should be reworked as they are slightly unbalancedalso taking the opportunity to add a few more enemies for more variety.
Despite these negative aspects of the game, the early access of Have a Nice Death is immediately enjoyable and we recommend it to all fans of the genre and while not at the levels of big-caliber games like Hades e Dead Cellsthe game has unique features that positively qualify it, giving it its little space in the roguelike world that with the right improvements could further increase.
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