Have a Nice Death

In a market as heavily contended as the roguelike game world, it is getting increasingly harder to stand out from the massive numbers of games released. Some do it by aiming to make the hardest one they can, some other just go for a different take and add heavier RPG elements or something like that. Truth is, the game world is a competitive one, especially when there's a game genre that's completely swaying the competition like Roguelites. Today we're covering a game called Have A Nice Death, an indie game developed by Magic Design Studios, and got published by Gearbox Publishing. So, what is this game all about and what's it doing to try and stand out in an overpacked market such as the roguelike game world.

About the game

One day, Death (or Grim Reaper, however you want to call him) has the problem of being overworked. He kills and kills incessantly, with lots of souls that need to be harvested. He has more work than a full-time job downtown, and so he decides to free the Sorrows who will happily do everything for him, the Grim Reaper. The plan works great, hundreds of souls must be sealed in the paperwork he has to do. But lots and lots of them.

At this rate, he's not even going to have a vacation and not even time to keep the Sorrows, who start to multiply more and more, at bay. They start to take over the company called "Death Inc", not giving importance to the protocols and flaunting their power. Now it's up to us, to Reaper, to Death himself, to grab his scythe and deal blows to whoever gets in the way, to show who's boss.

In the beginning, we only have in our possession the scythe but then, as a good roguelike, you start to get new weapons with which you can perform fun combos. We have the chance to use a vast amount of equipment, from swords, hammers, kunai, and even rocket launchers, mixed with spells like fire arrows, and lightning bolts that fall and tear everything apart. If you increase your killing, the items become cheaper as they are purchased with a coin that you get when you die at every opportunity.

There is also the mana and health meter, as well as filling a diamond at the top left (part of a subtle and elegant UI), which you will have to take into account. Moreover, we must be attentive to our life, as there is a shortage of it during the games. While the bar of the spells, magic, regenerates automatically.

An interesting mix

This game features an interesting mix and the way it is played calls us to re-evaluate how we classify some games. This beautiful game is hand drawn, and it mixes enough elements that are common in the roguelike genre so we consider it one. But its gameplay also feels pretty similar to Hollow Knight, and that got us thinking, is maybe Hollow Knight a more focused and contained roguelike that we call a Soulslike game? Well, it would surely be interesting to get a roguelike game of the likes of Dark Souls, but we are digressing here. Let's get back to Have A Nice Death.

Review: 8/10

It's hard to imagine a scenario where after seeing any image of Have a Nice Death you wouldn't want to play it. Needless to say, any video, whether it's an animation of the game or pure and simple gameplay. It's really amazing how beautiful it is.

Pros:

• Beautiful graphics
• Fun gameplay
• Interesting story

Cons:

• Mechanics feel undeveloped