Have a Nice Death: preview of a rogue-lite in which we are Death
Have a Nice Death
The independent world, for years, has become a saving kingdom for some genres which, in the context of major productions, do not find much space. An easy example is that of rogue-like (and / or rogue-lite, if you notice the subdivisions of the genre): every year new contenders pop up and in 2022 we will be able to get our hands on Have a Nice Death, a Magic game. Design Studios in which we play the grim reaper himself, ready to take care of the souls who have escaped from his kingdom.Waiting for the release, scheduled in Early Access on March 8, 2022 on Steam, here is the preview of Have a Nice Death.
He who dies sees himself again
Have a Nice Death takes us to the Underworld of Death Inc. As we said, we are Death and our task is to restore order to the our company, Death Incorporated, a version of the afterlife with too much paperwork. In fact, the game offers us a modern and highly bureaucratized version of the Kingdom of the dead, with enemies in shirts and ties and settings that are nothing but a maze of sad and gray offices (at least in the first areas we could see). So if you thought that Have a Nice Death would be a new Hades (which sees us move into another type of Kingdom of the dead), you can rest assured: the work of Magic Design Studios has its own style.Have a Nice Death, continuing with the easy confrontation with Hades, also offers a different type of combat. We are talking about a rogue-lite with a side view, 2D (think Dead Cells). The environments have a relevant platform component, with platforms on multiple levels, which can be exploited to take advantage of enemies. Death can then jump, both to dodge blows and to explore, then exploiting environmental elements to move vertically to heights beyond its reach.
From time to time (hopefully not too often) we will be defeated and, as the genre dictates, we will start over. Have a Nice Death is more rogue-lite than rogue-like and this means that even in the event of defeat we will be able to keep a part of our progress and unlock new resources, useful for new explorations in Death Incorporated. With each new game we will be faced with a procedurally created map, which aims to always give us something new to discover, attempt after attempt.
Scythe and magic
There are various attacks in Have a Nice Death Have a Nice Death focuses on one component in particular: fights. Death first of all has a scythe, as befits the character, with which he can fight hand-to-hand. The Scythe allows you to perform simple combos, both on the ground and in the air, area charged attacks, falling shots and even boomerang-style throws. It's not our only weapon though.As we explore, we can find other tools suitable for fighting, such as a hammer, the ability to create a wave of force, or other spells for ranged combat that consume mana. However, these additional moves must be used with caution, as they have a recharge time (more or less short depending on the power)
Death has two bars, that of the aforementioned mana and that of life points. Character can also heal while exploring if defeated enemies drop a dedicated item. We will be able to take a maximum of three with us (at least initially, maybe the number increases with certain upgrades?), But as far as we've seen, getting one or two will be complex. Enemies don't seem particularly generous in this regard, so it's possible that Have a Nice Death wants the player to approach each fight with the utmost attention, and doesn't assume that they can regain their life total on a regular basis.
There is no shortage of spells in Have a Nice Death Death also has a special move, the Fury, which must be charged by hitting enemies. This special attack varies depending on the weapon we have: for example, the Scythe hits a large area around us, while the Hammer spins us in place at high speed, inflicting a lot of damage to the enemies to our right and left.
Finally, there are some special power-ups, which are obtained by defeating the bosses. These are bonuses that improve our abilities, such as increasing the damage of secondary weapons, obtaining a regeneration of mana or enhancing negative effects that we can apply on enemies, such as bleeding. However, obtaining more bonuses of this type could also activate negative effects, such as increasing the power of enemies or increasing the cost of items useful for advancement.
News and similarities
Have a Nice Death focuses heavily on gray-green For the moment we have had the opportunity to see little of Have a Nice Death, but for sure what was shown intrigued us. We are also confident that this game will remind many of Dead Cells, due to the action-platform structure and various other details, both in terms of gameplay and stylistic. Without being able to try it firsthand, however, it is difficult to say if the work of Magic Design Studios is able to replicate those sensations of the game or if instead it will focus on a completely different rhythm.We will also have to understand if, on a visual level, there will be enough variety. Trailer and images focus mainly on gray-green environments: after some time, however, they could be redundant and boring to see.
It's too early to make definitive judgments and luckily Early Access is very close . In about a month and a half Have a Nice Death will be available on Steam at this address. We will be able to say more at that moment.
Have a Nice Death launches into the increasingly crowded world of rogue-like / lite. It does this with well-known and solid mechanics, and it could for sure be a fun new game, perfect for lovers of the genre. For now, however, we have not yet seen something unique that makes it shine among others. The hands-on test will be essential to understand if we are dealing with a valuable game or just a classic rogue-lite like many others.
