Have A Nice Death Lets Me Grind My Way To Making A Difficult Game More Approachable
Have A Nice Death Lets Me Grind My Way To Making A Difficult Game More Approachable
I enjoyed my first few hours with Have a Nice Death. 2D roguelike platformer released in Steam Early Access, and his morbidly charming adventure is already becoming an exciting ordeal. Have a Nice Death sees you playing as a titled Death. He is exhausted and in serious need of a vacation but cannot leave with all the necessary paperwork. He eventually snaps, furious at his subordinates’ refusal to give a damn about him and all the extra work that their apathetic nature causes. Deciding it is high time for him to show some respect, Death goes on a rampage through various departments of Death, Inc. to remind his henchmen who is really in charge.
Because of this, I spend the first dozen or so playthroughs of Have a Nice Death aiming for smaller goals – far more achievable than “defeat all the mandatory bosses and levels in one run. In the end, I’ll be up to the task. But for now, I’m content just getting stronger and seeing how my efforts contribute to me doing a little better at these early levels.
And of course, many roguelikes divide their seemingly overwhelming goal of defeating them into more manageable challenges. Dead Cells has elements of Metroidvania that let you chase minor improvements that make it easier to get past chunks of the game. Hades has episodic stories that connect with everyone. of its main characters that you can chase while trying to escape from the underworld. But Have a Nice Death is new in the sense that it lets you see what you’re aiming for. You can see what weapons and health items you’re working on in the shop menu before even trying to buy them. And allowing you to determine if they’re worth pursuing. He respects my time.
ATTACK PATTERNS
And now, in just a few hours, I’m mastering the attack patterns of enemies and bosses and discovering new strategies for myself by following the instructions of the tasks and not just experimenting on my own. I can’t go through all of the early areas without getting hit, but I’ve come close to it a few times already simply. Because I was told to try a bunch of different playstyles and see what works for me.
All this suggests that my efforts do not facilitate a happy death. While they certainly made the difficult task of defeating her more plausible, it’s still quite a challenging game. Speaking to GameSpot, lead game designer Simon Dutertre compares the experience of playing Have a Nice Death to climbing a mountain. In my experience, this seems like an apt comparison – The Good Death includes several punishment systems that take time to get used to.
For example, taking damage not only lowers your health but can lower your maximum HP. It is preventing you from fully healing if you’re not careful. It seems to be a game that wants you to play almost perfectly in the first half to have a chance to win in the second. This is usually too much of a challenge for me. But the challenge-based upgrade system makes it doable enough that I’m willing to give it a try.
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