For a long time I didn't play this genre because I thought it wasn't for me, but this game changed all that for some reason. I think it's incredibly enjoyable, it's definitely promising. The artwork, the characters and the overall structure is not complicated and most importantly the gameplay is very enjoyable. The soundtrack could also be improved. There are shortcomings, yes, but for a new game, it's quite enough. I will be following the new updates, you guys should definitely try it.

There is one thing I'm stuck on, they could have been a little more creative about the name, it's still good but it evokes the names of the games of its genre. There's not much to do about it, so when I look at it in terms of content, it excited me.

This game being $7 helps so much.

Death Must Die isn't a bad game, and before I hit the content wall I enjoyed what I played, but this is one of the most aesthetically derivative games I've seen sold on Steam that wasn't an asset flip. The Dark Souls dark fantasy trappings, divorced from the talented and fucking weird staff staff at Fromsoft doesn't leave much to hook onto. Halls of Torment's take on dark fantasy is an unfavorable comparison, having noticeably more personality despite early translation issues (and frankly, being a less interesting game than DmD). The Hadesesqe deities that pop up and give quips fall flat, their writing and designs are more mundane than Supergiant's pantheon, while still being hammy enough to clash with the rest of the game's overly serious setting.

The game fares better, with the huge caveat that there is a content drought that other games in this budding (bloated?) genre don't have to put up with. The highlight of the game is the gear system, allowing for meta-progression in the way you'd see in a ARPG like Grim Dawn that can synergize with specific builds that you could try to draft into. Again, hardly an original idea even within the context of the genre, but one that with more abilities and bolder application of modifiers could be an addicting reason to repeat runs.

I feel bad posting this review, because there is more content coming down the pipeline and despite how negative I've been, if you've exhausted Vampire/Soulstone survivors and you're looking for another game to scratch that itch, there's enough going on in DmD to justify a $7 buy in. There's just a lot of this game that comes off as cynical or unoriginal and it left enough of a bad taste in my mouth to bring down my opinion of the game.