Death's Gambit: Afterlife

Firstly let me say: The game is pretty. Gorgeous pixel art, wonderful voice acting. But the gameplay... The parrying system is frame-perfect, the different classes all have the same skill tree despite different beginnings, some weapons movesets are "we don't have a move set" - making it feel incomplete. Some abilities are buggy and only work when they want to. And the main selling point is that it's "souls-like" Well, while technically true, it feels like Shadow of the Colossus with Souls fights instead of collosi. In that, the world is rather empty, I fought maybe 6 enemies between two bosses, and even then the bosses are - at least in my opinion - poorly designed. They only have 3-4 unique attacks each, each with telegraphs and patterns - issue is they hit like a truck. The game needs work, right now it feels like an art project that forgot to be a game.

...and I had a lot of fun. The Afterlife update made this game a must-play for all metroidvania /Souls-like fans.

My recommendation is wait for a better release of the game. The v.1.0 is too buggy, enemies going out of sync with ground, music fading in boss battles, some problems with controls (layout and configuration), questionable stamina consumption, hero loosing stats for using some items/talents and others issuses. Very dissapointed with these release, the quality of this game is of an "early access". 6/10

60 FPS cap, screen-tearing and no option to turn on vsync but as soon as I started to get into it, I didn't mind these problems that much. The game is beautiful, I like the art, graphics and animation a lot, also great music. However the game is very hard, but it was to be expected , no?

Death's Gambit's whole concept lies on an impossibility: creating a game as rich and dense as one of its evident inspirations, From Software's Dark Souls, and at the same time, being a 2D, pixel-art video game. The challenge was difficult to live up to, but the developers at White Rabbit did their best. The landscapes and various decors are lush, sometimes breathtaking. The music by Kyle Hnedak is a real jewel of a score. Death's Gambit's story is also, if not original, well executed and astutely told. Dark Souls fans will recognize here the will from developers to experiment with narration and enjoy the leeway of interpretation given to the player. One definitely has the sensation that a profound lore was created for this game, and we are left wanting to know more - maybe in a sequel? The gameplay - therein lies the rub. The hitboxes are all over the place. Those of us who wish to play with a controller will soon experience that the X and LR buttons have input problems (no button mashing on this game!). My game never crashed, but it did freeze a couple of times. We can hope that future patches will solve these issues. As far as the gaming experience is concerned, I cannot but feel that the main game has been a little rushed. The first area, as well as the final ones, are quite large, however most of the game consists in a boss rush, which is a shame for it prevents the player from completely diving into the story and lore. The bosses are not difficult, you just have to learn their patterns by heart, and if your DPS isn't enough, to go farm a little to earn some precious levels that will aid you defeat your opponent. Levelling seems too easy in this game, as you can be overpowered very early. To conclude, Death's Gambit is a game fit for Souls fans who want their regular dose of blood-shedding, dark fantasy. Be warned that the gameplay might be troublesome, although the story is an enthralling one. Story ***** Gameplay *** Graphics ***** Music *****