Days of Doom Review (PC)

Benjamin Redfern is a big guy armed with a spiked bat, standing in front of four zombies, ready to take and dish a lot of damage. He swings once, taking quite a bit of health out of the enemy right in front of him, and then again to do the same to another undead. Priestess Sadie Blecher has already used her special ability to make sure that he can absorb three incoming strikes when the zombies move and the fourth won’t significantly affect his hit points.

Once the opponents all act, it is time for the rest of my party to move and strike. Vade Frost is a gunslinger and would love to use his special attack, but I haven’t managed to get my enemies into the right formation for that. So, he settles for two quick shots that destroy one zombie. Sadie uses her knife throws to eliminate another. I will take a little more damage, but this battle will be over next turn, giving my party some much-needed gasoline and, hopefully, some other strong rewards.

I already know where the bus needs to go to heal all my three post-apocalyptic heroes. And then I need to carve a path to the boss fight, which I will probably fail to win. But I might get enough Renown on the way to upgrade my settlement and open up more options for future runs.

Days of Doom was developed by SneakyBox and published by Atari. I played via Steam on the PC. The title is also available on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, the Xbox Series X and S, and older consoles from Microsoft and Sony. This is a mix of turn-based tactics and rogue-lite that takes place in a pretty familiar post-apocalyptic setting.

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As in many stories about a world that’s been destroyed, a Sanctuary is the focus of the narrative. A city that welcomes all and protects them from the mindless but numerous undead is where all characters want to go. They have a bus and limited gasoline reserves to get them there and every stop can be a matter of life or death as the zombies close in and try to open up their skulls.

There’s not a lot of writing in Days of Doom and most is functional. Players will get a little flavor here and there but even the events that ask them to make a decision are mostly about potential rewards and the presence of certain character classes. The settlement that players will get to upgrade is similarly barebones and the barely sketched world fails to deliver on the immersion front.

Players will spend most of their time in combat, looking a relatively small combat arenas made up of squares. Before battle is engaged, they will get to place their characters, having full info on the type of enemy they will face. Once that happens, it’s time to trade turns, deal damage, and aim for victory. The mechanics will be instantly familiar to anyone who has engaged with the genre before.

Each of the player’s characters can perform exactly two moves and attacking does not end their turn. Their special abilities are very powerful and should be deployed as early as possible. Don’t neglect their defensive stance because the game offers limited opportunities to regain health. Zombies aren’t very smart and will find it hard to move around terrain obstacles. But if they gang up on a character, they can quickly whittle down health and even kill. Always look for synergies between the abilities of characters and try to set up enemies for special attacks.

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Outside of combat, Days of Doom doesn’t try to innovate much. On the road, gamers get Renown to use back in their settlement. They can open up new buildings and upgrade existing ones. This will give them more seats on the bus, allowing them to take bigger squads for their next run, and other advantages.

Characters gain experience, which makes them more effective but does not add extra abilities. Relics will boost their power and items, like landmines, will give them new combat options. Visit the merchant to get a clearer idea of how various items can open up new tactical options. It’s important to experiment at least a little during the lower stakes engagements to find the best ways to combine characters, a requirement when the more capable opponents show up.

Days of Doom’s core loop is familiar but works. My biggest issue with the experience is that upgrades for the settlement take a lot of Renown and the battles aren’t fun or varied enough to support the required investment of time. The problem can be mitigated by playing in short sessions and by constantly varying party composition.

Days of Doom doesn’t look impressive. Plenty of care has been put into the look of the characters but there are not that many of them and the undead enemies are very generic. Animations are limited, although I like the watermancing powers and their sloshing-around look. Variety for the combat arenas is also limited. But the game does a good job of offering a clean interface that makes it easy to plan moves and execute complex maneuvers.

The sound design is equally limited. There’s no voice acting, although a deep voice will intone Victory or Defeat after each combat sequence. The title’s soundtrack never manages to add to the tension of the battles and is easily replaced with podcasts, perhaps themed around ways of surviving a potential apocalyptic event.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion