Have a Nice Death Review (PC)

The flying books aren’t hard to take down. Double jump, get to their level, slash a few times, and they are gone. But they can quickly become can be a major nuisance in a challenge room, when big burly office workers are launching close-up attacks while they strike with well-aimed long-range shots from above.

Fire-wielding ghosts can also be a problem. So I tend to ignore the melee opponents and use the impressive mobility of my character to jump out of their way and try to avoid incoming ranged attacks while eliminating any opponent that can hit from a distance. It’s not easy but tends to minimize health loss, which is important in a game with limited health pickups.

With a new power under my belt and some more souls collected, I move through the rest of the level as quickly as possible, easily dealing with enemies that come at me individually or in pairs. My next stop is the shop, where I replenish my health as I prepare to go and face a boss. I think I know and understand most of its attack patterns, the only problem is to keep my cool and only attack when I’m sure there’s no chance that attacks can harm me.

Have a Nice Death is developed by Magic Design Studios and published by Gearbox Publishing. I played on Steam on the PC. The game is also offered on the Nintendo Switch. The title is a fast-paced action platformer with a focus on deep combat and rogue-lite ideas.

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The premise is that Mr. Death, after a long spell of delegation and stamp use, wants to take morbid matters into his own hands once again. He might be a little rusty but he is ready to take on the various employees who have gone rogue and are now challenging his authority. There are also plenty of friendly faces to meet, ready to give players all the details they need to perform their deathly task. There’s plenty of dialogue and it’s well-written, with enough humor to be interesting.

The universe Have a Nice Death conjures is charming, despite its dark theme. The main character is affected by burnout after pushing around paper for a long time. His enemies seem misguided more than actually evil. Office culture concepts, from an overreliance on coffee to the effects of paper cuts, permeate the levels and gameplay.

As interesting as the universe is, the experience is driven by familiar mechanics with some interesting twists. Death, despite being stuck in an office role for a long time, is very nimble, equipped with solid jump and double jump abilities as well as a good dash. Combining the two allows the player to avoid a lot if not all incoming damage and move quickly across the world.

But the problems of the underworld cannot be solved by simply dodging attacks. Death is initially armed with a capable scythe and can unlock a range of other weapons as the game progresses. He also picks up spells and special attacks, needed to deal with bigger groups of enemies and the inevitable bosses.

Death is immortal but he can be defeated. When that happens, he returns to his CEO's office and can use resources gathered during his run to open up extra weapons, more powerful spells, and more items to encounter during a new attempt. As the character gains levels, he can use a special elevator to go directly to a department’s boss and can also introduce curses to tweak gameplay.

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The core gameplay is engaging and fun. Death can easily deal with normal opponents, although each hit taken means less health to face a mini-boss or the final one. Failure is expected and well handled, with a constant sense of progression. The protagonist gains power pretty fast and players will have plenty of options to tweak his approach to combat to match their style.

There are eight departments to move through in Have a Nice Death, each headed by a capable boss and filled with a variety of floors, all procedurally generated. The game offers a ton of variety, which is a good thing considering the number of times players will move through each.

Have a Nice Death wisely gives players a range of options when it comes to difficulty. Self-Fulfillment is the easy option, with extra health charges at the start of the run. Players who love the genre will be able to significantly increase the challenge level if they want to.

The experience doesn’t significantly change the familiar formula of action rogue-lite titles. But the execution is impressive. Combat flows well, the bosses are tough but not unfair, and there’s a constant sense of discovery linked to weapons and spells. Running through the same levels, again and again, can feel a little repetitive but that’s mostly mitigated by the quality of the game and by choosing to play in relatively short sessions.

Have a Nice Death is a great-looking game that blends the office and underworld inspirations in impressive ways. Each of the departments has personality, as do the bosses and the normal enemies. It’s always easy to see what unlocks are coming and to select spells and weapons. There are some impressive small touches, like the way Death reacts when he clears a challenge room of enemies.

The sound design complements the graphics side well. The soundtrack is fun and well-suited to the theme and I love the small record scratch that happens when our protagonist takes damage. The combat effects associated with the scythes are also very swooshy.

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The Good

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