In all fairness, I should probably at this point become more aware of games that have an incredible visual style that distracts me from spotting the actual gameplay loop. When I first saw the trailers and gameplay from Have A Nice Death, it looked like something to satisfy my thirst while awaiting the release of Hollow Knight’s successor, Silksong. A fast-paced platformer, a graphical style which sets it apart from many other titles and some tongue-in-cheek comedic writing was all I needed to sign up for doing this review. Of course, when I realized it was a 2D platformer roguelike I was slightly taken aback. While I genuinely like roguelike gameplay, I’m generally very bad at these types of games. Trial and error has never been my thing, and just being confronted over and over again with failure and death just doesn’t work in my favor when reviewing games. Thankfully, when Death Inc. is on the job, it seems to sting a little less, because Have A Nice Death strikes a fun balance between being an engaging platformer and making the experience of a roguelike much more friendly for those who fear death.
Death thought he was being smart when he delegated many of his tasks of retrieving lost souls to his subordinates. Unfortunately, ever since, he’s been slowly drowning in the bureaucracy he’s created. Now it’s up to Death to put things back in order, fire his managers and restore balance to Death Inc. The game sees you controlling the little Death wielding his scythe as you slice monsters, gain abilities, improve weapons, and fight your way to the top of the company.
The gameplay is a combat-heavy 2D platformer where you slowly make your way up the corporate ladder. Each department has its own unique style and types of creatures you encounter, making most levels feel unique. Some items are thrown into the mix to make runs stand apart, in particular the use of curses that improve weapons and give them additional properties, but at higher levels, these curses also bring certain status conditions with them. For example, one of the curses I used froze enemies for a few seconds, but increased cooldown for secondary weapons. This means that even if you keep relying on certain strategies, no two runs ever feel alike. And believe me, you will be doing several runs during your journey through Death Inc.
Over time, the spoils from your run will help you get better weapons and curses for subsequent attempts, giving the game a slow but fairly linear sense of progression. A unique thing I enjoyed was the use of achievements that lower the unlock price for specific secondary weapons and curses. For example, you could buy the “Dirty Dagger” for the minimum price of about 500 gold. However, if you have killed over a thousand enemies, the unlock price drops significantly. I like this incentive; even if a run goes badly, you’re still able to progress towards new weapons and unlocks. Additionally there are a lot of features designed to accommodate players, like me, who tend to struggle with seeing the end of roguelike games. Whenever starting a run, you can adjust certain settings like having a larger pool of health or even increasing the challenge by making enemies deal more damage. Combining these elements just makes progression feel a lot more substantial in Have A Nice Death than other roguelikes I’ve played before, which was a nice change of pace.
Aside from some general quality of life improvements and the overall aesthetic, though, Have A Nice Death doesn’t really set itself apart in many ways. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Sure, there are other roguelikes that have a unique setting or incorporate more mechanics, but I think here it helps the game to focus on the things that matter: combat and speed. Something that puzzled me at first was the lack of a double jump. In order to ascend to higher platforms you can combine both a dash and an upwards attack. At first this felt like a weird omission, but as I progressed through Death Inc., I realized that this particular choice really helps you in becoming aware of your combat capabilities. Most enemies’ attacks rely on your ability to dodge and not have a double jump; instead, being able to transition into aerial combos gives the player far more options to tackle enemy encounters. I also like that after defeating a boss, you are able to skip the entire section on a next run. While this does come at the cost of being able to build up your weapons and curses, it did help me to prepare for more difficult parts of the office building.
The things that keep Have A Nice Death from achieving greatness are mostly in the technical aspects of the game on Switch. Loading times when traveling between departments, changing equipment and some slowdown during fights become more noticeable as you progress through the different runs. Especially when certain floors only provide a single objective, like defeating a few enemies without taking damage, and then failing quickly, I had to spend more time in a loading screen than actually playing that particular floor, which felt like a bit of a downer during play. For all the compliments I will give to the character designs and visual style, the writing overall did little to engage me with the world. Item and enemy descriptions are pretty vivid, but when talking to “coworkers” there wasn’t much that made me want to know more about this world and its inhabitants. There’s clearly a lot of attention put into the setting, but unlike a game such as Hades where the voicework and character growth are a fundamental part of the experience, Have A Nice Death really feels like watercooler talk. That does of course fit nicely into the theme, but as a player there really weren’t characters to connect with by the end of the game.
Overall, Have A Nice Death is a great roguelike experience for those who are looking for something that isn’t too challenging to the genre as a whole. That’s not to say that the game itself lacks difficulty, far from it–the word “death” is literally in the title. But Have A Nice Death knows what it wants to achieve and really sharpens its blade on the combat, movement, and overall accessibility of its roguelike gameplay. Its unique style and theming definitely set it apart, although that really can’t be said for the characters you meet along the way. On Switch, it is a fine experience, but do keep in mind that loading times will be a constant issue while traveling through Death Inc. I think it is good that there’s a roguelike out there that forgoes the paperwork and just gets stuff done. What more can you ask for from a bureaucracy?
