Have a Nice Death - Not all that glitters is gold

In recent years, Roguelike has become so popular that it has outgrown the title of genre and become a category. Like mushrooms after the rain appeared roguelike-platformers, roguelike-shooters with a view from above, roguelike-action games, roguelike-strategies and roguelike-collectible card games. It would seem that everyone has already snatched a ray of high-powered sunshine. But the fashion was in no hurry to change. The excessive popularity of Roguelike has led to the genre (or rather - a category) has become as mainstream as it once was mainstream were shooters. Where there's the mainstream, there's the conveyor belt... ...Have a Nice Death is another Roguelike, coming out from the pen of a small independent company Magic Design Studios. Unlike many inexperienced colleagues, before the release of Have a Nice Death, Magic Design Studios already had one unashamed game in its portfolio - the action-platformer Unruly Heroes. It wasn't a roguelike, but boasted lush visuals and fascinating animations.

Unruly Heroes is not famous in wide circles, so Magic Design Studios decided to follow the well-trodden path and create something on the popular basis. Looking ahead, Magic Design Studios was not able to make a sensible Roguelike, the developers did not go into the essence of the genre. And we'll get into it...

Has Roguelite made its way to animation a la Disney?

Every roguelike is a single-chip game. Loop Hero was an unusual mix of genres; in Risk of Rain the game got harder the longer the race lasted; in Dead Cells there was a lot of content and ways to get through the game. Have a Nice Death, from the opening cutscene, has the authentic style of Disney's best works with a touch of Tim Burton's creativity.

Have a Nice Death tells the story of the uneasy burden of Death. How hard it is sometimes to keep track of one's days coming to an end, and how hard it is to be the only Reaper in the world. In the extreme exhaustion, Death decides to found Death Inc. and entrust some of the work to his subordinates, the Reapers. For a while, Death manages to avoid the dirty manual labor and secludes himself in his office. Know yourself that you stamp "dead/dead." What could be easier? Except that there are eight billion people living on Earth, and about 90 percent of the people who are ever alive are already dead. Every piece of paper in that pile is one deceased person. What a lot of work!

Very soon Death realizes that the job has not gotten any easier. There are new nuances, namely, lousy workers. It was a mistake to put so much hope in Sorrow. Death has no choice but to visit all the departments of his own company, give a showy flogging, and bring order to the frayed staff.

Since Death Inc. is built on bureaucratic templates, the game's emphasis is on office humor. Went through all the clichés: here you have bespectacled geek, and hyperactive dummy, and silly guard (the guard here - the first boss, incidentally), and a wise colleague, which should be said: "There are devils in a quiet place. Obligatory attributes of office slavery are also there: shirts, coffee, printers and motley staff, unobtrusive music in elevators...

Everything about the visuals, the humor, and the overall cogency of the picture is done here as well as it can be. From the backdrops to the movements of the characters, everything is not only drawn to perfection, but talented as well. It's hard to convey in writing, but the sticky feeling of a living masterpiece of the legendary cartoonist does not leave for a moment. In addition, the developers from Magic Design Studios are noticeable efforts to beat the Roguelike genre in the story sense as well: the dialogues of the non-people change from race to race, somewhat variable, and sometimes hilarious. To voice characters in an indie game - it is unacceptable luxury, so Magic Design Studios have taken advantage of a known loophole: all the characters communicate in gibberish, but each has his own voice.

In the case of Have a Nice Death, you can even say that the developers did their best to make their brainchild brilliant. Too much effort and resources went just for the beautiful picture and atmosphere. Not to the detriment of the quality of the game itself? About that later... ...It's worth a glimpse of the locations here, and you wonder, "What was the budget of the game?"

Despite the fact that all biomes have to look through a green filter, each new location is not just a static background, but a small work of art. The animations also reinforce the feeling of the animated cartoon, they are just like the artwork here. No more pixel art with its three frames per second, in Have a Nice Death the animation is so that it's time to unpack your monitors or TV sets with 120 Hz refresh rate and enjoy it. If Magic Design Studios were aiming for Metroidvania or a platformer instead of Roguelike, success would be assured. Now let's think of the acclaimed masterpieces of the Roguelike genre: the dark dark fantasy Darkest Dungeon with 150-800 hours of gameplay in clumsy comic book art; Dead Cells with 600 hours of gameplay in such pixel art that you could hit a pixel with a dartboard; the catchy, but still pixelated Enter the Gungeon. The graphics of all these games pale next to the dazzling artistic talents of Have a Nice Death, but...

Sometimes the cherry on the cake is more important than the cake itself

...But they all knew how to captivate for long hours. Smashing his forehead against the first boss, the player looked for ways to defeat it. If initially the death of a character was perceived as a given, then after a dozen hours another death was already perceived as a challenge. With each new attempt it got better, but still not good enough to pass the game. With each attempt, the excitement and interest is ignited...but none of this is about Have a Nice Death. No, the game isn't bad by any means, it's just...toothless, lean. Let's break down the gameplay here.

We've already seen the biomes' artwork. They are full of luster, fine details and originally played. But if you look at them under a magnifying glass...

...How immediately you notice that the local maps are half-empty linear corridors with rare forks. And even then these forks can be overlooked only by deafening inattention. In Dead Cells we had to almost sniff the walls and ceilings, because the locations are full of secret passages, secret rooms, side quests, food and gold. In Have a Nice Death there is no such thing, but okay. Worse is that with each new attempt the maps either barely change, or do not change at all.

But in the boss battles Magic Design Studios once again shone with talent. In Have a Nice Death there are no faded dummies, whose difference from mediocre opponents is limited to an increased health bar. In front of the player and in the boss fights there is a small spectacle. Another thing: how good are the bosses in terms of mechanics? Do they have readable patterns of behavior and is everything okay with the balance? Yes, but there aren't many differences in the bosses themselves. There's no platforming, no constant phase change, and no interesting decisions with finding weaknesses during duels with the ringleaders.
Simple. Reduce. Stripe. Health.

But the question remains: how well has the potential of the Roguelike genre been unlocked? Well, one gets the impression that Magic Design Studios heard something about the genre, but were so afraid to experiment that they decided to make a game by the book. Have a Nice Death is too simple to be called a Roguelike, but the pacing of the game is too visceral to classify it as a slasher. The point is missed: the player has to hit the point as many times as the game submits to him. Any player of average ability can get through Have a Nice Death without even really understanding the game.

Whereas in other Roguelike, meta-progression is nothing but a prerequisite for passing. Without these notorious +35% to damage from the start of the game is simply impossible. Then in Have a Nice Death meta progression only makes the game more comfortable. For example: after 5 runs the player can afford to finish the battle with the boss one cycle faster, instead of dodging attacks a minute longer.

Worst of all, there's almost no variation in this Roguelike. The game has a decent amount of items, but you only have to choose between a build through physical damage and a build through magic.

In all this variety there are objectively strong things and objectively weak things. It is not even possible to make a doomsday weapon out of a fork. But there is no risk of taking the wrong item by buying the high percentages in the description. There is no risk of spending dozens of hours on Have a Nice Death.

Is it worth it to buy Have a Nice Death?

Only at a discount of -70% or more. Without discounts the price of Have a Nice Death is commensurate with that of Hades and Dead Cells, which is inadequate, to say the least. At the beginning of 2023 Have a Nice Death is still too cheesy, lacking its handwriting and bold decisions. Not the best Rogue-lite without replayability, but dazzlingly beautiful.