Dragon is Dead (Steam)

In a world where Castlevania and Metroid inspired titles are so common that Metroidvania is now used in marketing, any new entry into the field has to stand out. I myself am a big fan of such games, with the likes of Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth, Smelter, AfterImage, Gal Guardians, Overlord and Dead or School just a few of the more anime-inspired affairs I've spent time with. So such a game either has to appeal via the license, some unique feature (Cogen has a rewind mechanic for example) or some intriguing artwork. For Dragon is Dead, it was the latter.

The silver haired girl in the centre of some menacing baddies is a beautiful piece, and the subsequent gothic screenshots captured my imagination in a way that Blasphemous hadn't managed to do (just too dark for me)!

In Dragon is Dead, you play as one of three "Successors" - the Spellblade (elemental, long and close range attacks), the Berserker (slow and powerful) and the Hunter (nimble). You'll start as the Spellblade, but you can choose freely in the main village where you respawn. As a roguelite game, you won't lose skills when you die either, which is nice. Equipment will be lost though.

You're tasked with clearing areas of the map, each of which has four sections - a rest area where you can interact with townsfolk and buy supplies, two platforming levels and the last being the boss itself, which will drop a powerful item when defeated. Essentially you'll be doing this for each area, which is pretty standard fare for this style of game (though possibly a bit too uniform for its own good). You get a double-jump from the off, which is a major bonus for me as I hate having to earn that ability just so I can reach a ledge from several levels ago. It just feels a bit trite and time-wastey, so I'm glad they nixed it here.

Killing enemies grants experience and coin, both of which can be used to enhance your player, either through that old chestnut, the Skill Tree, or via items purchased in various ye olde shoppes in each rest area. The Skill Tree works with five flavours, Basic, Core, Assistant, Mastery and Ultimate.

Basic skills upgrade your abilities, such as spells or equipment usage, core skills have to be replenished by murdering enemies, while the others are like special moves that replenish on a timer. You'll be able to mix and match until you find a recipe that best suits your style of play, so there's tactical and replay value in this element of the game. 

You can also manage the equipment you'll discover on your various runs, with each starting area offering augmentation to further increase damage or effects caused by whatever you're beating baddies around the head with. Rarer equipment might even come with passive effects, so keeping an eye on what you're carrying is a good way to build a better character. 

Once you have the swing of your skills, you can start swinging them at your enemies. The developer has worked hard to ensure that combat is fun and requires thought - button bashers need not apply here. You can dash for a moment of invincibility, but you need to be observant as enemies won't need to be close to do damage. While the double-jump is useful for dodging and reaching higher areas, the game was less of a large map and more akin to a platforming game where you're basically moving left to right more than up or down. There's no secret items to find or routes to uncover, so basically start charging through the hordes and stop at the other end.

Beautiful gothic landscapes and stunning large character sprites such as our dragon friend here are wonderful eye-candy

Dragon is Dead has its strengths - the pixel art is lovely, the retro colour palette giving the game an almost Amiga-era vibe (reminded me of Shadow of the Beast), the European architecture provides a sense of place and  many of the in-game sprites are creative, distinct and memorable. The bosses in particular are spectacular. Large, lovingly crafted beasts with fantastic design elements, it's worth fighting your way through the hordes just to get a glimpse of them. 

Ironically I found the main character, which I assumed was a woman from the artwork, looks quite masculine (seriously look at the sprite's shoulders compared to the artwork) and has little personality of her own within the game, a condition not helped by the rather flat and expository dialogue you barely get to read (often before bosses). As such, the graphical flair is about the only real character the game gives you.

So there's some good stuff in here, but it has some issues too. While I acknowledge this is a beta, elements of the game do suggest that things have been missed entirely - one store I walked into had a character primed with a "press Y to speak" instruction floating over her head, but pressing the button did nothing - either it wasn't supposed to be there, or I wasn't. 

The flat level design is also a bit of a letdown. While a sprawling map I have to constantly travel back to once I unlock new abilities can be a chore if handled badly, Dragon is Dead offers no exploration of any type, leaving each level feeling more like a platform game than a Metroidvania. For a roguelite, it's also disappointing that the levels have no variety when you come back to them - they are the same enemies in the same spots with the same attacks every single time, so the game feels stale quite quickly. An element of randomness would at least prevent the game from feeling so linear and (whisper it) a bit boring. Fair enough, the deaths are never un-earned, but having to rinse and repeat so many times stops being fun after a while. It just makes the game feel a bit dated.

The music, while initially quite subtle and underplayed, does little to enhance the game over time. It gets quite drab and could really use a bit of polish to make it more memorable and driving. 

None of which would be a problem if there weren't so many excellent examples of the genre crowding it out. Graphical flair will get you so far, but there's very little investment in the character here, it doesn't handle anything exceptionally well and by the end of my playthrough and having seen everything, I just wanted something a bit more interesting to do. The idea of building a new character with a different class only to throw them through the exact same levels just didn't appeal at all.

As I say, this is a preview build, it has time to add some interest, fix the bugs and maybe add some random elements to the gameplay that will keep it fresh. Some more imaginative levels would help those of us who like to explore, but if it stays as it is with little more added, this is a fairly average (albeit very visually appealing) game in a market full of real killers.

Dragon is Dead was provided by the developer for review.