Over the last few months, I’ve played through many games that had their unique vision of what the underworld would look and feel like. From Hades to Death’s Door and even Afterparty – I’ve spent a lot of time playing games where death is a central theme and yet, even so, Have A Nice Death still manages to stand out from the crowd. At its core, Have A Nice Death is a story about workplace struggles and burnout. Think of it as if The Office TV Show was turned into a roguelike, with the same brand of humour used throughout.
Players control a deeply stressed (and relatable) version of Death, the CEO of Death Incorporated. To use a saying my partner loves, Death is overworked and underpaid. Death needs to make work a less soul-draining place and doesn’t want to miss out on his vacation plans, so as Death, it’s your job to track down all of the Death Inc. executives who are not doing their work and set them straight the only way Death can… with your scythe to their faces…
I generally don’t enjoy playing or reviewing games while still in Early Access because relying on future promises is not something I’m comfortable with. However, there are exceptions to every rule and Have A Nice Death is one of those exceptions. I’ve only recently gotten into playing roguelike games, and when I initially saw the trailers for Have A Nice Death, I was instantly sold. The aesthetic is one my eyeballs are absolutely in love with, and the gameplay looked to be similar to other roguelikes but faster and shorter with way more flexibility to the time needed to play. And for the most part, that’s precisely what I received when I purchased my Early Access copy… although not much beyond that.
If you’re looking at diving in Have A Nice Death and expecting a complete game, then the early access is not for you. While the content available is smooth and polished, it’s also limited and short. However, looking through the developer’s notes, it’s clear that they plan to use this time in Early Access to tweak and finetune things so that when the game launches, the result will be something both the developers and players will love and want to spend time with. They are also keeping quite a bit of the actual story under wraps, meaning when the game launches, the content will be new and fresh for all to enjoy.
