Game:

Diablo (1996)

Duration: 1:08:15

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Death Must Die is an Indie, Isometric, Horde Survival / Wave Survival Bullet Hell, an arcade feeling action arena survival game, a Pixel Graphics packing, sort of Vampire Survivors like, but one that feels far more influenced by 20 Mins Til Dawn; good.
There is an old school Diablo 1 like look to Death Must Die, combined with that excellent 20 Mins Til Dawn focus on making moment to moment meaningful decisions.
This focus is apparent in the movement, the monsters, and the combat.

The Movement:
Your movement speed slows when attacking; good.
Like in 20 Minutes Til Dawn, in Death Must Die, you move slower while attacking; this makes the player decision to move matter more, as you are directly trading dps for kiting survivability.
This is in direct opposition to the typical no-brainer decision often presented in Vampire Survivors / Horde Survival games, where Of Course you move, as there is ZERO reason not to!
In Death Must Die, much like in 20 Minutes Til Dawn, the movement just matters more, making it both more interesting, and more meaningful; good.

The Monsters:
No bump damage by default!
I like how monsters must make a physical attack to hurt you; it both feels more immersive, and looks much better too!
Boss monsters, and sometimes regular monsters, will drop gear, and your character automatically equips it; what a handy and helpful game.
And no I-frames here hero! Ye must move your heroic 🍑 to avoid the smash! Good!

The Combat:
No stamina system beyond the 4 second dash cooldown, so swing away hero!
In Death Must Die, much like its glorious predecessor 20 Minutes Til Dawn, ye must earn your victories here! That’s right!
You aim in Death Must Die, though you can hold the button down if you want to save your mouse hand, and keep your strong hand strong! ✊
Oh did I mention you can literally whack enemy projectiles out of the air?! Awesome!

In Death Must Die, you lvl up and gain power by picking up the green crystals that drop off enemies, these orbs do not disappear; they just wait patiently for you to walk your dark fantasy self over to them and snatch them up, granting you 1 pick of 3 random upgrades, in Vampire Survivors like fashion.
However, this is not a Vampire Survivors like, as in Death Must Die, you must aim your own attacks, and the game even DARES to make you dodge!
Imagine, not being able to play a game 1 handed while absent mindedly staring off in space; not in Death Must Die!

Meta Progression in Death Must Die seems more limited then is often seen in other wave defense games, seemingly to be limited to the found equipment and gold you keep when you die, as well as class unlocks as you progress in the game.
You can buy better items in the shop, using dropped gold, and you keep your items and gold when you die, allowing the bonuses granted by your ever improving gear to amass, becoming stronger and stronger run after run.
New to the launch version, you can now unlock signs as you play a hero:
For the Knight, you have Powerful things like “The Sign of the Hero”, which grant +17% attack damage every 3 lvl, stacking up to 170%! Or “The Sign of the Chosen One” you become invulnerable for 3 seconds every time you take damage; cannot occur more than once every 10s
There are 5 signs for each hero, which must be unlocked.
This pushes the game further along the Roguelite spectrum, as it is very likely impossible for someone to win this absent significant Meta Progression.

Controller support is present, as is good old Mouse & Keyboard; which I find controls much better here.

Still, Death Must Die is offering a fun Horde Survival, 20 Minutes Til Dawn like Bullet Hell experience, and is layering over it an awesome Diablo 1 look, making it easily worth a wishlist and a watch.
Watch?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2334730/Death_Must_Die/
#DeathMustDie #HordeSurvival #BulletHell

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