We don’t think we are providing blistering insight when we state that the sheer number of Bullet Hell and Vampire Survivors-like games available on Steam nowadays is overwhelming. Honestly, it’s hard to get through a single page of games on Steam without it feeling a bit like an assault course – dodge 20 similar titles before collapsing for a nap and dreaming of whether Vampire Survivors has plagued us with a million copycats. Is this a curse, or a sign of a genre renaissance? That kind of depends on the individual.
Thankfully, despite the plethora of options now available in the genre – and the questionable quality of some of them – there are some great options out there for fans. One of those great options is Death Must Die. Whilst it isn’t a game about Death dating too many people simultaneously – a little John Tucker Must Die joke there for you – it is an exciting and interesting mix of Bullet Hell gameplay and Diablo-style loot and skill trees that certainly scratches an itch.
You take control of one of several heroes who’ve been tasked with killing Death, which is, unsurprisingly, a pretty hard task. In order to achieve it, you must run around finding upgrades to your skills – and there are plenty – as well as talking to different Gods who give you blessings that can also be upgraded. The ultimate aim is to try and craft a build that will allow you to survive Death (quite literally).
What’s more, you can specialise in status effects, special attacks, summons, and spells, and each of the available characters fits a different style of play slightly better than the others. You can also use the skill trees to do things like give a character a permanent dragon companion which can only be a good thing. Be warned, however, as there is a risk and reward system in place that means you can increase your chances of finding epic loot at the expense of further empowering Death’s minions.
Death Must Die stands above a lot of the other games in the genre, so if you’re looking for one that feels a bit more hands-on it’s a great choice that stands out thanks to its great gameplay, incredibly satisfying upgrade loop and its surprisingly sassy Gods.
