Highlights

  • Death Must Die is an Early Access game on Steam that combines inspiration from Vampire Survivors, Dark Souls, and Hades, making it a standout in the growing Survivor-like subgenre.
  • The game follows a straightforward premise of players assuming the role of different heroes and fighting through hordes of enemies to destroy Death himself, with the help of various boons from gods.
  • The game's visuals and character designs draw inspiration from Dark Souls, and its challenging gameplay appeals to fans of both Soulslikes and Survivor-likes. The blessings from the gods provide significant advantages in battle.

Steam's Early Access period is a great way for players to get to experience newer games while simultaneously providing developers with valuable feedback intended to drive polish and iteration prior to their 1.0 release. One such Early Release title arriving this week on the platform is Death Must Die, a new Survivor-like from developer Realm Archive, and in addition to its obvious comparisons to Vampire Survivors, the game also happens to showcase inspiration from both Dark Souls and Hades. Death Must Die is the latest entry to the growing Survivor-like subgenre and is already establishing itself as being one of the better attempts at recapturing Vampire Survivors' "lightning in a bottle" via its potent mix of inspirations.

Vampire Survivors' near-immediate success and legitimate Game of the Year candidacy in 2022 all but ensured that other developers would try their hand at the game's "reverse bullet-hell" style of gameplay. Sure enough, the intervening months between Vampire Survivors' early release and now have seen several new games entering the ring to compete with it. One of the more successful of these is Halls of Torment, which mixes its Vampire Survivors lineage with an obvious reverence for the early Diablo games, but Death Must Die's use of similar dark fantasy design and atmosphere as FromSoftware's Dark Souls series helps the game to stand out in what's quickly becoming a crowded subgenre of roguelikes.

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Death Must Die's Inspirations Combine to Make Something Exciting

Like Vampire Survivors, Death Must Die follows a fairly straightforward premise to frame its self-described "Bullet-Heaven" action. Players assume the role of a variety of different heroes, each of them adhering to one of the classic class archetypes common in RPGs, and set off to destroy Death himself. Prior to facing off against Death, the player will need to prove their worth by fighting through the endless hordes of enemies at his command, all while receiving various boons from the pantheon of gods who aid the player in their quest. And, like Vampire Survivors, each run in Death Must Die has just enough randomness and variety to keep players coming back for one more attempt at its addictive loop.

One of the main things helping to set Death Must Die apart from its contemporaries are the deities that assist the player in each run, with the various boons and blessings they provide serving the same purpose as those given to Zagreus by the Greek pantheon in Hades. Mixing and matching the various blessings, each with their own gameplay-affecting bonuses and levels of rarity, has the potential to greatly shake up each run through Death's gauntlet, and they each have their own pros and cons depending on which of the warriors the player takes into a run.

The most obvious inspiration from Dark Souls comes courtesy of Death Must Die's visuals and character designs, including the use of the iconic bonfires as randomized healing spots on the map during each run. Additionally, the game has a fair and adequate challenge for fans of both Soulslikes and Survivor-likes and is not for the feint of heart. Thankfully, the blessings bestowed upon players by the various helpful deities in the game have the potential to provide a significant leg-up in battle, including boons empowering the player's dash or adding elemental affinities to each attack.

Developer Realm Archive has a clear-cut roadmap for Death Must Die's 1.0 release, anticipating that the game will spend roughly a year in Early Access before its official launch. There are currently only 3 different warriors available for players to choose from, but the sheer variety in the designs of the enemies and the 6 gods and goddesses assisting the player promises plenty of creativity coming in future content additions. Along with other similar games such as Halls of Torment, 20 Minutes Til Dawn, and Soulstone Survivors, Death Must Die is another must-play title for fans of Vampire Survivors.