Suneat’s hack-and-slash roguelite Dragon is Dead combines some of the best parts of metroidvania classics like Dead Cells and Blasphemous with Diablo-like progression to make a dreadfully delightful plate. There is no shortage of moody castle-crawling clones available on Steam’s endless scroll. So it has become increasingly rare for me to pick up a game and even want to stick through it to get to the juicy parts or exciting mechanics.
This strain is doubled for Metroidvanias and other movement-based action genres. For titles to stick, they have to not only impress with atmosphere but make that initial sword swing and dash smooth (and addictive) as butter. If Dragon Is Dead was filled with those same artery-clogging ingredients, I’d be on my way to cardiac arrest. Though just like popcorn, there are some aspects that just get painfully stuck in my teeth.
Right out of the gate, the player is hit with an absolutely gorgeous mosaic of pixel-art goodness when introduced to the starting town. The grimdark gothic fantasy vibes are riddled with the kind of storytelling you can just feel. My OLED Steam Deck was glistening with the contrast of bright crimson blood on the bleak greyish backdrop of the first area. During the tutorial run you are given a brief walkthrough of the core mechanics: the usual suspects of run, jump, dash, and attack are all present. This is the part of the game that truly hooked me. Each action animation just glides across the screen and gives you that immediate action hero satisfaction. Slaying creatures of the night felt like a return to Blasphemous, with bursts of damage numbers and blood exploding with each hit. With each weapon and armor set gained, there is even more satisfaction to be had in slaying hordes of enemies. Now multiply this by three for each of the playable characters with their own distinct gear and style of play. The result is all the makings of a weekend’s worth of hours burned.
Even more variety comes in the flavor of a sprawling, multi-tiered skill tree. The tree is packed to the brim with all of that minmaxing goodness you’d expect out of an early Diablo game without being nearly as overwhelming. The weight of each unlocked skill is felt immediately, with most of them feeling run-defining. Choosing between particular skill, artifact, and weapon combos mid-run does an incredible job of keeping the action fresh. I will admit that it did take me a bit to read through what each skill does and how they are categorized. The UI and text on my handheld screen was in some cases a bit smaller than my heavily prescribed eyes could make out. The effects and accompanying terminology took some digging to find their definitions. In a game so obviously built on stats and loadouts, I would have liked the menu screens to have been a bit more intuitive, especially on the deck.
Compounding my visually induced migraine was something that feels like a bit of a miss for a game that pays such intimate attention to lore and world building: the dialogue. At the time of writing, I am unsure if Team Suneat is an English-based studio. Though much of the text and dialogue feels like it has been translated a few times with middling success. Paired with some character dialogue that feels like it overstays its welcome, the story just starts to lose its flavor. What makes this painful is how strong it starts. In the world of Dragon is Dead, you play as a Witcher-like chosen one, the Successor. Tasked with fighting back hordes of demons to free a small country from the aftermath of the black Dragon Guernian’s defeat. The Corruption that has plagued the town of Cliffshire must be cleansed by your undying hands. If this sounds like the perfect world to dive into mounds of lore pages, I’d agree. Unfortunately, there isn’t much there within the game itself.
This brings me to my biggest issue with Dragon is Dead’s 1.0 release: a startling lack of content. I am around 14 hours in and have defeated the big bad a couple of times. Each run you are required to take the same journey to each boss. And while difficulty levels are scaled and there is some variety in enemies, the zones themselves begin to blend together. If not for the cocaine-laced feel of combat, I would have quickly become bored with the same few areas and bosses. Coming from other games in the genre it is a bit disappointing to run out of surprises so early in its runtime. I am aware there is a bit more fun to be had with the difficulties, but I can feel the urge to put it down until the next big update.
With so many games releasing, I do not often find the time to keep up with titles after I roll credits. Barring, of course, a big DLC or content expansion. Dragon is Dead makes me want to break that habit because of how excellent the raw material is. The lore, mechanics, and art direction have kept me coming back for more even when I wanted to move on. It is worth its twenty-dollar price tag if you’ve already played through the other classics in the genre. It becomes an easy recommendation at any discounted rate. I will be keeping my eye out for any and all updates that give me an excuse to dive back into Dragon is Dead.
