Death of a Wish

One of the questions a lot of people ask me is why I review smaller, indie games instead of focusing on the triple-A releases that everybody else is talking about. After all, many of the games I play are from first-time developers who make questionable decisions and don’t have the budgets to fully realize their ambitions. There may be some truth to that, but all I need to do is point to a game like Death of a Wish to show you exactly why I do it. I don’t care if I have to play ten bad games in a row, because the moment I discover an actual, legitimate gem, all I want to do is share that experience with anybody who will listen. This is a stylish and beautifully told beat ‘em up about faith and oppression, and I can already tell that it’s one of those games I’m going to be talking about for the rest of the year. This is my review of Death of a Wish.

This is the harrowing story of Christian, an incredibly angry and vengeful fighter who is on a violent quest to take down the cult that raised him. He believes that if he can defeat the four Sanctum Faiths – Father, Sister, Cardinal and Priest – he’ll be able to upend their corruption and bring order back to a nightmarish world filled with evil beasts and religious zealots. But in order to do this, he’ll need to team up with a colorful cast of heroes and come to grips with some uncomfortable truths about himself.

In case it’s not obvious from the set-up, this is a beat ‘em up with a lot to say about faith and spirituality. If you can imagine Golden Axe drawn by David Lynch with whole a lot of unresolved religious trauma, then you have a pretty good grasp of what you can expect in Death of a Wish. Using a magical sword and a wide variety of attacks and combos, Christian will hack and slash his way through a corrupted world filled with nightmare monsters of all shapes and sizes.

After you get over the game’s unique (and chaotic) visual style, the first thing you’ll notice is how much fun it is to play. There have been a lot of brawlers released in the last fourty years, and very few of them are this fast, fluid and exciting. It’s so easy to quickly string together moves and combos, all while dodging attacks from all sides and using your magical abilities to break the enemy’s shields and do some real damage. Even before you’ve learned some of the cooler attacks and styles, you’ll be slicing and dicing with the best of them, and it never gets boring.

What really sets the combat apart is how customizable it is. A big part of this game centers around different magical combos that are called Arias. You’ll earn a number of these abilities over the course of the game, usually at pivotal moments, and they will help to change up the flow of action. On the most basic level, they act as different types of combos and attacks. Each aria has its own pros and cons, so you’ll get to choose if you want to get into a battle with a slower and more powerful aria, or maybe you would prefer opting for a faster aria that is better at chipping away at the enemy’s shield.

On top of having their own combo characteristics, you can also attach enhancements to the aria that will give our hero new powers. You’ll find and unlock new virtues and abilities over the course of the game, giving you a lot of incentive to tinker with your set-up and find the combinations that work best for you. And what makes this really fun is that you can load up two different arias at once and switch between them in the middle of combat, giving you some variety on how you tackle each battle.

That is just one of the many smart ideas made by the developer. For as challenging as some of the bosses are, I found this game to be extremely accessible. Leveling up is quick and easy, you can fast-travel from many save points, you can rewind time if a fight gets out of control, health items literally grow on trees and the punishment isn’t too steep when our hero dies. If he falls in battle, Christian will respawn at the last checkpoint with his corruption meter filled up a little higher. Things start to spiral out of control if you fill up that corruption meter, but don’t worry, you can remove some of the corruption by scoring big combos and killing the enemies with style. That’s a smart idea.

I was also impressed by how long the adventure is. There’s a cool story here full of twists and turns, and it’s going to take you anywhere from six to eight hours to beat. The game does an excellent job of mixing things up with new locations, fun side-quests and a whole bunch of crazy characters. And it isn’t afraid to go dark and constantly make you think. Things are not as black and white as the graphics want you to believe, and I found myself constantly impressed with the storytelling and writing. By the time the game goes completely off the rails in a Hideo Kojima kind of way, you’ll not only be ready and primed for it, but you’ll welcome it with open arms. This is one of those games where you’re never really sure what will come next, which is something that goes perfectly with the chaotic art style.

This is, without a doubt, one of the most unique looking games I’ve ever played. From the purposely rudimentary characters to the harsh and almost violent sketch design, this game walks the line between gorgeous and ugly. It’s definitely atmospheric, perfectly pairing with the brooding character and emotional story. And it only looks better in the throes of combat. This style allows for some truly strange and interesting enemies, and goes a long way to give you the feeling that you are stuck inside somebody’s nightmare. Will this style be for everybody? Absolutely not. But, personally speaking, I found myself swooning over the look and mood of this game. It truly does not look like any other beat ‘em up I’ve seen before.

If you’re looking for things wrong with Death of a Wish, you’re not going to find many in this review. I suppose you could argue that one or two of the early bosses require some level grinding to defeat, but that isn’t a big deal. Nor is it a problem when you end up being super over-powered for most of the late-game bosses. Perhaps there will be people who complain about the religious commentary or scratchy visuals, but not me. I felt like everything came together almost perfectly, leading to a truly memorable brawler that has a lot on its mind.

The truth is, this is an insanely likable action game with fun gameplay and a story that will really slap you across the face. The battles look great, the characters are all well-written and there’s a real sense of both mystery and discovery the entire way through. This is a confident game made by developers that have something to say, and they have the goods to back it up. Death of a Wish is big, stylish and oh so much fun to play.