In Death or Treat, we play as the soul of a deceased who fights against the drug trade. It may sound scary, but in reality, it’s quite cute. We control a friendly little ghost armed with a broom, and it’s all in the spirit of Halloween! Pumpkins, bats, and even geek references (!) are included in this definitely deadly rogue-lite. 👻
The first thing that stands out when you launch Death or Treat (aside from the broom) is the visual universe – it’s amazing! The characters are hand-drawn and animated, and the graphics are tastefully done. I really enjoy it! Additionally, the dialogue and character names are full of computer references, creating a mashup of geek and Halloween universes (e.g. FaceBoo, RipTok, Necrosoft), which surprisingly works well. 🤓 The music is also super cool.
But what is the game, you ask? 🙂 Good question, my dear Korbenaut. The answer is rather simple: it’s a 2D fight/platform-oriented rogue-lite. We control our little ghost from a side view and take out dozens of enemies while searching for candies, ingredients, and power-ups throughout procedurally generated levels, all while making our way to the exit.
Occasionally, we encounter a super hard boss that we must defeat, and when we die, we start over. Fortunately, even if we lose our power-ups, we keep the accumulated ingredients that we can use to buy new and more powerful weapons and improve our skills, thus making us stronger and stronger. 💪🎃 Ultimately, we reach the final boss and defeat it as we should!
However, all is not perfect in the realm of the dead, as there are a few flaws that I would like to point out. Firstly, while the controls are well calibrated, I had trouble getting used to the “floating” aspect of the character. Since the character does not have a foot, after a jump, they never really land. This has caused me to struggle with managing my jumps and rebounds at times (and it’s not just because I’m bad!). 😬 It’s a shame because a good portion of the fighting gameplay is focused on dodging projectiles.
The other minor issue is the repetitiveness of the level design. Although it’s far from being a major problem, the levels before the first boss lack variety, especially since, as a rogue-lite game, we will be playing through them countless times.
Other than that, the game is great. You can tell that it was made with a lot of love and attention to detail. It’s easy to learn, enjoyable, and really cute… If you’re a fan of the Halloween and internet mashup, then you’ll love it! As for me, I give it: 👻👻👻/5.”
