Developer:
Saona Studios
Publisher:
Saona Studios, Hawthorn Games
Genre: Farming Sim, Life sim
Where to buy: Steam
Price: $22.49($24.99)
Build a Rogue like, and they will come, make it Halloween themed, and they will rush to see the sights to behold. With a strong presentation, does this game hold up to the frightfully adorable aesthetic, or disappears like a fright scare inside of the shower. Aside from some argument of the community. I personally sought after every nook and cranny of my personal experience. I tried the game in every way possible from any sort of play style, whether keyboard and mouse, and the tested and true Gamepad. I taste tested the game with both, and will say strongly some of its faults, but also its strengths within the veil.
First things first, the story evolves a super cute ghost by the name of Scary. You pace yourself through the usual fold of Rogue-lite rules, where you collect power-ups, of which help you progress through the game. The game consists on a strong need to reuse many tile set rooms. Which you will notice within the gameplay clip also provided from a first run test of the game on my stream on Twitch. Or through this humble Youtube clip. From the start the game played and handled fine on the gamepad. None of this mention of jank or unresponsiveness was present. Until I used Keyboard and mouse. I swapped between both choices and the lack of refinement was with the KB+M combo was there. Which is odd to me. Maybe I might be used to janky games, or those users were using a laptop or a keyboard to try to play? Or as well were using gamepad and just had the bad luck mentioned by them. Who knows. I am not their hands or experience to grip down on their take. “Floatyness” (insert ghost joke here). also did not feel like a problem to me. As I was combating gourd monsters without really any issues. Again could just be I was lucky?
The presentation as mentioned before was lovely. The hand painted design of everything is beautiful. As it felt all of the budget got slammed into those two fronts. Which at times is not a bad thing here mind you. The reward is nice to look at, but if KB+M users are having problems, then I am unsure. I am sure the developers will fix it all soon or smooth out the drastic issues those players were having. The game is also filled with a ton of play on words for celebrity or political figures, which got a chuckle out of me. Like “Jobs”. Many will mistaken this game for a Metroidvania, which I almost did until I got deep into the game. It is not one. It is meant to crunch numbers randomly, so you can ether benefit or suffer. With your runs in the game you gain candy, which is used to upgrade Hallowtown. The base of operations where you can upgrade Scary’s item limit. Or Power ups. The usual fey for Rogue-lites. Powerups felt fine, and worked as they were intended. The combat is dynasty warriors level of satisfying. Large sections of enemies fill the screen, with your eager fingertips able to mash down enemies.
In Closing,
Death or Treat is pleasant. While also a experience with a few issues. Where levels or title generation feel empty or disconnecting from the big picture at times. The combat is fulfilling, if you use a gamepad. As KB+M white knights will be slayed by the jankiness of the surface. If you can look past some of its issues, it can be a enjoyable experience once a few patches roll through.
