Death’s Gambit A 2D Platformer for Dark Souls Fans

-GeekyGamerGirl87-

I will admit that when I was offered to write a review for Death’s Gambit, I did not know what to really expect. I was told it was like Dark Souls, and as I have played Dark Souls in the past, that was enough for me to play and write a review for the game. Little did I know, is that I would get really engrossed and obsessive with the game.  I sit here and think about how to get pass certain parts of the game and then before I know it; I’m right back to playing more of the game.  Therefore, before I begin my actual review of Death’s Gambit, I would like to take the time to thank both the developer White Rabbit as well as the publisher Adult Swim Games for providing us here at thedailygamepad.com with a free review copy of Death’s Gambit to play. It is due to their generosity that I can write this review for you

When the game begins you see Sorun lying on the ground. Before Sorun is brought to life you get to choose which type of soul he is. There are a total of seven souls to choose from which are Soldier, Assassin, Blood Knight, Wizard, Noble, Sentinel, and the Acolyte of Death. As the game does not have a standard choice of game difficulty; depending on the soul you choose will determine the difficulty of the game. Each of the souls has its own unique traits and play styles. The Soldier is trained by the Vados military and is a good all-around fighter.  The Assassin is a quick and nimble fighter that favors close range combat. The Blood Knight is a reckless warrior that rewards aggressive combat styles. As a Wizard, you fight with complex ranged magic. As  A Noble an agent of royalty will come to you to sell rare items. The Sentinel is a master of arms. The last Class is an Acolyte of Death meaning that you worship death, but by doing so you can restore broken death idols. Again, depending on the class you choose ;that will set the difficulty of the game for you.

In addition to selecting your soul, you get to choose from seven gifts for your soul. The seven gifts include a Vado Helm, Spellbinder’s Aura, Shield of Warding, Gaian Blood X5, Soul Stone X5, Crystal Bomb x8, and a Rusty Charm. The Vado Helm is a helmet worn by military soldiers of Vados and increases your vitality by5.  Spellbinder’s Aura is an aura that has been enchanted by elemental wisps. The Shield of Warding reduces the time of negative status effects by 25%. The Gaian Blood increase endurance regen by 100% for 14 seconds. Soul Stones can be used to upgrade weapons and armor.  Crystal Bombs are bombs that deal 320 lightning damage when they are thrown. As for the Rusty Charm, it’s just a locket that holds a picture of someone you hold dear.

Once you create your Sorun and choose his gift; you meet Vrael, a Dragonborn who tells you what has happened and then tells you to go back to Vados to let your comrades’ families know that they have perished in the war. You don’t see anything wrong with this and so you head off towards Vados. As you begin to leave you run into Death, who tells you that you are in a contract that resurrects you in his service. He tells you that this contract puts you in a state of limbo neither dead nor alive. You ask what is it that he wants you to do and he tells you he will let you know when the time comes. After that, you set off to continue your task at hand, which is letting your falling comrades’ families know what has happened.

Playing the game, I didn’t really find too much wrong with it, minus the fact that if you don’t play strategically then you are going to rage. As said, this is like a Dark Souls game and if you are not familiar with that game series, let me just say it can be brutal. Death’s Gambit is not a game you just run into battle slashing and hacking at things. You need to think about what you are going to do before doing it. However, sometimes this means you only have a nanosecond to do so. You cannot overthink and whatever you decide to do, you’re going to want to follow through. Therefore, if you are someone who rages very easily, I would say play this one with caution. However, I like a game that poses a challenge and so I thought the game to be fun. It seems like there are a lot of boss fights in the game, and they do come frequently. However, there are things you can do to weaken them. I won’t say much as I don’t want to spoil the game. Also, once you fight a boss, you have the option to fight it again in the Heroic mode.

When it comes to the graphics of the game, I love that the game is in 2D. When I played Dark Souls, I found myself getting distracted a lot by the background. In Death’s Gambit, I can stay on task during fights, and enjoy the scenery when the fight has ended. In turns of controls, I found them to be great and had no issues with the controller.  Another thing that I really enjoyed is that early on you get a mount. There’s nothing like being able to move quickly through the game. Also, at any time your horse is lost, you can go to a bell to ring it and bring your loyal companion back to you.

If you are someone like me and you enjoy collecting trophies and achievements, then you are in luck. Death’s Gambit offers 35 trophies for you to collect. Some of them come very easy. While others it is going to take some time to get them. If you are on the PC side of things and you collect the steam Trading Cards, the game does offer trading cards as well. As I was giving the PlayStation 4 copy to review, I am not sure of how many trading cards there are to collect. Just remember that when you collect the trading cards, you will get a certain amount from the game you play and then will have to trade off for the rest or purchase them through the Steam marketplace.

Overall, I can honestly say that I highly recommend Death’s Gambit especially if you are a Dark Souls fan. Even if you are not a Dark Souls fan, but just really enjoy a good hard challenge then I would also recommend picking up the game. You will not be disappointed at all. I do hope that in the future Death’s Gambit see’s a Nintendo Switch port, as my switch has become my hand-held system and I would love to be able to play Death’s Gambit on the go.  However,  if you would like to play Death’s Gambit you can pick the game up on PC at Steam, Humble Bundle, GOG.com for $19.99 USD, or on PlayStation 4  for $19.99 USD.