Unfrozen’s Iratus: Lord of the Dead Needs Your Help

By: GeekyGamerGirl87

I want you to use your imagination here. Imagine if “Slay the Spire” and “Darkest Dungeon” said they really cared for one another and decided to have a game baby. Let’s just say this hypothetically game baby had a lead  of an evil necromancer; who is trying to finish what he started a millennium ago before he was locked away in a stone prison. That would be an awesome game, right? Well, what if I told you that this could in fact be a thing? May I present to you: Iratus: Lord of the Dead.

Iratus: Lord of the Dead is an indie strategy RPG, that is being developed and published by Unfrozen.  The game is due to be released in October 2018, but there is a Kickstarter for the game that is currently under way and has a little over 20 days to go to reach its goal of $20,000 USD.

You are able to get a free demo of the game to play, if you go to the Kickstarter page and join the game’s discord. This is how I was able to obtain a copy of the demo to play so that I could write this review. Let me say, what I have seen of this demo I have really enjoyed and loved. Before I go any further, I would like to point out that all pictures that are included in the article are screenshots that I have taken from the demo of the game.

The game demo starts off with a stunning intro. The artwork is completely breathtaking and the voice acting – although I thought it might have been a bit cheesy— isn’t that bad. From the beginning the game pulls you in immediately telling you the back story of Iratus, an evil necromancer who is trying to take over the world as we know it. However, he is unsuccessful and is capture and placed in what seems to be a stone coffin surrounded by chains and as he is immortal, he is left there to dwell on his failure. That is until one day – a millennia later—, he is found and freed by what looks to be some undead creatures.

The game has three different modes: Cakewalk, More Pain, and Good Always Wins. However, you must start with the tutorial before you can even go into the other modes, and the only other mode available in the demo is the cakewalk mode. However, don’t be fooled by the name cakewalk, it is not by any means a cakewalk. The battles are still a little tough, so I am looking forward to seeing what the other  modes do offer.

I mentioned earlier that it is a mix between “Slay the Spire” and “Darkest Dungeon” and here is my reasoning for that. In “Slay the Spire” you get to choose your pathway when it comes to the map, which in Iratus you do the same thing. At the end of each battle you get to pick and item from a chest that you can use in the crafting of more minions. Which is like creating the cards in “Slay the Spire.” The reason it reminds me of “Darkest Dungeon” is because of the art style of the game. It does give off that “Darkest Dungeon” feel. Also, just like in “Darkest Dungeon” once you lose  a minion that minion does die. Hence, it is important that you pay attention to your minions and take them out of the lineup to heal if they need healing. If you fail to do so, you lose that minion forever and  you’ll have to craft another one, and that’s if you have the resources to do so.

Another feature of the game – along with creating your minions with the resources you gain from each battle— is that you are given talent points that you can use to boost up your alchemy stats as well as magic and tactics. There is even a section in which you get artifacts and equipped them to make Iratus stronger. When you are traveling the map, you do come across quest icons that allows for you to choose an option that will either help your team directly, give you more resources, or give you some type of new power just to name a few.

As the game is still in development there are somethings that I hope they do include into the game. I would love to see an achievement system in place. I mean don’t get me wrong,  I do enjoy the game without achievements; but I am an achievement hunter and the thrill of seeing what achievements I have collected does make my heart flutter. I’m not saying there has to be a billion achievements but something like 15 to 30 might be a good number. I hope that they will also add the trading cards feature as well. I think that the game would benefit from the trading cards, and I could see many people possibly asking for the feature. So that they can unlock wallpapers, or just to simply be able to have the trading cards.

As far as the controls go, I like and enjoy playing this with the mouse. Although, if things go well with the Kickstarter and they do spread the game over to console later down the line, perhaps they should also do a controller input as well. I’m suggesting this again as future proofing, so that they have something to go from when it comes to controller input.

Overall, I do recommend that you visit Iratus: Lord of the Dead’s Kickstarter page; so that you can get a copy of the demo to play for yourself. Then once you play and you decide you  like it; and you can back the game; go ahead and do so. If not, you can still help the game by sharing it’s Kickstarter campaign across your social media accounts.  I hope that they do have a successful Kickstarter as I would love to see the game happen. If not, I would even suggest that they see if they can submit the game to Steam’s Early Access to raise the funds. If you would like to check out the Kickstarter yourself, feel free to click on the link here Iratus: Lord of The Dead- Kickstarter.  Trust me you owe it to yourself to check out the game.