Death’s Gambit Review

The Limits of a 2D Souls-Like

Death’s Gambit is the latest in the attempt at taking the methodical gameplay of Dark Souls and put it in a 2D space. With gorgeous 16-bit art, the game pushes the Dark Souls design to its limits…and to its breaking point.

Cheating Death:

Death’s Gambit follows a soldier who is killed on the field of battle to find himself staring Death in the face. Death offers the man his life if he can remove a mysterious object that grants immortality to those who reach it. And as with these cases, standing in your way is all manner of enemies who would like to kill you…again.

The story is told through mysterious flashbacks that paint a picture for why the main character did what he did and the events that led to his death. As a great point, this is one of only a handful of games that acknowledges that the player is immortal. There is some humor in literally talking to Death about dying and how annoying this circumstance must be for him.

The basic formula of Death’s Gambit follows the souls-like design. Checkpoints around the map act as bonfires, you have phoenix feathers as a replacement for eastus, and shards instead of souls. It’s where the developers stray from the path that Death’s Gambit gets interesting, and frustrating.