Quick Look: Death's Gambit

There is a lot of pixel art these days, luckily I am in favour of that.

EDIT: actually this game looks weird, something is off about it.

I feel like this game is a couple patches away from being pretty good, but it just doesn't feel satisfying to play.

I finished the game a couple of days ago and I do think the combat needed some further tweaking. Theres a real lack of impact to just about everything. I eventually got over it and was pleasantly suprised by some of the direction the game, but it definitely didnt hook me for a long while.

I really want to like this game, but everything I've seen about it the mechanics just don't look great. For me the biggest issue is lack of feedback for damage. Sometimes you'll dodge or move through an attack and take damage with no visual indicator beyond just realizing you must have intersected with a hitbox.

I'm really enjoying the game. I wonder if it's the weapon I chose, but the daggers are really fun, especially the blink ability. I guess I see how some more combat feedback would improve things. I think I'd liken it to Doom (2016), where something about the sound design for hits and taking hits missed the mark just that little bit, but I still found it to be a blast.

The lack of proper settings in this game is a big bummer. The game is so pixely that I can barely read the text on my TV from a distance and it’s forcing a certain resolution on me.

Visually, this game is amazing. But, Brad is right. The gameplay is... not "terrible", but it's not good. Besides the not being able to move with the Dpad, my biggest gripe with it is the complete lack of hit feedback. I like games where it feels like you're hitting things, and know when things are hitting you. This game has none of that.

I don't like the look of this game at all.

It's a neat idea to have a story flashback here and there when you die. It's one of those things you can do when you do have an established protag as opposed to a blank slate like in the Souls games. The story focus in general seems stronger in this game than in a lot of Souls, and I think that's a good idea that does set it apart to some extent.

Shame about the "feel", I think it's really hard to tell that stuff just from looking at it. Graphically, while this isn't my favorite pixel art(some of the environments get a bit undetailed, with certain bushes or rocks just looking like pixelly drawings, and a lot of the characters have a CG model-ish look to them, like some of the bosses in Harmony of Dissonance for instance. Dead Cells seems to have this all the time as well), I think it's miles and miles above stuff like Salt & Sanctuary(which looks like flash animation with a ton of aftereffects) or Unworthy's look(which is Limbo). I got pretty excited for it just looking at gifs, and I'm still gonna try it out, so I hope the controls go better for me than they did for Brad.

This game looks great. It seems like the vast majority of its issues could be fixed with a patch and if they do that, they can have my money.

Same here. The art style maybe would've worked on its own, but it's just a bad mish-mash of different resolutions making it really hard to look at. Those light shafts in the cave being in a totally different resolution than the actual cave opening it was shining through and all that, not to mention the UI also being in a totally different resolution with smooth fonts. And then Brad mentioned the game does referential Dark Souls jokes and I just couldn't watch it any longer.

Why do people keep doing this? :(

I'm starting to feel really burnt out on it.

At some point I switched to using the stick to play 2D games (I think probably around when Rayman Legends came out) and I have become accustomed to it. Playing a 2D game with a D-pad now feels weird to me. Even when emulating old games, I now use the stick.

Well said - I could not put my finger on it, but now that you pointed it out, the multiple resolutions issue is definitely there and hurting the game. Shame.

Dammit. Yet another game I'm unsure if I'd like or not. I like the look of this and the sound/music seems real nice. "Feel" is something that is hard grasp through a video and I can't really remember ever using the Dpad for any 2D game like this.. I always just use the analog stick. Dead Cells on the other hand also looks nice, supposedly has this magical "feel" to it, yet it's in a format (run based thing) that I'm less interested in?

Dang, this looks pretty

I agree with Brad that the lack of any sort of map is kind if frustrating. In a 3D game like Dark Souls it’s so much easier to get a good grasp of your surroundings and remembering what paths lead where, but in a 2D space where you can’t look ahead and there are hundreds of individual screens it can lead to a lot of wandering around.

The music is pretty nice!

It looks like there's something "wonky" with the hitboxes on that boss that makes it look like you don't need to dodge anywhere as much as you'd think. Like the sword only has active frames during the end of the swing or something.

Look at the attack at 16:00 as an example. Brad is standing like 3m ahead of the guy and he does a charging plunge attack that goes straight through without doing any damage.

I still adore it when it's done well, like in Bomb Chicken and The Messenger, but the artists for so many of these games seem to have no concept of sticking to a consistent resolution and pixel grid or for that matter baking in the shading in their art instead of putting bad lighting effects on top of everyting, resulting in a mess of misaligned pixels and clashing styles.

The idea of this game is cool but something about it just looks...off. I think it's something about the speed of the animations just feeling a little wonky. Like Brad said, hopefully it's something they can tweak in the future but it's hard to imagine being able to fix something so fundamental.

I'm noticing a lack of polish in a lot of little areas, such as how your character's scarf/cape disappears briefly when you get knocked off your feet. (16:37)

They seem to give you a nice array of information during boss fights, even if that information clutters up the UI a bunch.

I just beat Salt and Sanctuary and really loved it, but this game is not doing it for me.

How is Jason not on this? This is totally a Jason joint!

Rogue Legacy, Hollow Knight, Dead Cells and how many countless others? With so many games out there getting 2D controls right, it's just impossible to get past games that seem to flub it on that front. It's a damn shame, too, because I would've been into this if it actually played the way you expect these sort of games to play.

Buggy, performance issues, baffling controller choices (and not enough controller-customizations to make up for it), and issues with it's combat system.

Yet anther disappointment for the hot 2D games that came out in the second half of the Summer. I wish I could back to mid July before I knew how crappy all of these games would turn out.

@brad At 13:55 that bartender isn't talking in riddles, exactly. It's reciting the opening lines of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain."

I dunno why, but it definitely made me laugh.

Devs have said they're working on improving the input buffering and animation cancelling, and adding in D-pad support. Though I'm usually a D-pad only person in 2D games and I don't mind using the stick at all in this game.

Feels like it could have used a little more time to polish stuff up, but I'm actually loving Death's Gambit so far.

'Cardinal Sin', quality unintentional pun.

Seems like a neat-o game, and honestly, who really used the d-pad to control these kinds games? Can't remember the last time I used a d-pad for movement. Couldn't imagine beating Hollow Knight like that, but also it seems like d-pads aren't as good as they used to be.

EDIT: a map would be really good for this game.....

This game looks like several tweaks from being something I'd want to play. The stamina consumption on that dodge roll is rough.

Lot of these pixely, 2D action games have really started to blur together for me in the past few years. Can't muster up much excitement unless it's really spectacularly looking or has someone interesting hook to it.

Guacamelee 2, though, that might just cross the barrier for me.

As someone who just enjoys good Dark Souls-styled exploration/discovery this game is a blast for me right now. I like a lot of the mechanics they put in here. You can use any "bonfire" to swap out your "Estus" for improved damage. For example, I gave 4 feathers to the bonfire, and now have 40% increased damage. It's a neat risk/reward, and, if you want to farm a little, it makes it far easier.

It's a bummer that you can't change your character's appearance, but you do find different capes that all look different, so... eh, it's something.

I'm maybe 2-3 hours in... might restart because I killed the very first person you see in the game... because I wanted to know I could...

One other thing: this is the 3rd game in a very short time-window to use 3D models to produce smooth "pixel-art" animation. Moonlighter, Dead Cells, and now this. As someone who dabbles in pixel animation and doesn't know anything about 3D modeling I guess a part of me is bitter that they found a better way to do it. Oh well.

Took a while but I'm into it. The bosses feel like marathon efforts, though. I'm not a fan death by a thousand cuts. I do like the exploration, though.

This game looks very competent and pretty. It's really hard to know what they are complaining about with the controls based on the video - I guess you'd have to play it for yourself. Also, I never use a d-pad and I don't regret it.

Also - do Souls games not have maps? I was somewhat interested in those, but without a map I would be lost instantly since I have zero sense of direction (in real life or in games.)

This just makes me want to pick up Salt and Sanctuary again (as much as I feel it totally bogarted the Souls aesthetic wholesale but it was 2d so it's ok!; the game actually felt good control wise) or keep at Hollow Knight. The style is nice and they do some cool things, but it's a bit of a saturated market right now and I've got other options ready to go.

Is it just me or is this ql incredibly fucking loud?

I'm really pleased to see some posters being positive about this game. It has nothing to do with any negativity towards Brad, but rather it is evidence of critical judgment from posters here at this site. Personally, I side with Brad about what I was seeing about the stamina bar, at least for the particular class he is playing. It could be there is a hump for again that class. The damage he was inflicting on the Boss was slowww...

@bybeach: If they recorded this before the most recent patch then that particular boss had more health than he was supposed to. That fight really was a marathon but I cleared it myself just fine with a slow weapon before that patch.

As to the stamina bar, yeah it's rough and I struggled with it for a while, but his class is also supposed to rely more on blocking and he wasn't using his abilities as often as he could have been, and they tend to hit very hard.

Unrelated, but I don't get the complaints about using L1 to latch onto ladders. I think that was a great decision, lets you be sure that you're going to grab the ladder only when you want to.

I'm liking the look and the music...but (and I feel like someone already said this but truth be told I'm too lazy to reread) the combat just seems off and honestly, I'm just not liking this blend. I thought I would with Salt and Sanctuary and I just don't. Something about the transition to 2D just doesn't work right for my brain.

@wollywoo: That is correct, or atleast the ones that I have played (Dark Souls 1-3, Bloodborne, Salt & Sanctuary) don't have maps. Honestly though, having any map system in those games would really kill the exploration of those games. And besides, you become so attached and familiar with the locations that it's not even an issue; remember, they're not truly open world, just very well crafted interconnected areas.

Would this not have gone better with some more STR?

Here's hoping patches make this game great.

@thegoodbishonen: Not to mention you die and retry areas so much that by time you get through, you not only memorize the map, but enemy placements as well.

I'm not having so much trouble with the stamina meter (although it is far too short), as much as I am the complete floaty-ness and lack of impact of the movement and combat.

Jumping and falling feel like a bad flash game - you just kind of fall to the ground with no reaction.

And combat has zero feedback whatsoever outside of health bars falling. Your character never really reacts to getting hit and enemies are very rarely stunned. There's just nothing to indicate when things are happening.

Sorry to Burnout and Rockband but Dark Souls is clearly the game of that generation

no more pixel art please

Really on the edge about this one. I like some of the systems (bonus damage for not using all feathers) but Brad's right in that it simply doesn't feel great.