Death of a Wish [Review]

Death of a Wish is an RPG, roguelite (kind of) that follows our angsty protagonist, Christian, as he fights against the cult that raised him. The game was both developed and published by Melessthanthree. The reason why it’s only sort of a roguelike is that it doesn’t reset after every death like a traditional rogue-lite, but some things will cause the game to reset. I’m getting ahead of myself though, there is a lot of information to relay. The game can get a little confusing, so I want to go in order. You start the game not by giving your name but by naming the person who is most important to you. It’s an interesting way to start the game. The first thing I noticed when getting into the game is that it has a unique art style that is pleasing to look at. It’s simple and vibrant and it makes the animation very beautiful and satisfying to watch. The black background also makes it easy on the eyes which is nice because I can get lost in roguelites for hours. The game, story and imagery-wise, has a lot of religious undertones. There are crosses throughout the game that act as doorways to bosses. You use “prayer cards” and “virtues” as items to upgrade your move sets.

All of the imagery and dialogue did confuse me about this game to be completely honest. I was a bit lost on the story. Though that didn’t deter me, rougelites often have hidden lore so I jumped into the tutorial. It didn’t even feel like a tutorial, it was more like it threw me into combat, and as I figured things out some text would appear and give me advice. I like it when tutorials are more immersive like this because it gives me a chance to figure things out for myself and doesn’t take me out of the game.  When completing the tutorial you meet the first NPC who helps you out by giving you a new element. I like the way the attacks work in this game. You can essentially customize your move set. At the beginning of the game you only have two elements but it is possible to unlock more. You can switch between any two elements of your choice on the fly and it will change your attacks slightly and your charge attacks significantly. Since every attack in this game has a charged version, the element greatly changes the charge attacks. You can also customize the element of your familiar, which is just an extra attack. There are also items that you can find and win throughout the game that can be equipped to your “virtues” (which is the name for the attacks in this game). Doing this can change the attack to do more damage or have more reach. These features can make for some unique movesets if you want to change things up.

The way the game played started to click around the first real boss of the game. At first, the Deserter boss frustrated me greatly. It seemed impossible to win even with the help of an NPC. You see, there’s another mechanic I haven’t talked about just yet and that’s the corruption meter. This meter starts at 0% and will continue to go up every time you die. I hadn’t died much before the Deserter so my corruption was only around 10%. But, you are supposed to lose this fight. Specifically, you are supposed to get your corruption to 100% at this time to unlock a new ability. I had to fight, and lose, to the Deserter boss around 12 times for my corruption meter to get to 100%. I don’t dislike when a game forces you to lose, but I was getting very frustrated with this fight as it seemed I could win, it was just slightly too difficult for me to defeat him. If this is the game's way of teaching you what happens at full corruption then I wish the first death against this boss would just force your meter to 100% as I was just stuck with this fight until I reached that point.

After finally reaching full corruption, Christian learns the ability to use the corruption as an attack. You can transform and become extremely powerful, the only problem is that the corruption will continue to go up while in this form. This ability is what you’re supposed to use against the Deserter to defeat him. If you’re wondering what’s so bad about reaching 100%, well, this is where the game becomes a true roguelite and not just in the control scheme. The game reset to the beginning. I had to run back to the radio tower and the Deserter boss once again. However this time I was much stronger as you get to keep your levels and items. So, no matter how bad you are at this game you will always be progressing as long as you are leveling up and raising your stats.

Death of a Wish is a unique and interesting game. A lot of this game is about giving it a chance. Because at first things are frustrating and confusing. It’s easy to get lost so I recommend you look at the map often. And, the religious imagery and story were confusing to me and Mia was brought up catholic and went to a catholic school. So, She is someone who recognizes the imagery and was still confused, so it might go over some people’s heads who aren’t as familiar. The protagonist, in my opinion, can be a bit whiny and trying too hard to be edgy. It makes me not care about his dialogue as much. However, giving this game that chance is worth it. Especially if you love roguelites as much as I do. I enjoy the customizable movesets and the art style is nice to look at for hours. You can tell a lot of effort was put into this game and it’s art and it feels like it as you play. Death of Wish is now available for Switch and Steam.

The first thing I noticed when getting into the game is that it has a unique art style that is pleasing to look at. It’s simple and vibrant and it makes the animation very beautiful and satisfying to watch. The black background also makes it easy on the eyes which is nice because I can get lost in roguelites for hours.

I don’t dislike when a game forces you to lose, but I was getting very frustrated with this fight as it seemed I could win, it was just slightly too difficult for me to defeat him. If this is the game's way of teaching you what happens at full corruption then I wish the first death against this boss would just force your meter to 100% as I was just stuck with this fight until I reached that point.

It’s easy to get lost so I recommend you look at the map often. And, the religious imagery and story were confusing to me and I was brought up catholic and went to a catholic school. So, I’m someone who recognizes the imagery and I’m still confused, so it might go over some people’s heads who aren’t as familiar. The protagonist, in my opinion, can be a bit whiny and trying too hard to be edgy. It makes me not care about his dialogue as much.

Review Co-Written with Andros Craig and Mia Berra