The only item you get to keep is “ingots”, golden currency that lets you unlock new weapons. When you ‘die’ in Have A Nice Death, not only are you catapulted back to the start of the game, you lose pretty much everything that you picked up during that run. The bigger problem, though, is that Have A Nice Death lacks the character-building element that made Hades so compelling. The game is far too stingy with its health drops given how brittle Death is, which not only makes the game extremely hard, but also means that health drops are more exciting than any of the cool powers that the game throws your way, simply because they give you a better shot at survival. Indeed, I would say that progressing through Have A Nice Death is no mean feat, but meanness is arguably one of the game’s main flaws in its current Early Access state. Each new floor will also bring you one step closer toward that particular area’s boss, highly challenging encounters that’ll test your newfound powers to the limit. Other floors will let you fight minibosses or find new active abilities, which range from weapons like a hammer that stuns enemies, to a devastating power that calls down a hail of asteroids. “Soulerys”, for example, will provide a greater chance of reaping more souls used to by upgrades. Here, you’ll get a choice of floors to move to, each of which is themed around a different upgrade. Your goal in each randomly generated level is to reach an elevator on the far side.

In the scythe’s case, this sees Death teleport around the screen slicing every enemy on it into ribbons. Killing enemies also builds up a power meter that lets you unleash a devastating special attack specific to each weapon. Death’s default weapon is his scythe (obviously) which he can use to attack enemies in a sequence of lightning-fast swipes, or a sweeping uppercut move that’s particularly useful for dealing with those books I just mentioned. The excellent animation work lends itself naturally to the game’s combat.

I chuckled at least three times during the opening cutscene, while the game itself is filled with pleasing visual gags, such as the flying books that attack you with conjured paper aeroplanes.

Have A Nice’s Death‘s art and animation is up there with your Ori‘s and your Hollow Knight‘s in terms of style and detail. Credit: Magic Design Studiosīy far the game’s strongest feature is its presentation. As Death, you need to work your way through the many floors of Death Inc, battling ghostly enemies and hulking bosses in challenging combat to reassert control of the company. Such is the setup for what is undoubtedly the most arresting concept for a roguelike since Hades. Hence, Death has no choice but to step out of his office and make some very literal cutbacks. But all that happens is old Grimmus gets drowned in paperwork, while his new middle-management seize control of Death, Inc from under his nose cavity. You play as an overworked grim reaper who, tired of doing everything himself, delegates the task of reaping souls to a bunch of minions. Have A Nice Death covers the same ground, but it replaces emails with the souls of the dead.

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Consequently, everyone ends up overwhelmed by their inboxes, preventing them from attending to the jobs or activities those emails are often about. The problem with this idea is that email lets lots of people send lots of messages, all of whom expect an instant or near-instant response. It arrives instantly and can be responded to instantly, which in theory lets you get to other tasks quicker. Sending an email is much more efficient than sending a letter. Have A Nice Death is framed around the premise that making your life (or unlife) more efficient is not the same as making it easier. This week, Rick Lane helps the Grim Reaper deal with burnout in Have A Nice Death.

Unfinished Business is NME’s weekly column about the weird and wonderful world of Early Access games.

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