Deaths Gambit

I finished Death Gambit Afterlife a few years ago, but after stumbling upon some videos, I thought writing a review would be a good way to show my appreciation for it.
When I started playing it before the Afterlife rework, I dropped it at the Bulwark (second boss of the game). I really didn't enjoy it and felt it was sluggish and way too hard for nothing. However, with the numerous changes of Afterlife, I had a much better time and went up until the end.
This game is my absolute favorite story wise, I keep getting teary-eyed when rewatching some scenes with Death, the way the story is written along with interactions is genuinely extremely good. Although I'd say it takes until at least the mid-point to third half of the game for the story to go from "decent" to "amazing". You can see the various inspirations the devs had from other famous indie games, which I obviously won't mention to avoid spoiling the "surprise".
The ending itself is among my most cherished experiences, I've recommended the game many times because of that last half that just blew me out the water the first time.
Gameplay wise, I think it's fine. However, making some choices (like choosing the Acolyte of Death class at the start) are really important, it makes the game less of a hassle as some bosses can be really unforgiving. I personally didn't try out the other weapons, the scythe is well-rounded so I always went with that one.
NG+ on heroic bosses is actually not fun because of how you don't really stand a chance, felt more like a slap in the face than a challenge, but the base game difficulty is well-thought-out.
As for the music, I've been so surprised of how good it is, the main leitmotif is something that stuck with me through the journey. Be it from bosses or just certain biomes, I'm always remembering them fondly, this is not your average OST that doesn't stand out.
An example :
I absolutely recommend this game if you enjoy challenging games and a story that has one of the most beautiful souls I've ever seen. Thank you for making this game
Death's Gambit 2 will probably never happen, but I'm happy even if it ends this way.

Don't let my low playtime fool you, i've beaten this game multiple times.
This is one of the best 2D Soulslike Metroidvanias of all time and it's not even debatable.
The Bad:
- It's a bit glitchy here and there, but i've never had something truly gamebreaking.
- Standard Keybinds are whack, but you can reassign them easily.
- Some Bosses have some weird hitzones & bs instant attack animations.
- Sometimes when you drop an Item, it just vanishes lol. Don't accidentally drop items.
The Mid:
- Bosses are pretty easy early on, but they eventually get a lot harder.
- Zone layouts can sometimes be a bit confusing even with the Minimap.
- Grinding is sometimes required.
The Good:
- Top 5 2D Metroidvania Gameplay ever honestly. It's super fun & addicting.
- Progression is super clean and imo. borderline perfect.
- Buildcrafting is really good. You have a LOT of options on how to play your char.
- I like the Story & Writing, but i know that's extremely subjective.
- Actually good Mouse Support for a 2D Metroidvania. Very rare in this Genre.
- The Metroidvania Aspect is REALLY FKN GOOD. A lot of Hidden Items, Backtracking, Interconnected Paths. IT'S SO GOOD.
I love this game. It's honestly a really good 8/10 to me.

ENG/ITA REVIEW
I underestimated Death’s Gambit Afterlife for years, since its mixed reviews and somewhat low profile i always assumed it was a mediocre attempt at a 2D soulslike, one of my favorite genres. But i finally gave it a chance… and you should too.
At first glance, it plays like a standard soulslike set in a dark fantasy setting, then the game progresses, and it starts weaving in humorous undertones that, surprisingly, didn’t feel out of place, only for then change completely into something unexpected and the story begins to spiral into something much deeper and stranger than i ever anticipated.
What seemed like a straightforward fantasy narrative transforms into an experience full of complex, layered themes. Without spoiling anything, I’ll just say it’s far more futuristic and philosophical than it initially appears. Somehow, despite the wildly diverse topics it touches on, the game manages to keep everything coherent, even emotionally resonant. Toward the end, it all clicks in a way that’s both dramatic and genuinely moving.
The final acts of the game are incredibly well made. The music, boss fights, and weight of the path you have walked all come together in an epic crescendo. There’s even moments that breaks the fourth wall in a way i never saw coming but brilliantly implemented.
Gameplay wise, combat feels more fluid than Salt and Sanctuary, though not as fast paced as Grime, it's a solid middle ground. There’s a decent range of builds and abilities to explore, though some of the heroic boss fights felt unbalanced but that might just be my skill level.
This game surprised me on every level. Don’t sleep on it.
RECENSIONE IN ITALIANO:
Per anni ho sottovalutato Death’s Gambit Afterlife. A causa delle recensioni contrastanti e della sua bassa notorietà, ho sempre pensato fosse un tentativo mediocre di creare un soulslike 2D, uno dei miei generi preferiti. Ma alla fine ho deciso di dargli una possibilità… e dovresti farlo anche tu.
A prima vista, sembra un classico soulslike ambientato in un contesto dark fantasy. Poi, man mano che si avanza, il gioco introduce toni umoristici che, sorprendentemente, non stonano affatto. E proprio quando pensi di aver capito dove vuole andare a parare, tutto cambia: la storia si trasforma in qualcosa di molto più profondo e strano di quanto avessi mai immaginato.
Quella che sembrava una narrazione fantasy piuttosto lineare diventa un’esperienza ricca di temi complessi e stratificati. Senza fare spoiler, posso solo dire che è molto più futuristico e filosofico di quanto sembri inizialmente. E nonostante tocchi argomenti molto diversi tra loro, riesce comunque a mantenere una coerenza sorprendente, arrivando persino a toccare corde emotive. Verso la fine, tutto si incastra in modo drammatico e davvero toccante.
Gli atti finali del gioco sono realizzati in maniera eccellente. Le musiche, le boss fight e il percorso che hai sceltoculminano in un crescendo epico. Ci sono persino momenti in cui viene rotta la quarta parete in modo totalmente inaspettato, ma perfettamente sensato con alcuni dei temi sopracitati.
Per quanto riguarda il gameplay, il combattimento è più fluido di Salt and Sanctuary, anche se meno frenetico di Grime, un buon equilibrio. C’è una discreta varietà di build e abilità da provare, anche se alcune boss fight eroiche mi sono sembrate sbilanciate… ma forse è solo una questione di git gud.
Questo gioco mi ha sorpreso sotto ogni aspetto. Non ignoratelo.

1) go to an area with a robot dog believing its easy
2) accidentally go too close
3) boss hits you with massive explosion
4) wake up at the wierd statue with a guy roasting you for dying
9.5/10 would do it again

When I started the game, I felt it was clunky, I didn't love the art style and in general I don't like Souls-likes.
Well, I did not only finish the game, I even started a New Game+. Something I literally never did for any other game before.
tl;dr: I can really recommend this game.

This is my favorite MV, so this review might be a bit biased.
I will go with the typical and boring pros and cons list.
Pros.
+ The story really surprised me in a good way, this is probably the story i enjoyed the much within the genre:
+ Death and the main antagonist are really interesting.
+ The gameplay can be hit or miss, it really depends on how you approach the game, want something easy and steam roll the game ? go with nothing but the Hammer and it will be boring, or try to dive a little more with the build diversity, at first it seem that you can't do much, but in that regard this game have a very good diversity of build that you can experiment with, just don't stick with the logic of, this class should only use this weapons.
+ The map is huge, like really huge but doesn't feel like a chore to traverse, some may claim that the lack of fast travel is a mistake (the horse is, but it was designed for the vanilla release in mind and is not that great with the afterlife update), i would just say play a bit more.
+ Voice acting is good, like super good better than a lot of AAA games that i have played.
+ The soundtrack is also very good
+ Combat feedback is great, the vanilla release was way more soul-like oriented (you can still play it) when the afterlife update toned down the clunk of the combat, boss difficulty is fair and the only real challenges are coming from some of the heroics fights.
+ Unlocking the secret boss without a guide is beyond insanity, beyond La-mulana tier (yes i looked for a guide), and there's the possibility that there's still an undiscovered secret.
Cons.
- Audio balance is debatable, one music track is way louder than the rest and it's one of the first that you hear. The issue mostly come form voice recording, a lot of dialogues that came with the afterlife update have a different volume, it can get a bit annoying, this game have an impressive voice acting quality for an indie game, and this issue kinda make no sense and it was never fixed. There's also another audio issue where a voice line desync at the very end of the true ending, this issue appeared after a patch (ConfirmClassSelection, pls don't fix) and it never got fixed.
- At some key points of the story the game will tell where to go, which was in my opinion a mistake, some players tend to tunnel vision and to rush to the objective ending up being stuck or missing a large chunk of the afterlife update.
- The normal talent tree is kinda disappointing, the build diversity that you could get from it with the vanilla release of the game is gone, i know that class have theirs own skill tree now but it remove the possibility of using some old builds, such as the overpowered gun build from the original release, and thrust me there's way more overpowered build that you can do now.

- The afterlife update did some poor decisions compared to the vanilla release.
Removing some important story elements such as the expedition cutscene when they get wiped by Endless, I know there's a reason for that, but that's story spoiler, still i don't see much reason for his removal.
And the scene where you storm the castle with spoiler and spoiler was removed.
A massive chunk of the final dungeon for the C ending was totally removed from the game and as well as a piece of the lore that was also removed with the giants.
The entrance of Garde Tum had a way better design.
The ice giant area and the orange forest were linked to other areas, in afterlife they don't make much sense.
The nightmare fight was more tense and harder, I still wonder why they nerfed it, it was already easy.
- The removal of Myrthil greaves with afterlife also make no sense, these are the best in slot shoes for the Hammer weapon, and the only way to get it is either play with the randomizer mode (need ash of vados) or play the vanilla game (by selecting Beta under the game propriety) until you kill Forgoten Gaian (third boss), save and revert back to afterlife and load the save.
Don’t get me wrong, afterlife clearly made the game better, but these are the decisions I don't agree with at all.
And because of that it's worth playing the old gambit at least once.
- Unlocking the secret boss without a guide is beyond insanity, Think La-mulana nonsense, but harder.
- The lack of storage is a bit annoying.
- The ash of Vados dlc is kinda disappointing and kinda bring more questions than answers.
Get it if you want an easier grind for late game, but don't except much, for exemple the randomiser is not that "random"
Fink mode is also terrible, not counting the fact that it can lock you out of the best dagger in the game.
Heroic mode is interesting, but not recommended at all since some heroics boss at low level is a real pain and you will need to script the whole fight.

When I realized that this game was basically a 2D Dark Souls, I feared the worst, namely getting stuck on its difficulty. I did not, but I did sometimes get stuck on where to go next, or what to do. I had a good time nevertheless. it looks good, it sounds good, ans the atmosphere is great, punctuated by a bit of humor. I'd happily buy a sequel.