Praise Dead

This is a very tentative 'recommended'. I like the idea, and in sale it's very fun for a few hours, but there's a few flaws that make it hard to recommend full price.
- The music is very repetitive, basically just a few notes repeating themselves.
- The combat is very basic. There is a lot of fun to be had constructing the zombies, but not so much using them in combat.
- The game is very buggy, things I encountered: parts duplicating themselves after equipping, gold not updating after buying a part, my first run that I won didn't register as such, villager loss because of lack of food is inconsistent, sometimes you lose barricade while no demons got through.
- There was an event near the end of the game where I suddenly lost all my zombies, gear and parts included. Not sure if this was intended, but losing everything after investing so much rescources just feels bad.
- I just spend 15 minutes in a fight against a demon with 90% dodge rating and 1500% lifesteal. I think it would have taken at least 15 more minutes to actually kill it.
Still, on sale it was 3,90, which is a fair price to me, just don't expect it to be a polished experience.

3-part game loop. Make zombies, have the zombies do physical labor, then have them fight monsters. Praise the dead!

I like being a necromancer in games. & I was looking for a smaller game to play and chill after beating a bigger game.

Good as a proof of concept. The game play is fun.

But being from a small indie developer at cheap price, expectedly it's not as extensive as some other popular roguelikes and rough around the edges.

Beat every ritual level and also endless mode past day 50 (at which point unique events stop happening) before maxing all soul (permanent) upgrades. Not saying this to brag. I got actually bored after this and did not play further.

Would like a sequel so that I can try same concept with more content. more variety.

Highly recommend praise dead for anyone who's a fan of autobattlers (or just good indie games in general). Build your army of the undead to save the town, manage your limited resources, and have fun making the most broken combinations imaginable.

Actually difficult to win, but still possible to snowball if you get lucky. Took me 3 hours to get my first win and seems like I'm not even 1% of the way through the meta progression, feels very balanced.

A rough but fun indie gem with a ton of personality

I tried Praise Dead because I loved Buggos and Boggos 2, and it definitely gave me some of that same chaotic indie charm.

Pros:

Interesting and unique concept; I don’t know of another game quite like it

Silly yet oddly charming art style

Decent strategy options once you learn the ropes

Not overly difficult once you understand the systems

Strong indie vibes all around

Cons:

Noticeable learning curve early on

Easily the worst controls I’ve used in a while: no hotkeys, all mouse input

Meta progression feels mandatory; you win more from upgrades than from skill

Random negative events that can instantly ruin a run with no counterplay (I once lost all my zombies to one random event)

Endless mode feels broken and pretty worthless: it’s much harder than standard play and doesn’t even give credit for completing the main run. Don't even try it until you've finished all the difficulty levels.

Bugs:

Item slots occasionally bug out

Purchases sometimes duplicate

Twice had the priest leave and never return (once as early as day 12)

Verdict:
I probably wouldn’t recommend Praise Dead broadly, but I would recommend it to someone like me - someone who loves weird, ambitious indie projects even when they’re a bit rough. As negative as this review sounds, I actually had a lot of fun. So yes, I’m recommending it.