Death of a Wish

Genre: Action-RPG

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in Paradiso Series Bundle, along with Lucah: Born of a Dream.)

Death of a Wish is an Action-RPG released on PC and Nintendo Switch in 2024, and the sequel to Lucah: Born of a Dream. And in fact this game is so similar to Lucah that I’m going to copy-paste my review of that game here, save for one vital difference tthat I’ll get to in a bit.

In Death of a Wish, players take the role of a boy… I think… who fights off enemies in a land where the people are a part of a religious cult of some kind… look, both the visuals and the storytelling here make it difficult to tell anything for certain, so a lot of this is just going off of vibes.

Speaking of the visuals, this game makes use of pixel art visuals that look like someone filled the screen with black and then scribbled over it in MS Paint. It doesn’t look bad, but everything is sketchy in a way that can make it difficult to determine what things are supposed to be, making the game feel pretty abstract. These visuals are joined by a very subdued soundtrack that builds the game’s dark, oppressive atmosphere.

At the very least the combat here is quite good, with players getting RPG-style upgrades and an ever-expanding moves list that they can customize to make combat the best-suited both to their own play style and the enemies they’re currently facing. This is where Death of a Wish makes its biggest change to Lucah, getting rid of the prior game’s stamina meter, and it is a much better game for it, letting you enjoy the combat without constantly having to keep an eye on a meter to see if you have enough juice left to keep attacking or dodging.

The other parts of the gameplay aren’t quite so successful, though. There’s exploration here, but it all seems so pointless, with everything looking similar, and that sketchy look keeping it all indistinct. When you come to a fork in the road, one way seems just as good as the other, so the desire to explore is pretty well nullified here.

Overall, I think Death of a Wish is unique enough to set itself apart (well, apart from the other game that it plays like that it’s a sequel to), and the combat and RPG elements are strong enough to make it enjoyable. But that same art style and odd story that set it apart also make this game harder to get into. The result is something enjoyable, but that feels like it suffers quite a lot due to these artistic choices.

tl;dr – Death of a Wish is an Action-RPG and sequel to Lucah: Born of a Dream that similarly has a solid combat system and good RPG-style mechanics, but that is hampered by its odd presentation that makes it difficult to make out what you’re looking at and makes much of the game look samey. The way this game ditches the first game’s stamina meter is definitely an improvement, but it still has a lot of issues that drag down its otherwise good gameplay.

Grade: B

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