Draw Chilly

Genre: Arcade

Players: 1

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Review:

Draw Chilly is an Arcade-style game released in 2019 on PC, mobile devices, and Nintendo Switch. A spin-off of the Peace, Death! series, Draw Chilly puts players in the role of Vladamir, a mechanic who has died and is sent to purgatory with the task of supervising a crew of mechanics raising a hanging platform up an endless chasm, fending off attacks from monkeys.

Why does Death need the platform raised? Why monkeys? Why is the game called Draw Chilly? I have no idea – this game’s story seems to have been written by someone with English as a second language, so the bits of story you get aren’t very intelligible.

The presentation here is decent but nothing great, featuring 2D pixel art visuals with a synthesized soundtrack that fades into the background of the sound of your character wheezing as he constantly attacks enemies. At the very least some enemy types are amusing, but overall the most memorable thing about this game is how odd and frequently random it seems. For example, the first boss is named Lootbox, despite being… a magnet doused in green slime? Whaa?

The gameplay here has players going back and forth on the platform, fighting off enemies while ensuring mechanics remain assigned to the two winches on either side of the platform. You’ll also want to constantly be on the lookout for crates dropping from above, as these provide invaluable power-ups to aid you in your monkey-fighting. There are also baby chicks to collect, and you’ll be able to spend points earned to upgrade your character, their power-ups, and the assists gained from the Four Horsemen who sometimes pop in to help.

While there is certainly some interesting stuff going on here, the game has multiple problems. First, you often aren’t told when something important is happening off-screen like a monkey attacking one of your winching mechanics, and as such you kinda’ have to keep wandering back and forth on the platform to check on things. Also, the power-up bonuses are all pretty bland stat bonuses and inventory expansions rather than anything especially interesting.

However, this game’s biggest flaw has to be that combat in the game is an absolute slog. Even smaller enemies are damage sponges, and your attacks have no weight or impact to them, making you feel like everything you do is just chipping away at enemies’ health bars, often while they chip away at you.

If nothing else, Draw Chilly is at least interesting, even if it’s often perplexing and filled with tedious gameplay. I suppose players seeking something out of the norm may find this to be a sufficient time-waster, but I think most are better off getting something else.

tl;dr – Draw Chilly is an Arcade-style game that tasks players with managing a crew of mechanics in purgatory who must lift a platform up an endless corridor while fending off attacks from monkeys. No, it doesn’t make any more sense in context. Unfortunately, this game’s interesting and unusual elements are undermined by its tedious combat and uninteresting upgrades. You’re probably better off leaving this one in purgatory.

Grade: C

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