Last week, I wrote about The Outer Zone’s upcoming Soulslike deck-building game, Death Howl, and how it could easily become my most anticipated game of the year. Since then, I’ve tried the demo released on Monday and, yeah, that statement still stands. The generously lengthed demo grants access to the first of several zones, a plethora of cards to experiment with, and even a few secrets to discover.
Death Howl is a mix of many things I love. Its art style, a stylized yet minimalistic approach, pairs perfectly with its haunting soundtrack and emotional story. I’m a Slay the Spire sicko, so obviously, Death Howl‘s deck-building mechanic speaks to me. And while its combat is turn-based, it’s more in the style of a tactical RPG. On top of it all, it somehow manages to squeeze in Soulslike elements and, surprisingly, makes them fit perfectly.
Controlling Ro, a mother in search of her deceased son in the Spirit Realm, you explore regions and acquire “Death Howls” from slain animals. An in-game map lets you anticipate your next battles and plan your routes accordingly. In between combat, Sacred Groves are placed to refill your health. In typical Soulslike fashion, however, refilling your health means resurrecting all enemies in the region.
Ace in the hole; ‘death howl’s fresh approach to deck-building is welcome
Battles occur on a tiled grid you’d normally see in other tactics-based RPGs. Ro has a specified amount of action points, or “mana,” to spend moving between tiles or playing cards. Starting off, you can dish out weak attacks, like chucking rocks or swatting with sticks. Later, you’ll craft cards to perform lightning strikes, defensive buffs, and more.
Fail in battle, and you’re back to where you were before combat to try again. When you win, each slain animal drops some sort of material, whether a pig’s snout, the slime of a slug, or a bird’s beak. Other materials are found scattered around each map. These materials are then used to craft new cards for your deck.
Ro can also equip Totems to help in battle, like granting one extra mana point or inflicting a random enemy with poison. And these Totems, along with the new cards you craft, will make or break you in combat. Let me tell you, these fights aren’t a cakewalk. While most battles were more than manageable, some of them (looking at you, pesky snails in caves) required some planning and card swapping to finish. Difficult, yes. But absolutely doable. Death Howl‘s toughness feels challenging but incredibly satisfying.
At this time, an exact release date hasn’t been revealed. Death Howl‘s Steam page simply states it’s “coming soon.” Whether that’s this month, the next, or some Spirit Realm’d iteration of “soon,” I don’t know. But I simply can’t get enough of Death Howl, and I’ll be keeping a close eye on when I can jump back into its alluring world.
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