Ashton Lovell
Crypt Custodian, ultimately, is a charming adventure meant to relax rather than stress and which tried to help the player along rather than hinder their progress.
Deathbound is a failed experiment. The morph system is its one saving grace and truly does differentiate the game from others in the genre. Weaving together morphs into combo attacks and dodges is exciting and fun. The rest of the game just does not back it up. A forgettable story, comical voice acting, missed opportunities, frustrating level design, and unfair enemies push Deathbound away from the echelons of greatness in the soulslike genre. Perhaps with this experience under their belts, Trialforge Studio can learn from the missteps of Deathbound and come out of the other side with a new vision and a more realized adventure.
If a narrative, dystopian, neo-noir detective experience sounds compelling or interesting, then Nobody Wants to Die is worthy of your time and attention. The experience struggles with creating compelling gameplay even for an adventure title and fails to make the player feel like the detective that they play as. Thankfully, the atmosphere, picturesque visuals, and intriguing story propel the narrative experience forward into a worthwhile one.