Death or Treat Reviews
With its wonderful hand-drawn aesthetic Death or Treat looks like it should be fantastic. Never judge a video game by its visuals however, as those visual delights disguise a bland and repetitive roguelite. Death or Treat? More like Death or Trick.
In short, Death or Treat is a very pretty game with a nice soundtrack. It looks like it should be fun. Unfortunately, after a certain point–when you reach the first boss–it stops being fun. I really hope the control issues are the result of a lackluster PC port and not inherent to the game. Either way, I don’t think I’ll play it again until the controls are fixed.
An aesthetically fine action roguelite that does not offer any particular gameplay cues but allows itself to be enjoyed. It lacks a bit of optimization that materializes in a few too many stumbles both at the technical level and in usability.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Death Or Treat can be a fun 2D rogue-lite at first, but the gameplay becomes bland far too quickly, well before the much more polished final stage which comes too late to be the game's savior, and the charm created by its admittedly excellent visual style and animation isn't enough to keep you going, especially when that visual style is bogged down by commentary that only distracts you from the game's world.
There are more polished, quality roguelites out there that will engage you for a longer period than Death or Treat, but that says less about its own achievements and more about the incredibly high bar set by its predecessors.
Can you help Scary beat Faceboo to save Ghost Mart?
Death or Treat is a game with a very fun combat and setting, capable of guaranteeing a good time for a few hours. But, as a roguelite, it ends up suffering from the lack of challenges and the consequent lack of motivation to continue playing it for many runs.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Death or Treat is a very fun 2D action roguelike with impressively immersive combat that'll have you giddily juggling Halloween monstrosities while they spew out candy as if they're piñatas and it's your birthday.
Death or Treat reminded us that, sadly, a little luck is often needed in life. If it is already difficult for an up-and-coming studio to carve out a place in the sun with its debut title, it all becomes tremendously more difficult if fate pulls a trick by putting a frighteningly similar title not far behind. Saona Studios builds a competent and entertaining 2D action roguelite, focusing on an aesthetic that winks at Nightmare Before Christmas and an allegory aimed at the world of social (and beyond). What is lacking, however, is a bit of freshness in the play system, which relies excessively on resource farming and old-school hack'n'slash, net of a control system that is not always brilliant. All in all, an enjoyable production, although it cannot rival other exponents of the genre.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Death or Treat is a pretty barebones entry to the growing pantheon of rogue-lite hack and slash games. It looks nice and plays well enough, but it isn’t sticky.
From the moment you boot up Death or Treat, it's clear where all the care and attention went. You're greeted with a really nice-looking animation sequence that looks far better than nearly any other game you could name. It's rare that a game that boasts of being hand-drawn or hand-painted actually looks amazing, but in this case, you could honestly say that about Death or Treat and not be exaggerating. Unfortunately, it's all downhill from that point.
I don’t particularly appreciate giving games low scores, especially to a game that was a labor of love by a small team, but Death or Treat is a hard sell. It’s short, features only four bosses, limited variety, is poorly balanced, and is filled with bugs. The last one is significant because I can overlook some of these things, but in its current state, I can’t recommend it. This is a shame because the jokes and core gameplay loop are enjoyable, but the flaws are impossible to miss.
Death or Treat delivers the basics of the roguelike genre well done to a certain extent, but doesn't dare to offer something innovative. However, the experience is positive, especially for players who are not used to the genre. Combat is easy to master, but a little tedious over time. But the title manages to captivate due to its excellent art direction and fluid movement of its protagonist.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
If Death or Treat is your first foray into the action roguelike genre, then you will find a lot to love about it. For those more versed, you may find a very overly familiar experience that doesn’t reinvent the formula. I fall more into this latter category. I liked experimenting with the different weapons and builds before venturing off on a new run, but I felt like I’d done this all before. Death or Treat is not a bad game; it succeeds in what it sets out to do, a fun experience to grind away with a fantastic art direction. Suited to those looking for a short gaming fix or ready to settle in for a good game night. Halloween or not, you can enjoy this any day of the year.
Death or Treat is a 2D action hack-and-slash roguelite that shows a lot of promise being an indie developer's first project. The game's adorable visuals can only carry it so far, as the experience is boggled down by uninspired gameplay mechanics and technical issues.
In a golden age of indie roguelikes, Death or Treat barely manages to eke out a silver lining.
Death or Treat has a charming Halloween vibe, but its repetitive gameplay mechanics and awkward loot system do make it hard to recommend when compared to other roguelites. It’s not that anything is bad at all, but rather that it lacks to depth and creativity to keep players hooked in for long – especially with its tiring emphasis on gathering randomised loot. It just doesn’t do anything I haven’t seen done much better in other roguelite titles. The visuals are great and the whole ‘us versus the corporation’ vibe of HallowTown was fun to see unfold, but Death or Treat just lacked that special *something* to stand out in what is a very crowded genre.
On paper, Death or Treat should work. An action hack-and-slash rogue-lite 2D game with beautiful hand-drawn environments sounds cool, right? Unfortunately, a subpar gameplay experience and horrible performance make this a tough game to recommend.
We analyze Death or Treat, an interesting roguelike title in which we will control the ghost Scary, trying to sell candy.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
In a world filled with 2D rogue-lites competing for our attention, Death or Treat isn’t able to stand up to the competition. There seems to be a myriad of visual and technical bugs that are keeping this game from reaching its full potential, but even that seems to be only half of what it could be. It’s not a bad game, but players should likely wait until it’s fixed and goes on a discount before they decide to purchase.