Die Again Review

In a world where people were transformed by the mysterious Blue Blood, Die Again puts players at Ground Zero, where it all began, as you fight for your life in a landscape marked by war.

Die Again is a top down shooter with a twist: you can take over other characters. While you can shoot enemies willy nilly, if they have to be within a set distance of your character, you will die as well. But if an any is nearby, wall or not, and you commit suicide, you’ll swap into the new character and continue your rampage.

When reaching a new area, you can either walk around and talk with NPCs to further the story or find out more about the game’s lore or you can decide to jump into the action directly. The game’s mission structure is quite diverse. While ultimately you have to complete each area by completing different objectives.

Most levels will take max 5 minutes to get through and objectives differ. Some will require you to reach the end without dying (one hit death) or successfully kill all enemies giving a bit of varied gameplay. Some levels will have you run around with just a knife for stealth kills. If you run out of ammo, you’ll be able to pick up other guns to ensure you survive.

And it’s not just mindless shooting; each level requires a bit of strategy. Additionally through different, you’ll come across different gangs identified by the helmet they wear, given the top down perspective. You can sneak around them by “inhabiting” the body of one of their fellow soldier.

The game has a minimalistic, dark tones visual styling which represents the war themed setting. This is more obvious during the sequences where you talk to NPCs whereas shooty-shooty levels are slightly more bright and colorful to distinguish enemies and obstacles properly. The soundtrack feels completely unmatched with the theme or visual presentation. The score playing during conversations is more akin to something from a game aimed at kids whereas during combat, it sounds like someone dropped a keyboard down the stairs.

There’s nothing overly wrong with Die Again. The top down perspective is a bit annoying and not for everyone as it also implies that you need to aim with the right joystick while moving around with the left one. Also the top down perspective restricts the overall view of the level.

Die Again is a unique and challenging top down shooter which combines action and strategy; its unique premise of taking over characters to keep things going is unique and its short levels makes it the perfect game to play in short bursts. Thanks to the NPC interactions, there’s a lot of replay value here as there are over 100 different scenarios to enjoy. Die Again is definitely worth your time and money.