Indie Impressions: Death Howl

[00:00:10] Welcome, welcome, one and all. This is a special episode of the Indie Impressions miniseries from the Pre-Order Bonus podcast. Folks, it's me from the Pre-Order Bonus. Just for those who are listening to this Indie Impressions episode for the first time, Indie Impressions is a miniseries that's primarily funded through our Patreon. So here's the pitch. For $3 a month, you can get many episodes, typically minimum three episodes on Instagram.

[00:00:40] Indie games that I have been playing, plus a newsletter. This month, when this episode comes out in February, it's actually going to be way more than three episodes because I overbooked myself and I want to deliver. So folks, if you like what you hear in this episode, please consider signing up to the Patreon and getting more episodes and supporting the podcast and supporting me as we talk about Indie Games. And folks, I will be talking about the Death Howl demo. Now this is a little unusual because typically,

[00:01:10] in the Pre-Order Bonus, we don't cover very often early access or demos, but of course, there are exceptions to the rules and typically, those exceptions are really outstanding games. And so, Death Howl, just to clarify, Death Howl, this was gifted to me. While the demo is free and available to everybody, the full game is included in the gift. And so, I will be covering this now in the demo, and I will also be covering it at 1.0 launch for Indie Impressions.

[00:01:41] But, at the same time, this was a really fun experience. And so, I will be talking about Death Howl. Typically, in Indie Impressions, it kind of mirrors what happens in the Pre-Order Bonus podcast and have different categories. The art direction, just the narrative and the game design, but because this is more of a review of a demo, we're going to be kind of combining all those things all at once.

[00:02:08] And I'll just be talking through the highs and the lows of the Death Howl demo. Now, folks, this game, when I first saw it, when I first saw that it would be available, the marketing that I saw is that it's a Soulslike deck builder and that the publisher was 11-Bit Studios. Now, if you're a long-time listener of the Pre-Order Bonus podcast, you know that I am a big, big fan of Soulslikes.

[00:02:37] I'm a big fan from software games, and so that had me. Now, deck building, I am typically less enthusiastic about, to be totally honest. It takes a really special deck builder to get me super invested. And so something like Bellatro, I would consider, you know, like Dicey Dungeons. Those are the ones that managed to grab my attention. I have yet to play Slay the Spire, for example. That's one that I just haven't seen too much there that looks all that appealing.

[00:03:06] And so when I saw this, that the Death Howl game was going to have a combination of something I really love and something I'm really hit or miss on, I was actually just intensely curious about what the experience would be like. And so let's talk about this. The Death Howl demo, I probably spent, let's see here, just under two hours playing. So there's quite a lot in there to really sink your teeth into and to get a sense of what the experience really is.

[00:03:36] And the first things that jumped out to me are the art direction and the animations in this game. This game is gorgeous. It is gorgeous pixel art. If you like pixel art, watch, just watch the trailer for Death Howl. This is a really beautiful looking game. What I really appreciated about it is that it's got this super interesting color palette.

[00:04:00] And now, of course, within the demo, you're only within one area of the game, which is, you know, a forested area. And so we're seeing a lot of these like muted greens, like really mossy greens contrasted with some interesting like oranges and grays, but essentially really dark atmosphere. And something that really stood out to me just kind of with this art direction beyond the color palette is that there's not a lot of bordered assets.

[00:04:28] And so what I mean by that is really common in pixel art to produce a character and there'll be like a pixel width border and typically black, but maybe some sort of grayscale border. And that kind of helps your assets pop out. It helps with visual clarity so you know exactly what it is you're looking at as you're playing through the game. And Death Howl does not have that, which is a really bold choice, but it really works here.

[00:04:57] I think it really adds to kind of the fluidity of how everything meshes together. And I think as beautiful as the sprite is for the main character Roe, who you play as, it makes them kind of blend into the atmosphere.

[00:05:11] And I think this is actually really important because in Souls-like games, a lot of the art direction, while interesting and beautiful, it is to sort of diminish what the protagonist is in this world. And what I mean by that is the world is infinitely larger than the protagonist.

[00:05:32] And that kind of helps with creating this atmosphere that Souls games are really known for, which is, you know, beyond the fact that they're really difficult, this idea of like, ooh, but me against the world is actually a really tall order. It actually kind of feels impossible. And so I think this kind of art direction, what they've done here in Death Howl really emphasizes that point. And it's really, really awesome. On top of that, the animations, when you perform an action, it is beautiful to look at.

[00:06:00] I am just really, really impressed with the bold visual design and direction that this game takes. It's just so wonderful to look at. And on top of that, typically when I praise these two things, what I will follow up with is, okay, but does the game have visual clarity? And this is a really big sticking point for me, because if your game is going to be beautiful, and of course I want your game to be beautiful, and all games go for that beauty, right?

[00:06:29] But can I actually see what the heck is going on? There's some games that I've played that have been beautiful, but they're super fast paced, and the visual clarity might disappear. Where, like, my character might get lost if there's way too many explosions on screen. Or, for example, if I am playing a 3D platformer, and, you know, I have to jump over different lasers, it helps a lot if those lasers are different colors according to the height that they're at.

[00:06:56] So I know if I need to duck, if I need to dash, or just totally jump over all the lasers, right? That stuff really matters, and with Death Howl's decisions here, there is a lot of room for visual clarity to be a problem. However, I think actually what alleviates a whole lot of this is the isometric camera view, and the fact that it's, like, grid-based combat. So, of course, you're amassing this deck, and I'm going to get to this in a second.

[00:07:24] But it's a grid-based combat, and so you can clearly see where the lines are when you're about to interact. This game uses a lot of this sort of, like, fuzziness effect, too, which really takes, I mean, it takes hold of your attention to sort of warn you that something is about to happen. So you don't really just stumble into problems or combat scenarios kind of willy-nilly. So, yeah, I would say, like, art direction and stuff. This game is just gorgeous. The audio design in this game is also really good. I love how things sounded.

[00:07:52] And I think when it comes to describing this game as a Souls-like, when it comes to atmosphere, they do a really good job, despite the fact that the game is pixel art and it's isometric and it's a different genre of play totally. But I think it took all the right cues, and it does kind of earn calling itself Souls-like or Souls-inspired in that way. Now, when we talk about the gameplay, I mean, it's a deck builder. And it's, you know, I've already mentioned this several times, right? It's an isometric, grid-based sort of tactics game.

[00:08:22] So that is very much not Souls-like. And so I would say, which, you know, is fine. They're making a different game, right? However, the game very much functions like Souls, where there are essentially bonfires that you go to, you rest up at, they respawn enemies. And that's kind of how you plan and make your way through the one level that's available in the demo. It's essentially, okay, here's a bonfire. Here's my map. You actually have a map in this game, though. And you can kind of plan out different routes to get to the next bonfires.

[00:08:52] Okay, you get a sense of, like, what type of encounters are going to be there, but also what type of rewards are going to be there. And how you should navigate those things and literally how you should be playing your cards right so you can get from one bonfire to the next, which I think is good. I'm interested to see this develop a little bit more in the 1.0 launch, just kind of how, like, different areas are going to change. Are they only going to change aesthetically with, like, environment?

[00:09:18] Or are they going to change sort of in how you navigate between bonfires, right? Souls games are very much known for having their, like, labyrinthian style. Like, if you're familiar with this, like, Dark Souls 3, Cathedral of the Deep, right? I think it's a great example. Or Dark Souls 1, Sen's Fortress, right? They're labyrinths, and you need to traverse them. I didn't feel that in the game design here.

[00:09:44] It's not, like, a big sticking point or anything, but I am curious to see if that gets incorporated later 1.0. But let's talk about the actual combat. Like, what you're really doing in this game is you're building a deck. And the way to do that is you need to craft different cards. And you can get crafting items just kind of walking through the world, doing some exploration. You'll find things quite easily, right?

[00:10:10] But a lot of the crafting items that you're going to need are through the encounters. So when you defeat enemies, they can drop items, and you just need to collect those items. And then the more enemies that you defeat, the more, like, tiers of cards that you can unlock. And some of these tiers are locked behind the type of enemy that you take out. And so the game very much incentivizes you to do a lot of battling and to battle a lot of new types of creatures.

[00:10:39] So you can see what kind of cards are going to be available to craft. Now, there is a limit of two card per type in each deck. I think that's really normal, right? You have 20 cards in your deck. You start with, I feel like, what is relatively basic in terms of, like, what your actions are. Or just think, like, any grid-based tactics games if you've played them, right? Attack in front of you. Attack a few spaces in front of you. You have movement cards, defensive cards, et cetera, et cetera.

[00:11:07] But the cards that started unlocking started getting really interesting. And now, take this with a grain of salt, because I don't play, like, a ton of deck builders, as I said at the beginning of the game. But they felt really interesting to me. And I could feel the deck building part of this game sort of creeping on. And so by the time I finished the demo, I had kind of charted out a few cards that I wanted to farm resources for. Again, this is a Souls-like.

[00:11:35] So when you go to a bonfire, enemies respawn. And, you know, you can go to those different encounter spots and find enemies that will drop the crafting item that you need. And so the demo was well executed in that, oh, just when I was going to get a ton of cards, when I figured out exactly what I wanted, like, one of my longer-term goals to be, the demo ended, right? But, yeah, I think the deck building in this game is really solid. And I think what makes it work for me, if you're like me and you don't love deck builders,

[00:12:04] it's the grid-based tactics arenas that you fight in that make the deck building more interesting for me. And so if you are, I'm kind of repeating myself here, but just to state it more clearly, if you are deck building adverse, but you like grid-based tactics, I think you would still really enjoy Death Howl. Because the deck building is, I mean, that's how you play your cards, is how they're going to function in a grid.

[00:12:32] And, of course, this means that there are environmental hazards you need to watch out for, pay attention to, and potentially use to your advantage. And in my time with the demo, I didn't really see any environmental hazards that I could use to my advantage, unfortunately. However, I could see that being something as a way to kind of pace difficulty and test the player's skill as you go on. In fact, just looking at, like, the trailer, that's kind of the assumption, right? But very, very, very cool.

[00:13:02] I really, really enjoyed it. And, yeah, I am very much looking forward to playing with a full suite of cards and really figuring out what kind of builds work for me. I personally love, like, poison slash stun builds, and I felt like there was lots of opportunity for that. So I was excited for it. All right. It's been praise up until this point. The game does have some weaknesses in the demo, and I don't know exactly what they'll do or if they'll do anything to iron these out.

[00:13:32] This is just kind of my two cents. Now, the story, I think, this is where it drawing on Souls games is... Let's just say it doesn't play out quite as well here. The story is just a little too vague. I feel like the main character, Ro, feels a little empty-headed because they're used. And this is really common in video games. But the writing that is used just so that the player can get exposition and figure out what's going on in the world.

[00:14:01] And so there's a lot of questions that you would assume somebody like Ro would already know. The game essentially kind of happens where Ro's son, Olvi, passes away. And they're going to the spirit realm. But Ro doesn't want this to happen. And so Ro traverses into the spirit realm, which is where all these battles take place. Trying to track down Olvi and bring Olvi's spirit back to the regular human physical realm, whatever we want to call it.

[00:14:30] And Ro's asking a lot of questions about how the spirit realm works, which, yeah, kind of makes sense. But at the same time, it's like, if this is your mythology, if this is your belief system, you would think that you would have the answers to some of these questions. Like why there are spirits out and like what they are doing. Now, of course, the player, we need that kind of information. So somebody needs to ask those questions. So the player gets those answers.

[00:14:56] And I don't really have like a perfect solution or suggestion here for Death Howl, the devs, the outer zone behind this. But just to kind of point out, this is the walking the tightrope that every single game has to do for the most part. And I just kind of feel like Ro fell flat for me as a character, which kind of makes this urgent mission to save Olvi also feel a little flat. So a little unfortunate.

[00:15:24] I think the narrative, yeah, it's just a bit too weak. And it's just a bit too in service of the player. But I don't know. Maybe there'll be twists and turns and things can change, right? And which you would hope, right? You would hope that those things would take place. But yeah, folks, I think overall Death Howl was the demo was a really good experience. And I do highly recommend that if any of this kind of sounds interesting to you, I mean, it is free, free on Steam.

[00:15:51] So just go download it and give it a whirl and let me know what you think about it. I personally am pretty excited for the 1.0 launch. I have the I'm assuming it's coming out. I don't really know, but sometime relatively soon, meaning, you know, the next several many months. Hopefully it's out. Because the meat and bones of this game work incredibly well. I think the combat really works. It's just beautiful to look at.

[00:16:17] This sort of traversal and bonfire kind of way of progressing through the game makes a lot of sense as well, too. If you die, you just spawn outside of the battle. So it's actually not quite as punishing as souls. There's no corpse runs or anything like that. All in all, I think it's just a really good experience. And it just looks great. Something that I say frequently about games is,

[00:16:41] if I'm going to be playing a game for, you know, 5, 10, 15, 20 to 50 to 100 hours, right? I'm going to be looking at the game for a really long time. Which means I've got to like the art direction. If you want me to look at your game for 10 hours and it doesn't look great, you know, if it looks like AI slop, you know, it's a really easy way to turn me off from a game. And I think a lot of people are similar in that regard. And that doesn't mean we have to love every single art direction or every single art direction needs to appeal to every single player.

[00:17:13] But when you have something that looks as unique and as bold as Death Howl, it is really hard to look away. And so I would recommend just paying attention to kind of what's going on here. 11-Bit Studios is also just like a wonderful publisher. They have a pretty good track record. I said this at the beginning of this episode that it being a Souls-like, but also it being published by 11-Bit Studios. Those were green flags for me. 11-Bit Studios has a good track record.

[00:17:41] With the games that they choose to publish. And so I'm really looking forward to this. I'm looking forward to see what will happen with it. And when it does come out at 1.0 launch, I will be playing it on stream. And so if you want to see what it's like to have me play a video game, I do that. You go to twitch.tv slash chipdip18. And you will see, you know, Death Howl 1.0. I'll be there day one when it launches to kind of see what things have changed.

[00:18:11] And what kind of happens with the story with Roe and Olvi. Folks, thank you so much for listening in and kind of just listening to what I have to say about this demo. Folks, it is a huge help to me if you take a look at our Patreon page and you subscribe to the Indie Pass. Again, $3 a month and you get at minimum three episodes on indie games that I'm just playing because I love playing through indie games and I love talking about them. And I love talking to you about them as well.

[00:18:40] And so please give that a look. If not, just follow, subscribe wherever we are. Any major platform. Leave the pre-order bonus review. Giving me a follow on Twitch. Again, that's twitch.tv slash chipdip18. Those are things that just immensely help us more than you can imagine. So, folks, thank you so much. And until the next episode, take care.