Looking for a loved one in a dangerous and unknown location/world is a narrative we’ve all seen many times, whether in action, adventure, or horror games, it’s certainly nothing new.
Death Howl is the latest game I’ve played which follows this plot. You play as Ro, a hunter from a small tribe who ventures into forgotten lands to overcome the grief of her recently deceased son, guided by voices from another world she transcends into the world of spirits with the hopes of bringing him back.
To get to him she’ll come across many different spirits which will help guide her and enemies which she’ll have to overcome in order to get closer to her son’s voice.
Cards will be your greatest allies, you’ll collect and make over 160 cards all having different effects such as afflicting poison, moving around the grid, and launching fireballs. Whatever cards you pick, you’ll be able to pick the ones according to your playstyle, allowing for multiple different combinations.
Progression was painfully difficult and frustrating, even more so than having to fight the same enemies constantly to get somewhere.
Game progression is something that can be a breeze or a real challenge, annoying and frustrating or even both, which is certainly the way you’ll feel after playing Death Howl for a few hours unless you’re a veteran at turn-based deck-building games which I unfortunately wasn’t, hence why I struggled quite a bit at both defeating enemies and progressing through the areas.
Going into this I actually never played a deck building game before which blends a few different elements together, so it was all rather new to me. The first few hours of the game I was getting used to the mechanics, what different cards do, and how to efficiently deal with enemies through positioning and timing. I actually found the battles to be quite fun, being able to play new cards and face different enemies in different areas, along with the unique way the battles actually took place, resembling that of a game of chess, moving around the board to either defend or attack, or just to create distance between you and your enemies.
All was good until I actually started to progress and face enemies which had more health, dealt more damage, and were just overall harder to kill. It wasn’t fun I can tell you that much, I can’t count the amount of times I had to fight the same enemies until I was finally able to progress, with RNG being the main cause of losing so many battles. If I didn’t get the most effective cards against specific enemies or when wanting to play on the defense due to low health, then most times it would lead to death. Luckily it’s roguelike so you don’t actually have to lose all of your progress and start over, which was a slight compensation for the constant death cycle I found myself falling into.
One thing I wasn’t fond of were the enemies always respawning whenever using a sacred grove to restore health, being able to heal was actually hard to come by, there were no items that could replenish it so it left me with either teleporting to the sacred groves and having to fight previously defeated enemies again, or by keeping and using the card “Ox’s Heart” which gave you 5 health, this was RNG dependent so you just really had to hope that luck was on your side, or in your hand. You weren’t able to teleport when it was equipped, so it left me with having to sacrifice one which just made battles and progressing even more of a challenge. It is worth noting that the Ox’s heart can only be used in one area, so the other areas will be a lot more difficult.
Enemies always respawning did have some benefits though, one of which was that you could use them for material farming. You kill enemies, you teleport and use the sacred grove to respawn them all, you kill them again and then repeat. This farming strategy allowed for more cards to be crafted a lot quicker which allowed you to enhance your decks and progress a lot easier. It was a rather long, boring, and repetitive process, but the results were clear for themselves. If you find yourself struggling to progress or simply want to make more of a specific card, then that’s the route to go.
