Originally it was a positive review. However, as I continued to play, bugs started to appear within this game and original concept had fallen apart. Game had solid mechanics in first half, however I have two weeks left in campaign and everything just collapsed unto itself. Now it is just RNG game where you hope game does not screws you up from positive score.
It is fine little game. However, it has many faults with its design which after few hours become annoying. Entire campaign is introducing new mechanics over old ones. Often game does not give any examples of how to deal with it. Neither first person in line is with a new mechanic. This awkward introduction of new things into the game means that you often have to restart a day if you want a good score as you are likely just to forget some new obscure thing added to a game. This rather takes away from gameplay especially as there is no “restart” function. You have to give up, get a bad score, sometimes even listen to monologue and “story events” in campaign, go through power up window for a new mission only to go back to previous mission and forget about any of this. For such fast paced game, it is certainly not designed for easy gameplay and has so many unnecessary steps.
Then there are gameplay mechanics added in a middle of a mission and never explained. Some are simple, like pressing on falling rats. Others confuse you at like with cooking stew. It just appears and Glutony always complains even if you did it right. Then there are statues who attack you. Should you send them to Hell? Never explained and hope that you are not on Hardcore mode or else it is game over for you. All those mini-games takes away from experience as you are racing against a clock and if you want to score A+, it is RNG element which ruins your runs.
Another issue is that paradox agents and some models are poorly done. Due to pixel graphics, models have to have distinctive contours in order to be easily recognisable. Some of them do not have that and it is nearly impossible to tell which person is that. While other paradox agents are very easy to tell on a spot. This RNG mechanic is poorly implemented. In addition, due to high amount of models which are randomised with features, it is inevitable that some combinations will be terrible. For example, spaggeti man does not work with devil horns and they are very hard to spot. There are more models which are inconsistent like that.
My final complaint is that this game introduces countless mechanics, but does not allow you to simply…play the damn game. It is always something new, some random mini game which takes away from experience. There is no option to disable those minigames which you do not want and just enjoy game in endless mode.
Game is also bugged. I had Spartan who refused to drop his shield, so I sent him to Hell. However game registered this as a mistake, because “Blood washes off”. Another bug is when you receive suitcase, but have only few seconds to solve a puzzle. Puzzle however is not simplified nor you have any way of knowing how much time you have. You have only few seconds and you have to check a timer first and then the puzzle which is not easier.
Also, game is full of various references, but due to in-game mechanics, it is impossible to acknowledge any effort which developers had put in. Since your performance is timed, you do not have time to read the text, to look at the model, remember what they are referencing, appreciate the effort. All this effort from developers are wasted and they need to introduce “exploration mode” into the game where they would make timer irrelevant and would judge you solely by right choices. In this mode game would try to bring as many unique characters as possible in order for you to appreciate them properly. This game is designed to be such an intense rush that errors you make does not really matter on most levels. It is better to do plenty of errors, but to shave of several seconds on your performance than to do no errors, but take longer to complete the level.
I would also greatly appreciate encyclopedia where I could scroll through all the character models and see little description where it would say something about them and what developers are referencing. On top of their models they would say their phrase. That would be an amazing addition and this game has a lot of potential to grow. Together with some kind of game+ and game++ modes which would remove all the hassle of learning new mechanics and maybe would introduce some real balancing mechanic between apocalypse raiders where they try to overwhelm you with too many people in a day with their schemes and some longer term completionist mechanic. Sadly, instead of Peace, Death 2! We got some nonsensical game instead and I’m afraid this game will never be fully fleshed out.
In the end, it is a nice game, but it is also full of design issues which significantly takes away from the experience. Like for example unexplained score mechanics. I was balancing relationship between different reapers, but in the end it appeared that they massively take away from your final score. It was never explained and hours of grind are wasted. Then there are special characters. It was not clear what to do with them. I checked them for various signs and then sent them to heaven or hell only to discover that they actually matter. These examples are typical of poor introduction of mechanics within this game.
It is fine little game. However, it has many faults with its design which after few hours become annoying. Entire campaign is introducing new mechanics over old ones. Often game does not give any examples of how to deal with it. Neither first person in line is with a new mechanic. This awkward introduction of new things into the game means that you often have to restart a day if you want a good score as you are likely just to forget some new obscure thing added to a game. This rather takes away from gameplay especially as there is no “restart” function. You have to give up, get a bad score, sometimes even listen to monologue and “story events” in campaign, go through power up window for a new mission only to go back to previous mission and forget about any of this. For such fast paced game, it is certainly not designed for easy gameplay and has so many unnecessary steps.
Then there are gameplay mechanics added in a middle of a mission and never explained. Some are simple, like pressing on falling rats. Others confuse you at like with cooking stew. It just appears and Glutony always complains even if you did it right. Then there are statues who attack you. Should you send them to Hell? Never explained and hope that you are not on Hardcore mode or else it is game over for you. All those mini-games takes away from experience as you are racing against a clock and if you want to score A+, it is RNG element which ruins your runs.
Another issue is that paradox agents and some models are poorly done. Due to pixel graphics, models have to have distinctive contours in order to be easily recognisable. Some of them do not have that and it is nearly impossible to tell which person is that. While other paradox agents are very easy to tell on a spot. This RNG mechanic is poorly implemented. In addition, due to high amount of models which are randomised with features, it is inevitable that some combinations will be terrible. For example, spaggeti man does not work with devil horns and they are very hard to spot. There are more models which are inconsistent like that.
My final complaint is that this game introduces countless mechanics, but does not allow you to simply…play the damn game. It is always something new, some random mini game which takes away from experience. There is no option to disable those minigames which you do not want and just enjoy game in endless mode.
Game is also bugged. I had Spartan who refused to drop his shield, so I sent him to Hell. However game registered this as a mistake, because “Blood washes off”. Another bug is when you receive suitcase, but have only few seconds to solve a puzzle. Puzzle however is not simplified nor you have any way of knowing how much time you have. You have only few seconds and you have to check a timer first and then the puzzle which is not easier.
Also, game is full of various references, but due to in-game mechanics, it is impossible to acknowledge any effort which developers had put in. Since your performance is timed, you do not have time to read the text, to look at the model, remember what they are referencing, appreciate the effort. All this effort from developers are wasted and they need to introduce “exploration mode” into the game where they would make timer irrelevant and would judge you solely by right choices. In this mode game would try to bring as many unique characters as possible in order for you to appreciate them properly. This game is designed to be such an intense rush that errors you make does not really matter on most levels. It is better to do plenty of errors, but to shave of several seconds on your performance than to do no errors, but take longer to complete the level.
I would also greatly appreciate encyclopedia where I could scroll through all the character models and see little description where it would say something about them and what developers are referencing. On top of their models they would say their phrase. That would be an amazing addition and this game has a lot of potential to grow. Together with some kind of game+ and game++ modes which would remove all the hassle of learning new mechanics and maybe would introduce some real balancing mechanic between apocalypse raiders where they try to overwhelm you with too many people in a day with their schemes and some longer term completionist mechanic. Sadly, instead of Peace, Death 2! We got some nonsensical game instead and I’m afraid this game will never be fully fleshed out.
In the end, it is a nice game, but it is also full of design issues which significantly takes away from the experience. Like for example unexplained score mechanics. I was balancing relationship between different reapers, but in the end it appeared that they massively take away from your final score. It was never explained and hours of grind are wasted. Then there are special characters. It was not clear what to do with them. I checked them for various signs and then sent them to heaven or hell only to discover that they actually matter. These examples are typical of poor introduction of mechanics within this game.