On of the many reasons why I wanted to make the trek up to Boston, was to attend PAX East 2024 one get my hands on a number of yummy upcoming games. One of which is the currently in development, Dragon is Dead, an upcoming roguelike and after playing a good 30 minutes of the game, I can safely say that this game is now on my radar.
When I first hit the floor, and purchases my PAX East goodies, and then made a beeline over to the booth to check out the game, I also asked to speak to the developers, who were sadly not on hand. Which was fine, as that meant more hands-on time for me… but I still want to meet with the devs, Team Suneat, so if you see this, hit me up.
Dragons is Dead is played like a traditional action rpg with rogulike elements, handled by the player going left and right to progress through locations. Action is handled by the attack buttons, and also having access to a dodge, that’s on a short cooldown, and a jump. As I played the game, I noticed that I also accumulated skill points, which let me upgrade my character with buffed attacks with elements such as lightning and fire.
The skill tree was massive, and there’s plenty of ways to customize the character as well, so no main character will be the same. There’s also a number of items such as weapons, armor, rings and items that buff your character that can found in chests or by defeating enemies. Dying in the game causes you to lose whatever points you put into your skill tree, and skill points, but you retain your items.
Looking at the player interface, it sort of resembles Blizzard’s Diablo titles, and it actually works the same as well. The red orb on your left is your health pool, and the opposing orb is the mana orb, which enables you to use buffed and magical attacks. Run out of mana and you’re left with basic attacks, and depending on your character build, you can either wait, or attack the various enemies that are on the hunt for you.
Maybe it was the demo for PAX East 2024, and I couldn’t ask anyone who could tell me, but this game is hard. I’m a veteran when it comes to this types of games, and while I made it further than most people who played the demo, ended up with a pissed off look and dropped the controller at the station, I was still pushing on. Though, it wasn’t easy and there were a few times I thought I was done for, and would have been if I didn’t start to cheese the game. But even then, the game would spawn super, elite enemies that would have a buff that would cause me a ton of issues.
Throughout the PAX East 2024 demo, I was able to meet up with various characters, including vendors, people that want to help me on my journey, and other useful persons. It felt like an action RPG, and while it didn’t do anything different to change the genre, what I played felt good. It felt like a game that took the best parts from Castlevania games, Dead Cell, and honestly, I wish I had more time with the game.
Sadly, I don’t have any images to add to this impressions piece as there was no b-roll or photos that were being handled out and my off-screen camera footage was terrible, as the monitors used at the stations were giving off a glare. Despite this all, Dragon is Dead has shot up to one of my most anticipated games of 2024. While there isn’t any release date, the game is slated for at 2024 release date. However, the game will enter early access on June 7, 2024, so if you’re interested, be sure to check out the game on Steam.
For now, I’ll be heading back to the PAX East 2024 expo floor tomorrow and check out the game some more. Hopefully, the developers will be unhand by then.
