Jun 30, 2023
Death of a Wish - ohnoitskevin
We announced Death of a Wish with a teaser trailer on June 1st, and it is now open for wishlisting on Steam and itch.io. There are a number of questions that we would like to address for new and returning players interested in the game.
What is Death of a Wish?
Death of a Wish is a linear action-RPG structured like a musical album. The game is divided into levels called “Tracks”. In each track, players explore hostile worlds while fighting numerous enemies using varied combinations of melee and ranged attacks, encountering story events, set-pieces, and bosses along the way. Players can develop their character by mixing up numerous weapon types, passive modifiers, and items to form a truly individualized style.
Death of a Wish marks the return of the “Corruption” mechanic. This is a meter that rises whenever the player dies or takes damage. When Corruption maxes out, something will happen that will affect the rest of the playthrough. Corruption can be reduced by getting high ranks in combat encounters by fighting gracefully.
Death of a Wish is developed by melessthanthree, the creative moniker of Colin Horgan, an independent game designer who explores themes of Catholic guilt, queerness, and religious trauma. They have built out a large range of experimental and personal games primarily on itch.io, ranging from autobiographical text adventures to fringe horror experiences.
Joining them on Death of a Wish are a range of collaborators whose work includes contributions to games like Butterfly Soup, Manifold Garden, and Digimon Survive.
How long will the game be?
We expect that the full game should take 5-7 hours to complete. Death of a Wish is designed to be highly replayable though; there will be a wide range of challenge modes and unique ways to approach encounters, as well as a high skill ceiling that rewards mastery and player expression. It is a five hour game that you can play for over a hundred hours.
Where did Death of a Wish come from?
We included a commitment to include an additional character as a stretch goal for Lucah: Born of a Dream’s Kickstarter. Born of a Dream was influenced by action games like Devil May Cry 3 and Bayonetta, which include bonus characters like Vergil and Jeanne who bring different abilities and play styles to the games.
Christian was initially intended to be included as an alternate character in Born of a Dream in this style. Plans for this alternate character changed throughout development, and this alternate play mode evolved into a DLC campaign, and eventually into its own game, Death of a Wish.
Do I need to play Lucah: Born of a Dream to enjoy Death of a Wish?
Death of a Wish is intended to be friendly to newcomers, and it assumes no familiarity with Lucah: Born of a Dream. While Death of a Wish is loosely connected to Born of a Dream, players can enjoy the game’s story as a standalone work without missing anything.
With that said, people who appreciated Born of a Dream may notice themes, motifs, and character arcs that are enriched with greater context. We would recommend that lore-heads replay the Sacraments from Born of a Dream and ponder them thoughtfully.
How difficult will the game be?
Death of a Wish is tough but fair. It is demanding, punishing, and players will need to pay attention to systems in order to survive. This applies on both a skill-based, reflexive level, as well as the knowledge-based, systems mastery level. We hope that this creates an extremely satisfying play experience filled with moments of challenge and catharsis.
With that said, there will be a wide range of difficulty options. You can also build your character towards less-reflexive play styles using tools like burst damage and damage-over-time. A number of physical accessibility options are included, such as reducing enemy damage, simplifying combo inputs, and reducing enemy health. There will also be more robust gamepad control mapping and accessibility options.
Why does the game look like that?
Death of a Wish uses a pixel art style that started with 2015’s Comforting Sounds, when Colin wanted to start making their own art after collaborating with other artists on previous projects. Death of a Wish expands upon that same style to facilitate the game’s combat, world, and atmosphere.
Action games are highly contingent on character animation and movement. Having the same person design both the combat systems and character animations allows us to tune the combat to an extremely intricate degree. Game feel is fundamentally important to the combat, and this art style in motion facilitates an extremely satisfying sense of impact and momentum.
It’s a game that’s striking and beautiful on its own surreal terms. Death a Wish cannot be compared to anything else visually, and we’re dedicated to exploring this style deeply and intentionally.
What platforms can I play the game on
We can confirm Windows PC for now. We are also investigating other platforms. We can share more information on this later.
What are the biggest new additions to the game? There are a number of exciting changes and additions to the game that we will be unveiling over the coming months. One significant difference is that stamina has been removed from the game. This totally changes the pace of play, and results in an aggressive pace of combat where you cannot hesitate at the risk of losing enemy pressure.
Death of a Wish is coming soon. You can wishlist and follow it now to get the latest news and announcements.
What is Death of a Wish?
Death of a Wish is a linear action-RPG structured like a musical album. The game is divided into levels called “Tracks”. In each track, players explore hostile worlds while fighting numerous enemies using varied combinations of melee and ranged attacks, encountering story events, set-pieces, and bosses along the way. Players can develop their character by mixing up numerous weapon types, passive modifiers, and items to form a truly individualized style.
Death of a Wish marks the return of the “Corruption” mechanic. This is a meter that rises whenever the player dies or takes damage. When Corruption maxes out, something will happen that will affect the rest of the playthrough. Corruption can be reduced by getting high ranks in combat encounters by fighting gracefully.
Death of a Wish is developed by melessthanthree, the creative moniker of Colin Horgan, an independent game designer who explores themes of Catholic guilt, queerness, and religious trauma. They have built out a large range of experimental and personal games primarily on itch.io, ranging from autobiographical text adventures to fringe horror experiences.
Joining them on Death of a Wish are a range of collaborators whose work includes contributions to games like Butterfly Soup, Manifold Garden, and Digimon Survive.
How long will the game be?
We expect that the full game should take 5-7 hours to complete. Death of a Wish is designed to be highly replayable though; there will be a wide range of challenge modes and unique ways to approach encounters, as well as a high skill ceiling that rewards mastery and player expression. It is a five hour game that you can play for over a hundred hours.
Where did Death of a Wish come from?
We included a commitment to include an additional character as a stretch goal for Lucah: Born of a Dream’s Kickstarter. Born of a Dream was influenced by action games like Devil May Cry 3 and Bayonetta, which include bonus characters like Vergil and Jeanne who bring different abilities and play styles to the games.
Christian was initially intended to be included as an alternate character in Born of a Dream in this style. Plans for this alternate character changed throughout development, and this alternate play mode evolved into a DLC campaign, and eventually into its own game, Death of a Wish.
Do I need to play Lucah: Born of a Dream to enjoy Death of a Wish?
Death of a Wish is intended to be friendly to newcomers, and it assumes no familiarity with Lucah: Born of a Dream. While Death of a Wish is loosely connected to Born of a Dream, players can enjoy the game’s story as a standalone work without missing anything.
With that said, people who appreciated Born of a Dream may notice themes, motifs, and character arcs that are enriched with greater context. We would recommend that lore-heads replay the Sacraments from Born of a Dream and ponder them thoughtfully.
How difficult will the game be?
Death of a Wish is tough but fair. It is demanding, punishing, and players will need to pay attention to systems in order to survive. This applies on both a skill-based, reflexive level, as well as the knowledge-based, systems mastery level. We hope that this creates an extremely satisfying play experience filled with moments of challenge and catharsis.
With that said, there will be a wide range of difficulty options. You can also build your character towards less-reflexive play styles using tools like burst damage and damage-over-time. A number of physical accessibility options are included, such as reducing enemy damage, simplifying combo inputs, and reducing enemy health. There will also be more robust gamepad control mapping and accessibility options.
Why does the game look like that?
Death of a Wish uses a pixel art style that started with 2015’s Comforting Sounds, when Colin wanted to start making their own art after collaborating with other artists on previous projects. Death of a Wish expands upon that same style to facilitate the game’s combat, world, and atmosphere.
Action games are highly contingent on character animation and movement. Having the same person design both the combat systems and character animations allows us to tune the combat to an extremely intricate degree. Game feel is fundamentally important to the combat, and this art style in motion facilitates an extremely satisfying sense of impact and momentum.
It’s a game that’s striking and beautiful on its own surreal terms. Death a Wish cannot be compared to anything else visually, and we’re dedicated to exploring this style deeply and intentionally.
What platforms can I play the game on
We can confirm Windows PC for now. We are also investigating other platforms. We can share more information on this later.
What are the biggest new additions to the game? There are a number of exciting changes and additions to the game that we will be unveiling over the coming months. One significant difference is that stamina has been removed from the game. This totally changes the pace of play, and results in an aggressive pace of combat where you cannot hesitate at the risk of losing enemy pressure.
Death of a Wish is coming soon. You can wishlist and follow it now to get the latest news and announcements.
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