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Death has other ideas for Sorun so he revives him in order to do his bidding. Sorun isn’t exactly cool with that and doesn’t trust Death completely. Who would? Death is certainly a trickster in most forms of media. That’s the basic premise other than to call it a 2D Dark Souls-type game with hard-as-nails difficulty. Now let’s get into a few more facts about this re-release alongside some helpful tips for beginning the adventure.
6 Understanding Classes
The game opens up with players being able to choose a class. A class is defined by its weapon, and they all have benefits. There are daggers, swords, a magical tome, lances, and so on. A good beginner weapon to choose would be the lance. These weapons give players a good reach plus they are strong. The downside is that they can be slow.
Tomes offer up a good range but are less powerful. Players should know that all of these weapons can be equipped by any class. Again, classes are just builds to make the best use out of weapons with the beginning stats much like the action-packedDark Souls games. If players choose the daggers and hate them, they can easily switch to a sword, or whatever.
5 Understanding Metroidvania Principles
Death’s Gambit: Afterlife has a lot in common with the Souls series but it is also heavily inspired by Metroidvanias. Players will pick up abilities that can help them reach new areas. One of the first abilities they can get is the air dash. Plus there are various keys and other items that can unlock new paths.
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The best part about this open Metroidvania gameplay is that it offers people a variety of paths to tackle in any order. If one area is too difficult then there are others to explore instead. Don’t get discouraged. It’s also a good idea to make notes whenever an item looks out of reach. This will make backtracking easier rather than relying on the old human memory banks.
4 Essence Tips
Instead of gathering souls, players gain essence from enemies. The name doesn’t matter because this currency is used to level up Sorun. They are also the currency for buying abilities or items from vendors. The first tip in regard to spending essence is to not buy anything disposable. It’ll be a waste of essence. It’s also advised not to buy equipment because monsters drop a lot.
The best gear can often be found through drops or with hidden chests. Players should instead focus on leveling up whatever stats they think will complement their class builds best. Vitality, Strength, and Stamina are of course vital to any build though. That’s universal across most Souls-like games. If an ability looks really good, that’s the only other thing worthy of spending precious essence on.
3 Farming For Items
The first area is a very good place to farm for items and essence. It’s not too difficult either. The drop rate seems to be very high. Plus there is a dragon hanging around. If players hide underneath structures they will be safe from the fire but the enemies won’t. They are pretty much lined up for the kill.
The nice thing about this is that essence will still be collected even with the dragon’s kills. It’s like a bit of unsolicited teamwork. Just go in a loop from that upper save point all the way around. Do that a dozen times or more and players should get a good head start on becoming Death’s finest soldier.
2 Boosting Gear
Doing this loop early on in the game should ensure players get stocked up on various pieces of gear. It may seem silly to stock up on forty pairs of the same boot, as an example, but they are all valuable in their own way. Eventually, players will meet and free the NPC Zuma shortly after they arrive in the hub town.
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Zuma can break down items and turn them into crafting stones that are used to upgrade weapons and armor. Boosting gear only costs materials and not essence points thankfully. Upgrade shops in typical RPGs usually cost materials and money so this is a positive change for Death’s Gambit: Afterlife.
1 What You Loose In Death
Unlike most Souls-like games, Death’s Gambit: Afterlife is a bit forgiving in death. Players will only lose Phoenix Plumes. These magical feathers are how players will initially heal up other than at save points. Every time someone dies, they lose one feather.
It will be waiting for them wherever they died last and will never disappear even if players die on the way to retrieve it. Players can even use essence to get Phoenix Plumes back at save points without having to do a corpse run. This is kind of a waste of essence but the option is nice to have and makes Death’s Gambit a bit more accessible. Losing souls in Dark Souls, as one example, can be a defeating feeling.
Death’s Gambit: Afterlife was released on September 30, 2021 and is available on PC, PS4, and Switch.
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