REVIEW: Hero must die. again


Title	Hero must die. again
Developer	Pyramid, G-Mode
Publisher	Degcia
Release Date	February 26th, 2020
Genre	RPG
Platform	PC, Switch, PlayStation 4
Age Rating	Teen
Official Website

I’ve been reviewing games on this site for many years, and when something unusual comes around I really take notice of it. Hero must die. again is certainly one of those titles. I didn’t really know what to expect when I decided to take on this title for review, but I figured you only live once, right? Well unless you die again! At any rate, let’s dig in and see if being unique makes it a good game as well.

The story follow a young hero that has defeated the Demon Lord Guile and freed the land. The battle was very fierce and our hero has perished as a result. The Gods have looked on you with favor and have decided to give you five days to get your affairs in order. Which affairs of the ailing kingdom will you choose to set right in your short time remaining? You must decide quickly as you grow weaker with each passing minute, until you will die again.

While the story here may not be the most engaging one ever told, I’ve never seen a game incorporate the story and gameplay together this well. Every choice you make in this game will have an impact on the outcome, and each playthrough will be slightly different. Sometimes different events will trigger or requirements for certain quests may be lowered. The quest you decide to undertake will determine which party members you have, and affection you build up with them will change things up as well. Will you chose to befriend the bad ass Naomi or recruit the shady traveling merchant, Vivi?

The Hero is constantly getting weaker as time passes. So while you start out as Billy Badass with the best weapons, armor and uber stats, this will be short lived. They will soon become too powerful for your meager skills to handle. Instead of the normal RPG trope of growing super powerful, in this case you are going from hero to zero.

The game has a basic overworld map with locations on it you can travel to. This one is a pretty open world, so you can start at whichever location you would like. Just keep in mind you’re on the clock, and it will take different amounts of time to travel to each location on foot. It’s wise to try to obtain a party member with teleport magic right off the bat in order eliminate that issue. Combat here is your standard turn based affair, and honestly there is nothing special about it. Try to equip your team member with proper elemental weapons for the location you’re at and you’ll have no issues.

Exploring dungeons is a side scrolling affair and there several different locations to explore. This include dense forests, dark caves and even the Demon Lord’s Castle! The graphics look great in each and there was a good amount of detail to every environment. Character models look great and each has their own unique style. The hero has that young but stern look, while Naomi is very sexy, but totally bad ass! The only area I felt was lacking were the enemy models. There’s just not variety in them, honestly. The models look great, but outside of a few bosses you will be killing the same creatures quite a few times.

Overall I have to say I really enjoyed my time with Hero must die. again. The gameplay here is really unique and really made me want to play the game multiple times just see what would happen. I feel like getting the True Ending on this one would require a good walkthrough, but part of the fun of this is to see how things turn out if you just wing it. I spent about 13 hours on two playthroughs and each one was very different. While the game could’ve benefited from more enemy models, this is still a really solid title. I would go so far as to say this is a very underrated gem. Personally I feel the replay value make the game well worth the $39.99 price tag. If you’re a fan of classic RPGs and enjoy a good gameplay twist you should probably snag this up ASAP. You will be glad you did so.