Necromancers are one of fantasy’s most intriguing themes. Overcoming mortality creates a slew of concerns, and zombies, as well as examining the life of a necromancer and roleplaying as one in any game that allows it, are usually popular choices.
RocketBrush Studio’s The Unliving is a rogue-lite action RPG published by Team17 Digital. We play as a necromancer, raising the dead as we slaughter soldiers and destroy everything in our way, and then resurrecting and attempting again when we are beaten. The Unliving boasts a beautiful art design and visual effects, as well as solid music, but despite its intriguing premise, it fails to create an interesting and enjoyable gaming experience.
The conversation overlay allows us to appreciate the character arts.
When I first watched The Unliving, I was ecstatic. Being a necromancer who returns to life over and over again provides the ideal setting for a rogue-lite game. Some popular games in the genre have an interesting narrative about how we get to resurrect and start over after defeat, but a necromancer’s immortality is the perfect fit for the game’s loop. I was expecting to enjoy The Unliving, but after a few hours, I discovered I wasn’t. I kept dying and resurrecting in the hopes of finding anything fascinating on my next run, but it never happened.
Let’s start with what The Unliving is good at. The pixel graphics and visual effects are fantastic. They create a bleak mood and a planet on the verge of collapse. Attacking soldiers defending their house against undead hordes and unleashing massive monsters to siege their defences looks awesome. The necromancy magic we use, as well as its visual effects, appear ominous, and the character art and creature designs blend in wonderfully with the world.
To see, this was an amazing battle. Even throughout the massive siege fight at the end of the first zone, the gameplay remained consistent.
The Unliving features a good plot as well, although, like most other rogue sites, it is not the main focus. We had only recently resurrected and had lost our memories. We know how to revive the dead and utilise magic, but for the rest, we’ll have to go deep into living land. We gradually piece together what went wrong and what we should do next. I wish I could have learnt more about the world’s history, but the gameplay didn’t entice me to keep playing.
I had the impression that something was missing from The Unliving’s gameplay. I wasn’t sure what it was at first, but after some thought and this review, I believe I recognised what was wrong. At first glance, the gameplay appears to be adequate. You have distinct control over your character and the undead army. Like previous ARPGs, you can cast spells and wield your scythe in melee, and you can sacrifice your zombie warriors for various benefits, similar to special powers.
There are several levelling systems, and we can choose abilities while running. But none of them felt thrilling or significant.
There are four different kinds of undead troops. Tank with melee range and caster. Each unit type’s sacrifice would have different impacts. However, you must use your life energy to sacrifice your troops, making resource management critical during your run. I needed to maintain my troops healthy, monitor my life force, restore my auto attack energy, and sacrifice my troops only when they were low on health and in a position where their ability was more effective. If this all appears to be unnecessarily complicated, it is.
The Unliving suffers from feature creep, even before we consider the upgrades and powers we gain as we continue through the game.
I quickly understood that the ideal tactic was to maintain my undead army as healthy as possible while swarming the opponent in greater numbers. During my runs, I would receive enhancements to my troops and skills, but they didn’t seem to have any effect. This was the major reason I avoided The Unliving. I’m a major lover of the roguelike genre, and what I like best about them is that with each attempt, we get to try out new strategies and builds, and they all seem fresh and unique.
Unliving, on the other hand, not only does not provide any real change to your construction and strategy with each upgrade, but it also does not provide us with new environments to explore. In each run, the world and the positions and numbers of the adversaries are the same. This is perhaps the first time I’ve wished for procedural generation in a game.
We visit these stores on occasion, but the finest purchases are generally extra life and survivability.
Despite its potential, The Unliving falls short of being a compelling and enjoyable roguelike.
As appealing as the game appears to be, and as intriguing as the concept behind it appears to be, The Unliving fails to captivate the player from the start. If I had stayed around and played for a few more hours, I might have gotten a handle on it and found delight in the game, but titles in this genre can’t afford to have a bad start. Roguelikes are all about repetition, and if the loop isn’t enjoyable from the start, it doesn’t matter how much better it gets later on.
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