''Death's Gambit'' is a side-scrolling action role-playing game developed by White Rabbit and published by

Adult Swim Games Adult Swim Games (stylized as dult swim games'') is the video game publishing division of the Adult Swim brand of Cartoon Network. While Adult Swim had been publishing games since 2005, primarily based on their in-house franchises. In 2011, it be ...

. It was released for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

and

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

in August 2018. An expanded edition of the game titled ''Death’s Gambit: Afterlife'' released in September 2021 for

and

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

, in November 2021 for

and in May 2022 for

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

Gameplay

''Death's Gambit'' is a side-scrolling

action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...

featuring

Soulslike A Soulslike (also spelled Souls-like) is a subgenre of action role-playing and action-adventure games known for high levels of difficulty and emphasis on environmental storytelling, typically in a dark fantasy setting. It had its origin in ''Dem ...

and Metroidvania elements. The game is presented from a 2D perspective with a pixel art aesthetic.

Development and release

''Death's Gambit'' was developed by independent studio White Rabbit. The primary inspiration for the gameplay of ''Death's Gambit'' was Metroidvania games. The development team also wanted to integrate systems from games and series they enjoyed playing such as ''

Castlevania ''Castlevania'' (), known in Japan as is a gothic horror action-adventure video game series and media franchise about Dracula (Castlevania), Dracula, created and developed by Konami. It has been released on various platforms, from early system ...

'', ''

Dark Souls is a series of action role-playing games created by Hidetaka Miyazaki of FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The series began with the release of ''Dark Souls'' (2011) and has seen two sequels, ''Dark Souls II'' (2014) a ...

'', and ''

Shadow of the Colossus ''Shadow of the Colossus'' is a 2005 action-adventure game developed by Japan Studio and Team Ico, and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It takes place in a fantasy setting and follows Wander, a young man who ente ...

''. Castlevania games were also an influence for game's art direction, as well as '' Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP''. The game was published by

and was released for

and

on 14 August 2018.

''Death's Gambit: Afterlife''

An expanded and revised edition of the game titled ''Death's Gambit: Afterlife'' was released on 30 September 2021 for Microsoft Windows,

, and on 30 November 2021 for PlayStation 4, with a version for

currently in development. ''Afterlife'' featured new content including 10 new levels, over 30 weapons, 5 new bosses, and mechanical overhauls. White Rabbit released the expansion for free to new users upon receiving community feedback.

Reception

''Death's Gambit'' received "mixed or average" reviews, according to

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. ''

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'''s James Swinbanks praised the exploration and the story, but criticized the game's combat as being clunky. Writing for ''

PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...

'', Samuel Horti enjoyed the game's story, but disliked the stamina system. In a mixed review, Mike Epstein at ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

'' wrote, "''Death’s Gambit'' is a very blunt attempt to fuse two beloved games, ''

'' and '' Castlevania: Symphony of the Night'', into one challenging 2D action-platformer. Developer White Rabbit shows a strong understanding of what made each of them great but glosses over fundamentals that all great games need, such as responsive controls and an understandable game world, and falls short of its promise." ''Death's Gambit: Afterlife'' received greater critical acclaim than the original game, with critics citing that the game made a number of quality additions and improvements to the base game while retaining its unique qualities. ''Noisy Pixel'' reviewed the game positively, stating, "''Death’s Gambit: Afterlife'' is the product of a dedicated team that wants to provide the best action experience possible. This revamped version offers plenty of new systems for returning fans and puts its best foot forward for new players. There’s great attention to balance in this

soulslike A Soulslike (also spelled Souls-like) is a subgenre of action role-playing and action-adventure games known for high levels of difficulty and emphasis on environmental storytelling, typically in a dark fantasy setting. It had its origin in ''Dem ...

Metroidvania that supplies enough challenging encounters and deep customization for all players to enjoy. It looks like the ''Afterlife'' ain’t so bad after all."

Notes

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.deathsgambit.com/ 2018 video games Adult Swim games Dark fantasy role-playing video games Fiction about matricide Indie games Metroidvania games Side-scrolling role-playing video games PlayStation 4 games Serenity Forge games Windows games