Last year saw the release of Death's Door, an amazing action-adventure game about a lone crow working for a bureaucratic department tasked with having to retrieve one lost soul in order to complete their job. But the story there was more about the nature of death and its role in life, and the office setting was more of a jumping-off point and a hub level. In contrast, Have a Nice Death, the new action-platformer from Magic Design Studios, is all about the idea of death and the afterlife as a workplace, not unlike, say, the afterlife in Beetlejuice. The game sees you playing as Death themselves, taking up their scythe in order to reclaim their company of Death Inc., leading to a ton of satisfying slash-'em-up action so far.

The premise of the game is that a long time ago Death started up his company in order to make things easier, creating the Sorrows in order to assist him. Unfortunately, the Sorrows started to care only about harvesting as many souls as possible in order to gain maximum profit, and poor Death was left having to file the paperwork for every soul reaped...which is lot. Death has now been literally worn down, little more than figurehead, until burnout finally starts to set in. And so it's off to tame all the Sorrows, with every run being an attempt to escape burnout. But even in his journeys he can't escape work, as little assistants constantly rush in with stacks of paperwork, backgrounds are crammed with cubicles and meeting rooms, the books literally attack him while more paperwork litters the ground...and this was just the first set of levels.

Magic Design Studios' previous work was Unruly Heroes, another action-platformer known for being ridiculously gorgeous with astounding animation, and Have a Nice Death unsurprisingly boasts the same levels of quality in its visuals and environments. Despite a more monochromatic color palette this time around, things still seem as vibrant and lively as ever, with every supporting character and enemy oozing personality in design and animation, from adorable intern Pump Quinn to cartoonish imposing bosses like Brad, the head of security to the fluidity of the foes in the Industrial Pollution department who quite literally oozes of personality. Each area of Death Inc. has its own unique set of characters to go with with the beautifully work-ravaged settings and all of them are adorable. So, you know, kind of a shame that you have to rip most of them to shreds.

Once again, much like its Unruly Heroes sibling, Have a Nice Death has a heavy emphasis on combat as well, with an emphasis on a variety of moves gained through different spells, weapons and special moves gained along the way. And it's indeed satisfying to go to town on one of the rooms filled with multiple enemies to defeat in order to pass, getting in a good flurry of blows before quickly dashing away. That said, once long-range weapons and spells appeared like bows and arrows or firebolts, I tended to prefer them when dealing with certain enemies like the bosses and mini-bosses that can deal a good chunk of damage, if only so I could play it safe. It does highlight how the game allows for a good amount of experimentation in order to find a combination of moves and Curses (the standard roguelike buffs here), as the thrill of finding that satisfying combo is oh so enjoyable.

That said, part of the reason I was playing things safe was that health pickups are scarce at the moment. Have a Nice Death is still in Early Access, and that means a few kinks need to be ironed out later, and the lack of any major source of life-refilling Anima along the way seems to be a common complaint with fans right now. Not helping is that certain blows from enemies can reduce your maximum HP as well, which can only be restored pack to normal by the rarer Pure Anima. Part of this might be the RNG present, as my own longest run right now had me gaining a good chunk of Anima, but the developers are still thankfully looking into ways to fix this issue later.

Oddly, my own issue was finding any of the Prismium needed to permanently expand the selections in the shop or upgrade your current weapons, since it seems rare at the moment. A bit too rare, compared to say, the currency needed for upgrades in Hades. Where the game makes up for this, though, is with the shop in the hub level between runs where you purchase new goodies to find in new runs. While Have a Nice Death's procedurally-generated levels don't have much in the way of secrets (for now) since they're more focused on combat, there's a reason to look over every part of them, and that's to defeat every enemy you can. Why? To get the highest score possible. The higher your score, the more gold ingots you get to spend in the shop.

That might not sound impressive, but here's the trick: each item has a specific goal attached to it, like defeating enemies with your scythe, beating a certain mini-bosses so many times, reaching certain levels, etc. And the more progress you make towards your goal, the bigger an employee discount you get on these items. Complete the goal, and it's a whopping ninety-five percent off, meaning that one dagger attack you've been eyeing is now a measly fifteen ingots. It's not only a brilliant way to encourage run, but it also ties in perfectly with the setting of Death Inc., as the more you reap and the better a job you do, the more you get paid. Does this make you as greedy as the Sorrows, though? Maybe, but I'm having too much fun right now to care.

While Have a Nice Death still needs fine-tuning while in Early Access (that's what it's for, after all), there's another amazing and eye-popping adventure lurking in here, proving that Magic Design Studios have very well become masters when it comes to such action-platforming goodness. The setting of Death Inc. is one I hope to explore even further as more updates arrive, leading up to the game's release, especially given its colorful cast and tons of attacks to try out. Indeed, like the best kind of roguelikes, it keeps you coming back for just one more run even in its early state, so check it out right now on Steam in Early Access if you can (or if you're lucky enough to be in San Francisco for GDC, check it out tonight on the 23rd at The MIX).