Man, rememberNewgrounds? For younger readers, Newgrounds is likeKongregatebut way less filtered, and a fertile ground for some of indie gaming’s first biggest hits, likeSuper Meat Boy. Though the site still persists to this day, it’s hardly the focal point of indie gaming it once was, yet from its undead maw comes Dead Estate. Born as a humble browser game, Dead Estate has grown and continues to do so. Itmightjust be a modern classic in the making. Filled with as much love as monsters, this gory isometric roguelite is the exact sort of game you just can’t tear yourself away from the moment you start playing.
That’s not an exaggeration. Despite releasing in 2021, Dead Estate is probably the best game I’ve played all year, and it’s still going strong. The controls are damn near flawless, the level randomization never disappoints, the enemy variety is in the tens if not hundreds. In a single hour you might go up against off-brand Jaws, Buffalo Bill, It, Mary fromSilent Hill 2, and even that creepy guy from Crawl Space.
There are far too many bosses (both original and referential) to be able to find them all in a single run - and that goes double for regular enemies, weapons, and items. The shopkeeper, the witch Cordellia, even gets in on the action with gag costumes and one-liner descriptions for any item that you might want.
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It would’ve been easy to just rely on the references and iconography, but it’s all in service to gameplay wrinkles. The Mary-style Silent Hill 2 meat cage demands you master jumping and aiming, while the sharks later in the flooded lab will dash attack, making those jumping skills well-earned.
Enemies like the Slither-style parasites and The Blob raspberries have boss variants that play into past knowledge. Your knowledge of both horror media and the gameplay nuances pay off equally, making it an absolute treat every time you spot a foe you know how to fight.
Not to be outdone, the sheer amount of character builds you can put together across the eight unlockable heroes is nothing sort of madness. You can turn yourself into a chaotic whirlwind with weapons changing every few seconds and your perks swapping each floor. There’s an optional rhythm-based drum that works like BPM, and a rotten egg staff that spews gross food in the face of your foes. You can get perks that go so far as to swap out whole systems, like trading out Cordellia for guaranteed free random item chests.
Don’t worry about the lack of replay value in Cordellia’s mansion either. There are two different paths through the mansion, not to mention the secret true finale path with additional unique environments and an immense, multi-stage final boss.
All of this is brought together with so much heart as well. The art direction is superb, as is the catchy soundtrack, and they even went so far as to actually figure out a proper story framing and explaining everything. There’s real narrative payoff to background details in item shop menus - like seeing that Cordellia did get her PhD in medicine like her father had hoped she would. You learn this by finding a hidden letter when playing as her, which in turn opens up the second route of the game and a whole slew of new levels.
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There are also additional costumes, the aforementioned gaggle of diverse heroes you can play as, and different endings for each of them as they complete both the normal and true story paths. And I do meandiverse:Women and men of multiple ethnicities, ages, and orientations, including a lesbian wrestler who’s dating Cordelia and charges into the mansion to save her in her storyline. They each feature distinctive stats, base weapons, and some unique upgrades wholly their own, like Lydia’s propensity for money and Cordelia wielding magic staffs instead of guns.
Yes, some of the character designs are certainly “horny on main”, but it’s all hammed up in a playful,Bayonetta-esque manner, with surprisingly wholesome bits as well. The cast are such lovable dorks, using every brief glimpse into their personalities to marvelous effect.
Name another game with teenage robot ninjas, a haunted black-and-white TV set that turns against you in real-time, or a giant Nemesis-style naked mole rat named Chunks. I can’t begin to list all the ways Dead Estate keeps surprising me. While grabbing screenshots for this very article, I encountered three new weapons and an enemy I hadn’t seen yet after fourteen hours of playing. They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore.
