Don’t Die, Minerva | Xbox One Early Access Review
It’s become apparent that I’m the resident “roguelike guy” of our writing team, and I’m quite OK with that. It should come as no surprise that I was intrigued by the trailer for Xaviant‘s upcoming title, Don’t Die, Minerva. It combines two of my favorite loves: random loot and twin-stick shooters. Although the game is still in Early Access, I’m hopeful for the final product. It still needs some polish, but I like what I’ve played thus far.
Not That Haunted Mansion…
Minerva is a young girl who stumbles across a haunted hotel and decides to explore it. Upon entering, she meets a creepy butler who informs her that her only goal is to keep from perishing. For reasons unknown to me, Minerva enters the first floor and begins her journey towards the top.
Yes, the story is a tad light, but the gameplay is deceptively complex. Imagine if The Binding of Isaac had a steeper isometric viewpoint with a spectral theme instead of one based on feces. That sums up the basics of Don’t Die, Minerva, but the roguelike aspect is slightly different. Yes, you’ll have procedurally-generated maps and weapon upgrades, but there’s still a crazy amount of depth. Where Isaac focused on the many permutations of special weapons, Minerva instead chooses a more stat-based approach. One weapon might increase its range, while another might freeze or burn enemies to make your life easier.
Each run through the hotel yields gems for upgrading new permanent abilities. This isn’t uncommon in roguelikes, except this one takes it in a slightly different direction. While most have you persist as long as you can and reward you after you die, Don’t Die Minerva forces you to spend your currency halfway through each floor. This adds an interesting strategic dynamic to the formula that I wasn’t expecting. No longer was I safe in hoarding my gems until after failing a run. I had to choose the best time to cash in to make my future runs easier. It’s a welcome twist that I found more interesting than particularly fun. After all, upgrading after dying on a run tends to take away the sting of failure a little bit.
Casper, Don’t Hurt Us
As mentioned above, this game plays very much like a twin-stick shooter. However, instead of starting with a ranged weapon, you’re only given a flashlight with which to fight the many ghosts you’ll encounter. In true Alan Wake form, you’ll disintegrate specters by shining your torch at them. Secondary weapons come in the form of various stuffed animals that offer area-of-effect damage, depending on your animal of choice. As expected, stronger weapons become more available the higher up the hotel you traverse.
The biggest issue I had with Don’t Die Minerva is its ramp in difficulty very early on. The first floor was a piece of cake and feels more like a tutorial stage each time I play it. Once that second floor opened, however, it was clear that the honeymoon was over.
Ghosts that were once easily manageable now had the ability to block my attacks and had to be approached from behind. Perhaps I was having flashbacks to those awful enemies in the original Legend of Zelda, but it became increasingly difficult a tad too early. Part of the appeal of roguelikes for me is feeling accomplished at the end of a failed run. The progression feels a bit stunted than what I’m used to. My hope is that the final product stretches this out a bit.
Furthermore, the amount of gems it takes to increase even one of your basic stats seems like an absurd amount. If you want me to keep playing a game, that carrot on a stick needs to dangle a little closer to my face for me to actually chase it. I found myself wishing that gems dropped more frequently or that upgrades weren’t quite so expensive.
Don’t Die, Minerva Final Verdict
It’s imperative to repeat that this is very much an Early Access game. It feels far from its final form, and I’m eager to see how much feedback the developer takes from their early adopters. The game controls beautifully, has a very Halloween-esque soundtrack, and has several elements of games that I love packed into one. I also stumbled across at least one game-breaking glitch and some missing text dialogue. All of that is easily overlooked, however, considering the state of the game. It’s worth a look for any fan of the genre, and I can’t wait to dive back in after the full release of the game.
The review is based on an Early Access copy of Don’t Die, Minerva provided by Evolve PR for coverage purposes. It is also available on Windows PC.
