Dead by Death is a modern indie game "masterpiece"

[@SolidFake]

"You can feel my presence in the game." This feels like a threat.

[@sauronsrighthandman301]

This game looks like if someone played Dark Souls a single time, died to the Asylum Demon without running left to get their gear, assuming the entire game was just that, then saw the artwork for Castlevania and decided they were going to make a smash hit like Dark Souls based on their perception of what a Soulslike is.

[@samdam1618]

This is almost how souls games got their reputation lol

[@Voingous]

@@samdam1618 If Dark Souls content from mainstream content creators around 2011-2014 and the series' own marketing campaigns for 1 and 2 were anything to go off of, that *is* their reputation to everybody that hasn't played them. There was so much "epic gamerbro getting angry at the hardest game EVER MADE?" "making le girl play dark sole???" shit circulating. Then Fromsoft doubled down on that niche by naming the PC port "Prepare To Die Edition" (cringe) and having Dark Souls 2 be advertised with the "you're gonna die soooo much hehehe, welcome to dakr soule!!!!" Love the games though

[@EmissaryOfSmeagol]

@@Voingous This is a blunt but completely honest rundown of the games' essence, until Sekiro showed the world that what FS makes is truly high art. You could say that the change started with BB, but I think at the time of its release, BB had an ethos of 'Dank Soulms but in Britain' before people really figured it out over the years.

[@epitaph8704]

​@@EmissaryOfSmeagollol. Lmao. "From Software makes High Art"

[@anthonyfaiell3263]

@@epitaph8704 compelling argument bud.

[@mayuzanevideos]

Games like this makes me want to watch the dev actually play the whole game just to see how exactly it was intended to be played, because a lot of the design decisions feel so... wrong

[@ReigoVassal]

There's a channel of playing worst game ever. I think it's the closest to what you asking for.

[@AbdurraheemRaqib10243]

​@@ReigoVassalthey mean the people who MAKE these games with dumb objectives, being the ones to upload playthroughs just to show how they intended it to be played at least

[@theunchosenone4906]

That store page is the equivalent of a used car salesman slapping the car on the hood and going "yeah the transmission is gonna brick this one soon"

[@RusticRonnie]

…. Where do you shop for cars. I have never met an honest car salesman like that

[@theunchosenone4906]

@@RusticRonnie dats da joke

[@Jimmyvdpost]

This made me laugh out loud loooool

[@blakksheep736]

And then "soon" turns out to be the instant you leave the dealership.

[@BlueSR]

This is my lord of the rings trilogy

[@Hydr0chlora]

I love you so much blue !!!

[@xero.93.]

hi blue :)

[@ergoraven9889]

This is what LotR wished to be

[@5ivecats836]

Thank goodness it's called dead by death, I wouldn't know what I'd be dying by otherwise!

[@ee-wx3hy]

daylight

[@r3dr4te963]

Have same energy like "People die when they're killed"

[@tomahawkgamesbr6045]

@@r3dr4te963 "every 60 seconds a minute passes in Africa"

[@Shicksalblume]

I honestly thought they might be trying for a comedy game with a title like that. It reminded me of the movie (and stage play of the same name) Murder By Death. Seeing the quality of work they put into the game itself, though, I think we can all be glad the dev wasn't attempting comedy as well.

[@-Nightingale]

Bro died so much death got a restraining order

[@Haidex_]

the 5% crit is on the hud just in case you forger. that got me so good lmao

[@tunaburn2330]

This is actually pretty impressive for being made by one dude. I don't mean the quality but the quantity and amount of features.

[@rhapzodyk541]

Anyone can fill a trashcan with garbage

[@MetaBinding]

I disagree, this feels more like a project for a college class. There are many other amazing games with so much high quality content made by a single person. An example I could give is the void rains upon her heart, with tons of unique game modes and hundreds of unique achievements, all unlocking more and more content.

[@krazykuz13cmc]

@@rhapzodyk541 OK make a better game the

[@rhapzodyk541]

@@krazykuz13cmc what kind of 8 year old logic is that?

[@Azazelea]

@@krazykuz13cmc c-candlejack? in 2023? I can't belie

[@captainkawaii666]

Flamethrower werewolf is the best character ever written, their character is so moving and they have such interesting lore

[@Eintracht-uy3cz]

Dead by Death... what a name

[@Yusuf-ke5iu]

no one told me i would die by dying. i am truly surprised

[@dragonmage372]

@@Yusuf-ke5iu and people say you can't predict your death...

[@MarkDeSade100]

It's no worse than Divine Divinity. The title, that is. The game is much worse.

[@alephnole7009]

This game feels like a Valefisk meme game where he would force them to compete to be the first one to beat the game.

[@ELV13S]

"yet somehow, theres a part of me that enjoyed it" well yeah, you are a hollow knight player after all

[@artey6671]

Those people always find a way to enjoy something dull and repetitive.

[@Pogobro]

the name of the game is so good lmao

[@Pope_]

thank you fireborn for covering my favorite game of all time. I love hollow knight so much so im glad a Dead by Death creator like yourself would give such a small indie game like it a shoutout in one of your videos.

[@Astrochronic]

LMAO you must be joking. Right?

[@takimi_nada]

@@Astrochronic clearly it's a joke

[@Astrochronic]

Never can tell these days... Everything on one entire side of the political aisle should be a joke but it isnt... Its cancer. This guy might be a Democrat...you don't know. @@takimi_nada

[@TheReZisTLust]

​@@AstrochronicHollow Knight was the nft game DrDisrespect made right?

[@Astrochronic]

@@TheReZisTLust this is me continuing to not get the joke

[@ashisharky]

Dead by Death is certainly a name. Not good or bad. Just, interesting.

[@TheAdvertisement]

"If Bennet Foddy made an action platformer" is a terrifying description

[@MarkDeSade100]

The main thing I learned from this review is that this guy really loves Hollow Knight.

[@RoastMcGhost]

one of the best games ever made

[@mrdeblob6010]

The only other thing I wanna know about this gane is who did the title/cover art. That style and character design look entirely different to the rest of the assets. I doubt that WILLSH did it, but if he did, he might benefit from finding some people to collaborate with if he wants to make another one of these. Hopefully at least one good game designer.

[@xeroxparc]

I feel the same about vampire survivors, the cover art with the vampire girl flying is pretty cool but has nothing to do with the game, and the assets doesn't have the same quality.

[@alephnole7009]

To be fair about the weapon swap exploit even Blasphemous 2 had that exploit on launch. It even had an infinite time stop exploit

[@StanNotSoSaint]

I mean DMC3 had it by design ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@morkk5945]

Was bummed out after hearing about the whole unity situation and how it might impact silksong's release, but this cheered me up

[@Schenkel101]

Doctor filling in death certificate on the patient who just dropped like a plank after stepping foot in the hospital.

[@mauz791]

The cadence in your speech at the start was extremely uncanny, incredible work

[@showd6229]

To answer the question: no, because this is playable and passable

[@dyre5580]

I really like this style of game review videos from you. Keep up the good work

[@zannchristo]

Say you love "Killed By Death" by Motorhead without telling me you love it

[@boredom9804]

I love how you find terrible games, and then put the effort into making an actual "serious" review

[@moonlight2870]

If this was made like this on purpose like a kaizo game and not due to incompetence, than I admire it.

[@nahlies2382]

Every gamer deserves their games, but NOT every game deserves players... This is not one of them, it just deserves the crazy ones

[@joepigott2001]

fireborn in his iron pineapple era

[@unquestionableexistance8704]

..elaborate

[@joepigott2001]

@@unquestionableexistance8704 no

[@augustday9483]

This looks like an ambitious first project by an inexperienced gamedev. Honestly, I think it's kinda wholesome. It's a lot better than anything I managed to make when I was playing around with game engines. I hope the developer stays in the industry and keeps making new stuff, they've got some interesting ideas here and just need more experience and maybe some playtesters to help their next project succeed.

[@fireb0rn]

I love seeing beginner game projects from devs, but this felt a little questionable. It would be one thing if they were more upfront about what the game is, but I think there's a level of dishonesty to their claims that the game has carefully crafted level design, that there's a variety of interesting weapons, etc. I think that if you're putting up a product for sale, even for a low price point, it's important to be honest about what your game has to offer. After this, the dev went on to create an iOS port, also for sale, which didn't really fix any of the issues the Steam version had. I just feel a little bad for people who purchased the game and were so disappointed with it that they left a negative review. The dev could have released it for free, been more upfront about it being a beginner project, or released patches to try and address the criticism. Any of the above and I'd be totally okay with it. I genuinely think the game could be salvaged to an extent with just a bit of effort. I don't think it's enough to just say "I'm a solo dev, so I can't satisfy everyone", seeing as how some of my favorite indie games ever were made by solo devs. That doesn't really tell me anything about the product.

[@LushieTilde]

@@fireb0rn The game is 2 dollars lol. I'll be honest this just feels like bullying a beginner developer who tried making a game after what he liked, and then threw it on Steam to maybe get a few bucke out of it. And you seriously underestimate just how much amount of effort goes into making a game even of this scale, especially as a solo dev.

[@MetaBinding]

​@@LushieTildeHe is having people spend money on a subpar product. Clearly consumers werent happy, and it has mostly negative reviews. Were they bullying the game dev too?

[@jrmungandr_4404]

Truly one of the games of all time

[@theonlysinisharm]

12:19 as someone who grew up on flash games I'm irrationally offended that someone would compare this game to them.

[@ArjunTheRageGuy]

Yeah, like how could it be a flash game if it's downloadable and not like on a browser with the plugin needed

[@SubwaytoSally111]

The main character model and some of the animations heavily remind me of Vigil: The Longest Night. Was this done in the same engine?

[@quinndepatten4442]

It's a shame. This game is close to being even okay. Polish it, add a crouch, tone the numbers down a little and you have something passable. The developer has the heart to get this far, I'm sure they could do that much. Thanks for showing this off. It's interesting to see some of the things that can go wrong when making a game.

[@n1lknarf]

For something to be art it must present either a psychological, physical, intellectual or emotional challenge. A masterpiece must present all at a high level of difficulty.

[@-Keith-]

"It's over Anakin, I have the high ground!" "You underestimate my ability to remain 1 pixel below your aim!"

[@HaganereiGuard]

This has the feel of a crappy NES/SNES game AVGN would rant about. It's impeccable how closely it mirrors it.

[@EarlyOwOwl]

The video's titles went through a character arc

[@jexthegamer]

You have sold me on this game! Haha. Job well done.

[@snake2250]

This reminds me of all of those free flash games from the 2000s you'd play in study hall.

[@collinvisser7108]

What a useful video - Game design is hard - Found this helpfull

[@santagonewrong]

If you haven't, you should try "Volgar the Viking". It's basically all of the parts you like about this, but with actually decent design - clunky contols that make learning how to work around them part of the experience and a main character who dies easily, costing you lots of progress. But actually made that way on purpose by a dev who knows what they're doing, in order to create the feeling of tension you talk about here.

[@darioferretti3758]

I reccomend games from the arkhous, like cube gothic and d1896. Not because they are fun, but because they are similar to this (graphics are cool tho).

[@insertfunnynamehere8984]

Qwop meets Castlevania, lol :D I think we've all been asking for that mashup

[@jesse3391]

i was waiting for the "masterpiece" part the whole time thooooo

[@jesse3391]

(first vid of this channel i've watched if you can't tell)

[@areszeudion5153]

The thumbnail feel like I'm seeing what Stewie Griffin sees from 'News of the World' album cover.

[@thwomp1542]

masterpiece = game that looks like it was made in Scratch

[@xenwall]

I don't know if it's in KZbin etiquette to tag randomly, but @Brossentia, this has Kusogrande written all over it.

[@digitab4446]

This is a masterpiss. I love it already.

[@vietnamgamer9490]

I would totally watch a longer video of this playthrough

[@HO1ySh33t]

People need to speedrun this game.

[@Qudi19]

it looks like every mobile game ad

[@KittyKatty999]

This video confirms Fireb0rn is a Masochist. XD

[@maxramerez7606]

So uhhh, when are we getting the speedrun?

[@seanfarrand9167]

The speech pattern is very human.

[@indigocactus3089]

I'm just wondering why the title font was taken from Shovel Knight lmao

[@ArjunTheRageGuy]

The finding secrets part in the game reminds me of the original DOOM and Wolfenstein 3D when it comes to finding them, just hump onto every fkin part of the wall and hope for the best that one of them opens just for them secrets.

[@metasystem8625]

I shudder to imagine what it would be like for someone to play through Death by Death who HASN'T played through the Path of Pain backwards and hitless.

[@kae3027]

This game is either absolutely shit or self aware and absolutely genius.

[@boltfantasticated9705]

Ok but Dead by Death is such a wierdly hard af title though. Like its so ridiculous it loops back into being cool.

[@phoebewong7894]

I love watching Fire mald on games that sucks😂

[@cosmicspacething3474]

2:45 Hey, at least Cuphead is a good game

[@ThylineTheGay]

Oh God 💀💀 please give this guy silksong already

[@acetrigger1337]

10 seconds of gameplay and this "game" already looks like the type that i block and ignore on steam...

[@bonafide5364]

if you like this game, you'd probably like a game called marrow. it's kind of a lovecraftian horror platformer, but it is insanely difficult, and even unfair at times, but it's mostly a very well done game, and the atmosphere that it creates is like nothing i've ever played.

[@saifchowdhury974]

Looks better than my game!

[@CainXVII]

Why does these character designs give me strong DragonFable vibes... I'm kinda into it

[@riskybitness]

This looks like a 2003 flash game.

[@erniebeasley8521]

This is a game toon pimp would make

[@theletters9623]

gods this feels like a shitty flash game you would play on a school computer when you were like 10, bless

[@plzletmebefrank]

So you're just publicly admitting to being masochistic. Gotcha.

[@hiiambarney4489]

This looks like the Graphics Designer had an argument with the UX Designer and then got dared to make an interface himself and see how that would work. The Graphics Designer then went on like: "I'll do you one better. I'll make an entire game to teach you that Todd of Game Design is really just a whiny b!tch and Jeffrey from the programming department deserves lower pay!"

[@averagetectonicplateenjoyer]

looks like something valefisk would make

[@eow4317]

nothing could be worse than skyscraper simulator

[@drvofoka7033]

Lmao, liked just for the FSN meme.

[@dozzy9984]

I'm sorry, but I swear that Necromancer and Lizard monsters look very familiar. Like a DnD, or maybe Might and Magic Heroes artwork copy? Or WoW one? I don't remember, but I swear I saw them somewhere. And they look so off with their details and shading, while other enemies are so simplistic.

[@fireb0rn]

Yeah I think the necromancer enemy uses a sound effect from WoW

[@Rufiowascool]

Subbed!!

[@zergrush8709]

there is so much sarcasm in the first minute and a half I can't tell if everything you are saying is a lie or not haha

[@nope53926]

Game is $3. A small price to pay for nostalgia.

[@ArjunTheRageGuy]

If the game has mod support, there better be a mod of a fixed version of this game, or just update the game.

[@snknfvthms]

This is the modern gameboy Lion King… 😅

[@SolidFake]

Oh, and if you want to play this game, but actually decent, I can recommend Blood of the Werewolf

[@xaius4348]

I play a lot of bad games, I'll have to try this and see what I think.

[@samkeiser9776]

I wonder if it’s an asset flip.

[@RDHardy79]

TC really needs to release Silk Song before you go insane playing all these sub-par imitations.

[@jesseyules]

Did you clear it?

[@auralynn3862]

ahhh, just what I love in a game... flatass rigged sprites with zero finesse...

[@CelesteOnYoutube]

Looks enjoyable. Too bad I don't hate myself enough to play it.

[@karmaeiicneuushi68]

Dead by Death? What else would you die from?

[@StretchyShubit]

VERY GOOD

[@caseydilg6713]

speedrun when??

[@dystopia5269]

Same form of enjoyment as megaman x6

[@GretgorPooper]

To be fair, the way the bosses function is not too different from the way they work in retro games, so I really don't mind them that much. Everything else does suck, though.

[@r.rodrigues9929]

Masterpiece!

[@tezereth]

Why did it had to be a Fireborn video

[@azeTrom17]

TUNIC OST!!!! LOVE that soundtrack

[@arnerademacker]

Great video, but so many bad examples. E.g.> Megaman released a year after Metroid (just like this game released after cuphead), and did not have diagonal aiming. Diagonal aiming isn't a feature, it's a design decision.

[@fireb0rn]

The developer tried to add multiple methods to allow you to shoot enemies above and below you, i.e. the grenade launcher and "pistol sputter" upgrades, but they are jank and awkward. So I don't agree that it was a design decision. I honestly think they just didn't want to animate diagonal aiming.

[@fireb0rn]

And to clarify, what I mean is that I don't think it was a decision made for the betterment of the game's design (obviously it was a "design decision"), but rather that it was not included out of lack of expertise, or just plain laziness, honestly.

[@arnerademacker]

@@fireb0rn Fair enough.

[@MetaBinding]

The thing is megaman didn't need diagonal aiming. This game feels like it was supposed to have diagonal aiming with all the small ground enemies, and yet doesnt have one.

[@earthboundkid1]

QWOP was made by bennett foddy

[@MultiMMan]

This game looks like it was intentionally made for the AVGN to rage at. It even comes with the exact sort of ludicrous engrish title and text that the nerd would get a huge kick out of mocking.

[@Agent-Choo]

This game makes hollow knight look like nothing, best game ever