Death and Taxes (2020)

El juego no es malo. Me gustó. Es corto, fácil, con unos cuantos finales dependiendo de cómo juegues, pocos personajes para hablar y conocer, una personalización bastante variada de nuestra Parca (sombreros, caras, y ropa), unos actores de voz muy satisfactorios y un buen estilo de arte.

La primera hora y media la pasé bien, tomándomelo en serio, leyendo cada expediente de cada persona para ver quién moría y quién vivía y al día siguiente leer las noticias para ver qué consecuencias tuvieron mis acciones. Pero llegó un punto en donde me aburrió. Yo entiendo que la gracia del juego es marcar con una lapicera "Vida" o "Muerte", pero no había una historia interesante por detrás que me llamara la atención o que me atrapara. Yo sé que el juego solo se trata de eso, pero me esperaba más.

El juego se volvió repetitivo y pesado por esa misma razón. Al no tener un hilo conductor llamativo, yo ya no tenía ningún propósito en prestar atención. Ya no leía los expedientes completos de las personas y solo me centraba en las indicaciones que me mandaban.

Cuando terminé mi primer partida intenté comenzar de nuevo para conseguir otros finales, pero no pude. Me encantaría en un tiempo volver a jugarlo y sacarle todo el provecho.

Como dije al principio, no es un mal juego, pero no creo que sea para mí.

★★☆☆☆ 2/5

Death and Taxes, although quite repetitive to a certain point, was very enjoyable and overall a very interesting game. Its artwork and graphics are all incredibly cool, and also adding the fact that you can customize your character with (quite a lot of) cool clothes and heads.

The story was lacking in some aspects, it got to a certain point where, not matter what you did, the actions (even if they had their consequences) did not seem like they would cause a big impact until the very end, where you actually got to see what all of your decisions ended up doing. Sure you've got a cellphone that tells them but.,, thats pretty much it. Short, and if had gone off any longer I think it would have been unbearable.

If you have the patience to play these type of games, give it a try, its not that bad after all, it has its special charm!

I originally stumbled upon this after loving games like Papers Please. However can't say it really compared.

The basic premise is that you'll go through profiles of people and mark them to live or die, and you'll usually have instructions to aide this like "all people who work in finance must die".

The actual marking of the profiles and seeing their impact was interesting. However the conversations were tedious and boring.

It does have replay value to get a different outcome at the end, but I found the second playthrough resulted in me just skipping through dialog trying to get through as quick as possible because it was just boring to sit through again.

NOTE: This review is part of my steam curator review and is the extended version. Check my steam curator page at https://store.steampowered.com/curator/39607348-Random-Game-Reviews-by-Labprofess/ . Follow appreciated!

I would be lying if I said that this is an okay game. It’s far better than that. If not one of the best games I have ever played. First things first, this game as the name already suggests is about Death & presumably Taxes. The only two things guaranteed in life, and I'm not sure about the latter. Lots and lots of death. Although I seem to miss where the Taxes come in. Take the role of grim the reaper and be the chooser of who lives and who dies. All you have is one desk and one pen to get the job done. Really makes you reflect on life and appreciate it knowing that you and your grave regardless of religious beliefs, is really just one tick away. It's like human life is in your hands and you can choose the fate of people in a matter of seconds. Scary thought. And that brings me to another interesting note: I appreciate that despite the sensitive topic of death and the afterlife, this game doesn't get religious (or atheist like) but rather refrains from speaking on that matter (although it tiptoes its way there from time to time, It learns to stay off limits) as not too denounce peoples religious beliefs. No butthurt atheist developers that feel superior to religious people because they (in their viewpoint) 100% know what came before and after life and too got to push that ideology onto you. Big props to the developers for that!

Now about the game and how it runs. Amazing! The drawings look extremely detailed and worthwhile and aren’t reused too often which prevents the game from being too repetitive. The voice acting is top notch. If not the best voice acting I have ever come across in a game. You can really sense the emotions of a certain character just by hearing their voice. I couldn’t help but be amazed at how all the characters sounded so ‘too life‘ so to speak. It was as if you’re really there speaking to them face-to-face. You weren’t just playing the game, but you were part of the game. The graphics of this game are also beautiful including the lighting. While the game makes use of a lot of dark shades of color, it managed to stay atheistically pleasing by its twist of involving bright colors here and there. It was like the perfect mix of black and white. Did I mention this game got multiple endings? Not just that, every choice you make will affect the world you are playing in. So pay attention to what others are telling you and how you respond.

And lastly, the million [Your currency here] question: Is the game worth it? Absolutely! Even at full price this game is everything you could want from a game whose main purpose is it to make you decide who lives and who doesn’t. The colors used are very nice and not too bright, the voice acting is top notch and the storyline of the game is something you have never seen before (in a good way). Depending on how many times you play this game to try all the different choices and get various endings you might as well feel that the developers underpriced their own game. But even if you’re just going to play one game, you’re going to get your money’s worth. There were no bugs or other glitches that I personally have noticed so that adds to the worth of the game. Now that you know what this game is about and know not to worry whether this might interfere with your religious beliefs (which I am certain is a question that quite a few are wondering) there is nothing stopping you from getting this game! Make sure to enjoy it. Just don’t let others know about how many people you are murdering - you don’t want to be seen as a psychopath ;)

It feels bad to give one star to a game that was clearly carefully crafted and made with love. Unfortunately, the game is no more than a cool premise executed terribly. It's boring, unengaging and your choices feel not only pretty limited due to the conditions in each level but also irrelevant: maybe you see some tweets each day about your choices, but is mostly harmless or -worse- completely the opposite of what you could've thought while making the decision. Sometimes the biology student that seems like a good guy actually cures cancer, sometimes he kills half the world. It feels like rolling the dice with each person, you never really know how are they going to change things. Which is very realistic, though, but feels bad as a game mechanic: if every person has the chance of making the world better or worse, regardless of their qualifications and descriptions, why am I even making a choice at all? Does it even matter?

When almost all the game offers is the gameplay mechanic of reading profiles and choosing who lives and who dies, if this choice feels pointless, then the game feels that way as well.