Platform: PlayStation 4

Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture

Publisher: GungHo Online Entertainment

Release Date: December 3rd, 2016

Genre:  Action, Hack and Slash

Nerd Rating: 7 / 10

Reviewed by Rhutsczar

Let…It…Die! Sorry Uncle Death, I didn’t do that intro well enough for you. Go hire one of your many different voice actors to do it for you. Now since that is out of the way, welcome to Let It Die, one of the newest free-to-play titles available on the PS4. Haven’t you always wanted to make a deal with a Rastafarian-inspired grim reaper? Of course, why not? Before you sign on that dotted line however, let me clarify a few things.

Welcome to Tokyo, circa 2026 AD. A massive tectonic shift as shaken the planet to its core, destroying most of the planet as we know it. As a result, South Western (how specific) Tokyo has split off from the rest of Japan, becoming its own island. As the tectonic disaster continued to occur, it quickly created a mysterious column that seemed to come out of nowhere. This tower, henceforth know as the “Tower of Barbs” pierces the sky with brilliance and stands tall with such intimidation that very few care to approach it. Many mysteries await in the Tower, but only those who are willing to sacrifice their sanity can discover their meaning.

He’ll just revive. It will be okay.

Was that ominous enough for you? I hope so. You take control as one of many fighters that enter the Tower, which is now stylized as an arena of sorts. While you control the fighters themselves, you are actually an individual playing an arcade cabinet in the middle of a run down arcade with a few interesting characters. How meta right? Anyway, the only character that you need to know is Uncle Death, who serves as essentially the guide and host of the game’s events. A rather interesting character to say the least, Uncle Death is definitely the cool but really quirky uncle you never had.

Stop getting side-tracked Rhuts, what is the point of taking on the Tower of Barbs? What do we get in return? Well I am glad you asked. Since the world as we know it is over, many of the fighters are striving to secure a better life for themselves regardless of the fallout. As rumor has it, whoever reaches the 100th floor of the tower is will be able to satisfy their thirst for a better life with so much treasure that they will be drowning in it. That alone is enough for me to take my chances in the Tower, even if I wouldn’t be able to get past the 1st floor. While it is difficult to explain Let It Die on first glance, it become pretty apparent about what is lurking underneath all of the chaos. The world is gone, and this is the new way of life.

#notenoughblood

Once you make your first step into that tower, things are definitely going to change. Your job is to essentially tear apart all of the enemies that stand in your path, in all of the glorious gory ways at your disposal. While you begin with only your fists, there are plenty of weapons that extend your murderous rampage. Now with more blood! Some of your enemies are other players’ dead (or in Let It Die‘s terminology, haterfied) fighters, but you will encounter plenty of crazed killers and criminals that won’t hesitate to rip your heart out. What will be your weapon of choice? A crossbow? A jungle machete? A hot iron? There is such a large variety of weapons that you should be able to find something that suits your tastes. There is something completely satisfying as you cut open the groin of a serial killer. Let the blood spill, only to ruin your converse shoes.

Now, let me get back to the Metro. As for the fighters, the customization options are rather limited. You can choose between male/female and about 10 different presets for both genders. They initially appear similar to reanimated cybernetic corpses, which is only further supported by Uncle Death’s action regarding character selection. After you have decided on your fighter, you will be sent to your own customized waiting room where you will meet a slew of interesting NPCs/merchants. As the game goes on, you are able to obtain more than one fighter. If that is the case, Uncle Death will deliver the corpse nice and fresh out of a body bag right to your station.

Uncle Death here, welcome to the game!

Now Let It Die couldn’t be any more ridiculous right? Wrong. There are four NPCs in your waiting room, but one you won’t meet until after you die. Unfortunately, only one of them actually has a name to go by.

•  Choko-Funsha: This will be the main shop for you to purchase supplies and craft new weapons. It is run by a rather dapper (yet Hitler looking) fellow wearing an astronaut helmet.
•  Mushroom Club: Welcome to the mushroom club, where you are able to grill your mushrooms and purchase decals for permanent/temporary buffs. It is run by a lovely shaman/stripper who is in love with mushrooms.
• Tetsuo: The newest addition to the arena, Tetsuo is a rather creepy robotic conductor in charge of the PvP aspect of the game, raids. But we will get into that further down.
• Kiwako Seto: She is the mysterious woman you meet when you die. Her sole purpose is to offer you “Death Insurance”, which allows you to revive at the same point where you left off in the tower.

So you have finally decided to ascend into the Tower of Barbs. Congratulations, here is what you should know. Let It Die‘s combat system is rather basic and easy to pick up, containing many of the traditional hack and slash mechanics. The one major difference? The game pokes fun at ridiculously sized inventories by having a limited “Death Bag”, but you can have three different weapons hot-keyed into each hand. This comes in handy as each level increases with difficulty and durability is a severe factor. Your weapons will break rather easy, which is a rather irritating element. However, this makes the player focus on research and not just relying on what can be found in the field.

What is in my Bag of Death?

So you know how I mentioned raids earlier in the review? Released in the latest update to Let It Die, raids essentially serve as the title’s PvP mode. There are a handful of objectives during each raid, but the jist is simple. Travel to another player’s waiting room, kill/capture their fighters, and destroy their banks. This mode definitely needs to be refined, as they toss every player into the raid world upon creation of their first fighter. On my raids, I consistently find waiting rooms that don’t have any fighters guarding it, making the process of stealing their goods easy and boring.

Despite the lackluster PvP mode, it does have a redeeming feature…teams. Each country and state has a team for all of the players that exist in that territory and they compete in tournaments every couple of days. Each team is placed in a global ranking system, thus declaring the top team and the end of each week. You don’t have to keep track of which team you are fighting in which week either, as the game itself will notify you of upcoming battles once you begin a session. If you don’t want to participate in the group battle, you are not obligated to as you can raid from any number of teams at any given time. However, if you also play Let It Die, challenge team California (16,1). Come at me.

For anyone that has been reading my content for a while now, you know that soundtracks are a key point in any title. Let It Die severely lacks in this department for a number of reasons. The score, especially in the waiting room, is essentially Uncle Death’s favorite radio station. There are advertisements and commercials, but the playlist is only three songs long. This even resets each time you visit your waiting room. There isn’t anything special while you are in the tower either, as it plays non-descriptive metal music.  The final straw? The game registers with the PS4 that you are in a blocked scene more the 50% of the time, so you can’t even stream your Spotify playlists while you ascend the tower.

He thinks he is so cool.

If you are looking for a new PS4 title that is absolutely absurd and chaotic, but also addictive as hell, you don’t have to look far. Let It Die is indeed quite rough around the edges, but the title is definitely a great time waster for absolutely free. There are plenty of mysteries surrounding the story and it is up to you to join the insane ranks of fighters who dare climb the tower. I definitely would, so here I come Tower of Barbs.