Published , by Morgan Shaver
Published , by Morgan Shaver
If you’ve been following the developer diary videos that have been posted for Deathverse: Let It Die over the last few weeks, you’ll undoubtedly be excited to hear that a fourth video has been posted featuring brand new gameplay footage.
More specifically, the focus of the video is on Uncle Death as he enthusiastically plays through the game’s opening tutorial and a practice match alongside Deathverse director Hideyuki Shin.
Kickstarting the video, Shin calls Uncle Death over to tell him that he can now play a bit of Deathverse, much to Uncle Death’s excitement. Sitting down next to one another, Uncle Death is given a DualSense controller for PS5 which he then uses to navigate the game’s tutorial.
It’s worth noting that the full tutorial for Deathverse isn’t shown in the dev diary video, as is reflected by the numbered tutorial objectives seen at the top of the screen.
The tutorial footage starts with Uncle Death having completed 6 of the 29 objectives, though we don’t get to see what these 6 objectives are. Instead, the tutorial begins with a bit of climbing. Here, Uncle Death is tasked with using a Grip Bar, which appear to be ledges that can to be used to climb up and around structures.
After doing this, Uncle Death approaches a battle area to give combat a try. As Uncle Death slashes away with a normal attack, he asks about the squiggly line shown at the bottom of the screen and what it’s for. On this, Shin remarks, “You currently have 1155 Voltage, which is essentially your health. It’ll increase as you make more attacks.”
Sure enough, as Uncle Death performs a few additional attacks, his character’s Voltage increases. To avoid one’s Voltage decreasing by taking hits, the tutorial teaches the player how to throw up a shield as a form of defense. Additionally, players can also counter attacks using a move called Reverse Strike, which Uncle Death performs successfully.
Similar to Let It Die, Deathverse lets the player do things like heal by consuming mushrooms. Also like Let It Die, there will be a variety of different mushrooms types available with Director Shin saying, “These mushrooms are from Let It Die. Since you ate a mushroom your Voltage increased a little. There’s various types of mushrooms in this game too.”
After completing the tutorial battle, Uncle Death is then treated to a practice match. When the match begins, Shin informs Uncle Death that his character is at one of the game’s Units, and that each Unit sports its own colors, or level designs. Additionally, as one plays through a match, explorable areas will start closing off.
“See that yellow striped Unit on the map?” Shin asks. “That means the area’s being polluted. The number of Units you can explore will slowly start closing off from pollution.”
Other hazards for players to keep track of include Hunters, and according to commentary from Deathverse director Hideyuki Shin, it sounds like a good idea for one to keep their distance, or at the very least, to use caution when dealing with Hunters.
“Oh look, there’s already a Hunter!” Shin points out. “Look at the map, that’s showing one of the best features of this game, the ‘Hunter.’ It’s still far away so you’re still fine, but don’t get too close to it. It might come out to get you, so be careful.”
As Uncle Death’s character loses health in the game, Director Shin reminds him he can eat mushrooms to recover health, though the best way to recover is by hitting opponents. “If you’re able to make a clean combo, you’ll recover health quickly,” Shin explains.
To get a better sense of Deathverse’s combat and unique features, we recommend watching the full developer diary video on Uncle Death’s YouTube channel as it contains a solid amount of gameplay for fans to soak up and process. More than we’ve seen of the game previously, that’s for sure.
Also be sure to check back here at Shacknews as we’ll have even more Deathverse coverage for you in the near future. If you missed it, we also have an interview with composer Akira Yamaoka on his approach to the Deathverse soundtrack!