Praise Dead

Praise Dead is the kind of game that you have to play to appreciate and I say that from experience. A friend gifted me this earlier in the year as he loved it and would always tell me how fun it was and that he was sure I would like it. The thing is, he did a terrible job of selling me on this game and to be honest with you, it is a very hard game to explain to someone why it is so much fun. What eventually got me to play it was the fact you are a necromancer who makes zombies from monsters and villagers and then uses the zombies to fight more monsters!

Being A Necromancer

Do not expect a ton of story in Praise Dead, but what you do have is a fantastic premise. If you are into stuff like horror and have a bit of a love for the macabre, you will get a real kick out of this! Basically, you are a necromancer (there are multiple to choose from) and you are trying to protect this village from all kinds of monsters! The thing is, the best way that you can fight off the invading evil is to be a bit evil yourself and bring a bunch of zombies to life to fight off the evil horde. It is like fighting evil with a slightly less evil if you get what I am saying!

Building An Army

I just love the whole necromancer gimmick that Praise Dead has going on. You basically make zombies with the various bits and pieces that you can buy from the shops and also pick up on the battlefield. You have a little satanic dungeon where you work and you need to put the various parts into a zombie. The more you tinker, the better or more different the zombie that you create will be. It is the kind of thing that is fun to experiment with and when you figure out a pretty badass and devastating combination of zombies, it is awesome stuff and you kind of feel like Shang Tsung from Mortal Kombat!

Not Getting Your Hands Dirty

One of the things that initially turned me off from playing Praise Dead was the term “auto battler” granted, the zombies will fight on their own. However, the setup to this has you getting very hands on and the decisions you make will ultimately decide if you will win a battle or lose. You can place your zombies in key places to utilize their strengths best. You will also need to get villagers to worship you and also you will need to gather resources. You have a system where the place you place your zombies is very important. You also have spells that you can use and these give you buffs and debuffs before a fight. There are different necromancers that you can play as and they each have their own “thing” going on which will change up the way you play the game.

Pixelated Horror

I am a massive fan of the pixel art that they have going on here in Praise Dead. This is an awesome looking game, in many ways, it reminds me of a game that would have been on something like the Amiga back in 1992 or even a higher end PC. The quality of the sprite work is fantastic. It is not all gory and graphic like a modern dark or horror game is. However, it is the kind of thing that does have a bit of a satanic look to it and that is something I think is pretty damn neat, to be honest with you. So many games go for a pixel style, but they tend to try and emulate the 16-bit era. The fact this one is going for more of a “computer game” look than a console game is something I am a massive fan of.

Pros:

• I loved the idea of playing as a necromancer
• Creating zombies from various parts was epic
• I loved the dark and macabre style the game had
• I found this to be a very addictive experience

Cons:

• The dark, satanic kind of vibe the game has may not be for everyone
• The “auto battler” aspect may turn some people off