We Who Are About to Die is an immersive and intriguing take on roguelite RPGs that ventures into the short and violent lives of gladiators from ancient times. The brutality of the life of an arena combatant in ancient Rome is captured through intense, challenging combat and satisfying character customization.
THE STORY
We Who Are About to Die takes place in Terantia, an ancient Rome-inspired city that features over a dozen arenas of different sizes and environments. I played a gladiator fighting to the death in these arenas to achieve freedom, prosperity, and city-wide fame.
TIME PLAYED
I played We Who Are About to Die for five hours but still need to complete the game. I died and restarted my journey repeatedly throughout that five hours, as is to be expected from a roguelite experience.
PLATFORMS
We Who Are About to Die is only available on PC as of right now in early access form. The game performed smoothly on my computer, with the only issue being minor jittering between my character and the camera when fighting multiple opponents simultaneously.
WHAT’S AWESOME
• Combat. Similar to Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord (which I reviewed last month), battles in We Who Are About to Die feel dynamic and intuitive and require sharp reflexes to play well. I needed to strike my opponent at opportune moments, move away from incoming slashes, and block when I was unable to avoid an attack altogether. If I couldn’t dodge or block properly, I died and the game ended. • Gladiators. We Who Are About to Die’s roguelite gameplay started with me picking a gladiator or rerolling to find the perfect one. I always needed to choose my fighter before I could actually enter the arena, and this process was like rolling the dice. Sometimes I found an epic-looking Roman gladiator, and other times it might’ve been a lowly slave. Each gladiator comes equipped with a set of traits that can be advantageous or painful. Each also comes with their own condition for winning the game. One gladiator may want to earn a set amount of gold, while another seeks to defeat eighty opponents in glorious battle. The unpredictability of my gladiators’ traits and goals made for an exciting, ever-changing experience.
• Customization. I was able to customize my gladiator’s appearance, as well as upgrade their equipment to give them a better chance at winning fights. Customization in We Who Are About to Die is quite in-depth, allowing for plenty of unique touches for each new gladiator.
• Style. We Who Are About to Die utilizes beautiful visuals, catchy music, and a polished user interface that makes combat easy to navigate.
WHAT SUCKS
• AI balancing. Fighting against AI-controlled enemies in We Who Are About to Die can be extremely frustrating, mainly because it feels like they are not bound to the same stamina rules as the player. My opponents relentlessly hacked away at me without ever tiring, and whenever I tried to reciprocate that same amount of power, I was held back by my stamina consumption. Many fights seemed unfair, which sometimes sapped my will to keep climbing the arena ranks.
SHOULD YOU PLAY IT?
Yes. We Who Are About to Die is a wonderful roguelite RPG. Although there might be a few issues to consider, the game’s intuitive and dynamic combat, aesthetically pleasing visuals and music, and various customization features make We Who Are About to Die a game that’s to die for.
💬 If you were suddenly a gladiator dueling in an ancient Roman arena, what weapon would you use and why?
I was going to say something about the crappy graphics and gameplay but then I seen computer so I understand now lol
2023-01-09
that gave nothing to understand. pc= bad graphics and gameplay? what?
2023-01-09
64% of the global market because companies know mobile gamers will pay for everything even if its stupid or useless. pc is still the master race that even the PS5 or xbox cannot reach its levels yet, not at the fullest and mobile games are just a smudge of feces compared to pc and console so go back to playing pugbm or freefire kid
2023-01-09
you are deluded. we have almost 3 billion plus players compared to you. You guys aren't even on the same level with us because you're still on level one statistics proves this is a fact. You can't call yourself a master race anything if we're dominating you in every single field lol. We have mobile games that would crush your dinosaur computer just saying there's nothing your computer can do that my cell phone can't that's why we're number one and you're not.
2023-01-10