Die Young
- September 11, 2019
- IndieGala
- 13h median play time
"Die Young is an open-world, first-person action-adventure game where you must escape a picturesque Mediterranean island after being left for dead. Focus on staying hydrated, exploring to uncover the island's secrets, and using limited resources to equip and fight against any danger that stands in your way. This is not a typical survival game; your main goal is to escape as soon as possible."
Reviews
- Engaging atmosphere and aesthetics that enhance the gameplay experience.
- Intriguing storytelling with multiple endings that keeps players invested.
- Fun climbing and parkour mechanics that add excitement to exploration.
- Combat mechanics are clunky and can feel unresponsive, making encounters frustrating.
- The map can be confusing and lacks clear indicators for objectives, leading to aimless wandering.
- Some voice acting is subpar, detracting from the overall immersion of the game.
- story564 mentions
- 34 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The game's story has received mixed reviews, with some players finding it intriguing and well-developed, particularly appreciating the environmental storytelling and the unique premise of survival on a mysterious island. However, many critiques highlight issues with pacing, mission design, and a lack of clarity in the narrative, leading to frustration during gameplay. Overall, while the story has potential and engages players at times, it often feels disjointed and underexplained, leaving some players wanting more depth and coherence.
“The story is interesting and somewhat unique, even though it reminds me of Far Cry 4 and Far Cry 5, even though I prefer Die Young to those two poor excuses of a game.”
“The story keeps the game interesting and intriguing all the time, the music and atmosphere fits nicely into a game like this.”
“The story starts off simple, but gets deeper as you complete quests and explore.”
“Furthermore, it seems to have zero bearing on the story in which I'm currently engaged.”
“The story doesn't really start unless you follow the main path a bit, and since you can explore from the start, you will be killing a lot of guys without even really knowing why.”
“Even later on, though, the story is very confusing and the game does a poor job of explaining what's going on.”
- gameplay306 mentions
- 32 % positive mentions
- 58 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Die Young" is characterized by a strong emphasis on parkour and climbing mechanics, which some players find enjoyable and fluid, while others criticize them as clunky and imprecise. The game features exploration and survival elements, but many reviewers note that combat and stealth mechanics are lacking, leading to a mixed reception overall. While the game offers a captivating environment and interesting mechanics, it suffers from design issues and a lack of depth in certain gameplay aspects, making it a divisive experience among players.
“The fluid system of movement paired with rewarding exploration is the standout gameplay feature.”
“The climbing mechanics are absolutely fantastic - think Mirror's Edge, but slightly slower.”
“Die Young is a very interesting game, it is rough around the edges but I liked it a lot (I spent 32 hours in a single gameplay, from start to end).”
“Gameplay is so numb it feels like a walking simulator.”
“There is barely any gameplay aside from climbing or shooting a crossbow; there are weird design decisions in terms of area design and inventory limits, and the protagonist has the charisma of an unripened grapefruit.”
“Countless times I've died because the game decides to make my character slide off the platform or a wall while I'm running, causing me to fall to my death where I have to redo the entire thing again with the awful mechanics.”
- graphics203 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 34 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the beautiful environments and impressive visuals, especially for an indie title. However, some players report issues such as graphical glitches, poor anti-aliasing, and the need for decent hardware to fully enjoy the experience. Overall, while the graphics are generally well-received, there are notable areas for improvement, particularly in optimization and consistency.
“The graphics are impressive for such a small team.”
“This is one of the best games I've played all year, it's got meaningful exploration, impressive visuals, nice environmental storytelling and overall a very nice pace that makes you want to explore more of the world.”
“The graphics are beautiful, and so are the environments!”
“I'll likely try to finish the game, but it has serious problems with graphics (I am seeing horrible pixels in the sky, for example, on a 1080 Ti running on an i7 machine), climbing mechanics, and consumables stacking on top of the experience-shattering bad puzzles.”
“For an Unreal Engine game, the graphics are mediocre at best.”
“The enemies and horrendous graphics (and they are terrible) make this game nearly unplayable.”
- music85 mentions
- 41 % positive mentions
- 49 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players praising the soundtrack for its interesting tracks and fitting atmosphere, while others criticize the audio engineering, noting issues like abrupt transitions and dissonance with the game's tone. Many players find the music can be overwhelming or poorly timed, leading to a desire to turn it off entirely, despite acknowledging that some individual tracks are enjoyable. Overall, while the soundtrack has potential, its execution leaves much to be desired, impacting the overall experience.
“I highly enjoyed my play-through of this game, beautiful and unique locations, amazing soundtrack, a great story and cast of characters.”
“The story keeps the game interesting and intriguing all the time, the music and atmosphere fits nicely into a game like this.”
“Soundtrack features a few interesting songs from indie rock bands along with progressive rock and synthwave music.”
“Awful audio engineering (some sounds are much louder, like foxes screaming). In some places, the music switches between several tracks back and forth like 10 times in 30 seconds. It's a shame because some tracks are quite nice.”
“There is this awful bug with the music where the transition from zone to zone causes the tracks to bleed over and overlay one another.”
“The music simply does not function properly.”
- optimization56 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 39 % neutral mentions
- 32 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with many players noting significant performance issues such as frame drops, stuttering, and crashes, particularly in critical areas. While some aspects, like parkour mechanics and graphics, are praised for being well-optimized, the overall experience is marred by technical flaws that detract from immersion. Players express hope for future updates to address these optimization concerns.
“Graphics are great and well-optimized.”
“It's surprisingly well optimized for a newly released alpha and I had a lot of fun playing it.”
“Decent optimization, fluid parkour mechanics, fun stealth survival gameplay.”
“This game is incredibly poorly optimized, has some serious performance bugs in critical areas of the game, the animation is a bit wonky at times, it's kind of glitchy (several NPCs didn't move their mouth at all when speaking, I had the game crash while resting at least once, and it crashes if you put your machine to sleep), and the interface is not always intuitive.”
“Despite this, however, the game does have plenty of flaws, like the game's poor optimization and the parkour system sometimes being a little wonky.”
“Stuttering, at times, is so bad.”
- atmosphere51 mentions
- 80 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive and unique design, complemented by strong graphics and an engaging story. Players appreciate the variety of environments to explore, from ancient ruins to idyllic islands, which enhance the overall experience despite some minor performance issues. The combination of sound, visuals, and storytelling creates a compelling atmosphere that resonates well with players, making it a standout feature of the game.
“What an amazing world to explore and the atmosphere was top notch in my opinion.”
“The atmosphere, graphics, and story are awesome.”
“Ue4 amazing graphics, such a beautiful game, immersive and unique atmosphere, all topped off with an amazing story.”
“The atmosphere and general idea of the game looks -it looked to me- promising and compelling.”
“They have to feel 'real' with real consequences and rational atmosphere (like who the hell tied red scarves to all these pieces of metal?).”
“This game reminded me a lot about Subnautica's atmosphere!”
- stability28 mentions
- 14 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 86 % negative mentions
The game is reported to be quite buggy, with numerous glitches affecting gameplay, such as problematic collisions, water issues, and inconsistent parkour mechanics. While some players find these bugs to be minor and not game-breaking, others experience significant frustrations, including crashes and poor combat responsiveness. Overall, despite its stability issues, many users appreciate the game's visual appeal and potential for improvement in future updates.
“The game looks beautiful and runs great on my system.”
“There are so many bugs and glitches; for example, you 'hover' for a few seconds before falling to your death at the first tower... you can almost predict when the game is going to crash.”
“A game where the buggy collisions make you fall all the time and the checkpoints are extremely far apart.”
“Glitches, invisible walls, and occasionally getting stuck between trees or while crouching.”
- grinding20 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspects of the game to be a mixed bag; while there are no silly achievements, the extensive parkour and climbing can become tedious, especially during lengthy trials and repetitive boss fights. The climbing mechanics are generally fluid, but the necessity to search for clues without guidance can lead to frustration. Overall, while some elements of grinding are present, they are balanced by the option to evade combat and the game's improved movement mechanics compared to similar titles.
“The sense button does not light up documents or other clues, so you quite literally have to search every nook and cranny to find them, which can be tedious and time-consuming.”
“There is an almost unbelievable amount of parkour and climbing necessary to finish the first trial, and I am really not looking forward to another two trials of similar length, difficulty, and sheer tediousness.”
“It works well most of the time, but after falling 12 times and having to repeat a tedious climb, it really starts to kill the mood and test the nerves.”
- humor14 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's humor is described as quirky and often unintentional, with players finding amusement in the absurdity of an untrained girl taking down enemies and the comical ragdoll physics of defeated foes. While some dialogue misses the mark, the exploration of the map and unexpected moments, like a dog encounter, contribute to a lighthearted experience that feels oddly entertaining. Overall, the humor is hit-or-miss but adds a unique charm to the gameplay.
“Killing a bunch of bad guys as an untrained and lost girl is kinda funny.”
“Sometimes the ragdoll physics for killed enemies are hilarious.”
“Some dialogues are really bad, but it's funny to discover all parts of the map!”
- emotional14 mentions
- 86 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is mixed; while the main character exhibits moments of genuine emotion, particularly in key story sections, the overall voice acting and dialogue often detract from these moments, with crass remarks and over-the-top delivery undermining the intended tone. Players express frustration with the lack of emotional depth in the character's responses to death and the overall storytelling, which can feel disjointed and uninspired.
“She does, however, get very emotional at sections of the game, and I have to say her voice actor, when voicing the responses, can sometimes get a little annoying, as the voice acting can sometimes go over the top.”
“The game really turned with a touching and interesting story, which every fan of the survival genre must experience.”
“The emotional depth of the narrative truly engages players, making them feel connected to the characters and their struggles.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game has been noted for its negligible replay value, with players expressing little interest in returning after their initial experience, despite finding it worthwhile.
“Negligible replay value: I don't see myself ever returning to the game, but it was a worthwhile experience.”
- monetization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 100 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Users express curiosity about the absence of advertisements in the game, indicating a desire for clarity on the monetization strategy employed.