Death From Above review — Taking Ukraine war to serious and silly extremes

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I’ve had some deep conversations with Hendrik Lesser, founder of Lesser Evil, about his project Death From Above, an arcade-like game about the ongoing war in Ukraine.

And now I’ve had a chance to play the game via Steam Early Access, and I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it’s a brave game that takes on the geopolitical horror of our time, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In the game, you play a Ukrainian soldier who is trapped behind enemy lines and fights back with a drone that can drop grenades on Russian soldiers and tanks. In that way, it is drawing attention to the war and is trying to help with the cause by donating proceeds to Come Back Alive and Army of Drones.

On the other hand, the game gets a bit silly in its ending in a bid to take a poke at the intelligence of the Russia military. It doesn’t go over that well, and you can see how it isn’t really a work of art.

[Editor’s note: this review has spoilers]

I talked with Lesser about this cause and his motivations in a long “beachside” fireside chat at the Reboot Develop Blue conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Our stage was beside a beautiful pool against the backdrop of the deep blue Adriatic Sea. Rockodile Games made the title for Lesser Evil.

This is a controversial game that brings politics in games together in an uncomfortable way, and Lesser makes no apologies for that. Lesser said the company is “uncompromisingly anti-authoritarian, anti-racist and pro-democracy.” And it will publish video games with clear political or social intent and messaging.

The game debuted on early access on Steam last week for $10, and I’ve played it. It