The deeper I dig into roguelike Have a Nice Death, the less value I find

polygon.com:

Part of the magic of The Devil Wears Prada is how deftly the film toes the fine line between excoriating a soul-sucking work culture and creating sympathy for the people inside it. Intern Andy Sachs struggles against Miranda Priestley’s authoritarian clutch over a fashion magazine, only to find herself becoming more and more like Priestley. The movie demonstrates how impactful a cruel boss can be.

The new roguelike Have a Nice Death delves into the same ideas, with critiques of work culture and burnout — but rather than portraying a cruel boss with a proper amount of criticism, the game ends up tipping into unearned sympathy for an overworked CEO.

Developer Magic Design Studios’ protagonist is Death, the founder of Death Inc. Death is dealing with burnout, having processed too many souls into the realm of the afterlife. He created employees to help him gather the dead, but these employees have gone rogue and begun to wreak havoc on his industry of ending life.

You take charge of Death at this pivotal moment. Armed with a trusty scythe, cloak, and book with the names of the dead, Death has to work through his labyrinthine workplace to deal with his wayward employees, fighting them, defeating them, and whipping them back into shape.

Death’s headquarters are beautiful. The procedurally generated 2D dungeons look as if they’re pulled straight out of a Disney movie (the game does often feel like a playable Pixar short). The animations unfold in a crisp, moody noir highlighted by minimal splashes of color.

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The fighting mechanics glow neon as curses and slashes and projectiles paint across the dull gray landscape. Mechanically, the game is a joy to play. Combat is slick and responsive, not unlike Dead Cells (whose