The Unliving

The Unliving Review

Welcome to my review of The Unliving on the PC. The game is also available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and macOS. It is developed by Rocketbrush Studios and published by Team17 (Dredge, Ship of Fools). The Unliving is a dynamic rogue-lite action RPG with strategic elements. Raise the undead, use numerous spells and explore a mystical world, all realised with pixel art.

Be A Necromancer!

As mentioned I am playing this on the PC for my review. You can check out our previous reviews here.

The Game

A storm is coming to the realm of the living which has been corrupted to its core. The world order is about to change. Oh yeah, by the way, you are the storm. You’re a mighty Necromancer who denies death and leads the legions of the dead. Hiding behind their high walls are the Clerics and Lords hoping their strongholds will cover them from the Necromancer’s wrath. Of course, that doesn’t happen, so we must smite hundreds of those standing in our way. Once you slaughter them, they will become a tool on your way to a greater purpose.

The Unliving

That’s right. Each time you bring an untimely death to a foe, they can be resurrected and added to your army. This helps you create an unlimited legion of death! Each of the reanimated creatures has its own unique abilities such as the undead Priest. In life, he brought blessings. In death, he will bring curses to your enemies. As you progress through the game you will meet colourful characters. Not just friends, but foes too.

You can also question members of your necromantic cult. Force answers out of the enemies to gather the lost memories of the Necromancer, piece by piece. As you uncover more of his lost memories you will reveal the nature of his immunity. But that’s not all, the Church is also hiding something from its followers and hiding a grim truth.

Slay them All!

Not all of the living are helpless, some will retaliate against your forces to protect their homeland. They will hold the line whilst moving in large groups and wielding their powerful abilities. They absolutely love their lives and will do whatever it takes to keep them that way. The Necromancer must unleash hell on them to bring them to their knees and make them a part of his army of the undead.

The Unliving

Each run of the game is randomly generated, so the world will never appear in the game as it did previously. Each run is richly populated with a large array of artefacts, secret rooms, deadly traps, and of course… Creatures who want to stop you.

Look & Sound

The graphics go with a mix of modern texture work and retro-esque pixel art which works quite well in my opinion. The game runs very well on both PC and Steam Deck.

The Unliving
Lots going on!

I loved the music for The Unliving and the sound effects also bring pleasure to ones ears.

Length & Replayability

Fortunately, being a roguelike the game will keep those who click with the game interested. You can definitely rack up some good hours on this game.

It also has 14 achievements for you to unlock, if that’s your jam.

Conclusions

I most definitely like the graphic style and the idea behind the game. Unfortunately, as I couldn’t quite click with the game, I didn’t enjoy my time playing it. If you are interested in purchasing The Unliving or learning more about it, you can visit the official Steam Store page. You can purchase it for £13.49 at the time of writing.

I score The Unliving a 4/10.

A code was kindly provided for us to review this.

We Score This Game

rating score: 4

Not Too Bad!

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