Don’t Die, Minerva! is a twin-stick aRPG with a spooky, Halloweenish aesthetic. You play as Minerva, a young girl who becomes separated from her parents and makes the mistake of entering a haunted mansion. Armed only with a flashlight that damages the spirits within, she has to fight her way to each floor’s elevator, presumably to overcome whatever evil lurks in the manor and eventually find her way back to her parents. I became interested in this game because lighthearted aRPGs aren’t too common. Learning that it’s developed and published by Xaviant, the people behind The Culling and The Culling 2, however, kicked my interest into overdrive; I have no interest in multiplayer games as a rule, but those particular games come with oodles of drama that resulted in furious and bitter comments appearing under a Youtube trailer for Don’t Die, Minerva!.

Those comments appear to have been largely purged, but nevertheless speak to the possibility that Don’t Die, Minerva! will be treated unfairly by a contingent of players who use it as an opportunity to vent about completely different products.

I hope that doesn’t happen, because Don’t Die, Minerva! is actually pretty enjoyable. Your flashlight consumes energy, as does activating your current stuffed animal to fight alongside you, but it quickly regenerates when you’re not actively shining it (or firing, depending on the type of flashlight you have equipped). You can also find and equip items to become more powerful, including gemstones that increase your attack and provide it with elemental bonuses. These can complement a gemstone bonus placed on your stuffed animal for even bigger damage. And of course, there’s both permanent and per-run progression that help you do a little better each time.

Minerva’s character model has an uncanny vibe going for it (which is a diplomatic way of saying that she looks like a porcelain doll who comes alive at night and murders her current owners), but the way she hums occasionally during levels is downright charming. It’s also cool the way creates footprints after stepping in the colorful bits of ectoplasm enemies leave behind. Little touches like that add a lot.

There are a few things I don’t care for, though. Dodging requiring energy is needlessly limiting; I could understand this if your dodge gave you invincibility frames, but it doesn’t, so you can find yourself running out of energy against tanky enemies and unexpectedly unable to dodge. That becomes a problem because later enemies have an annoying habit of lunging at you. And since many rooms have a second wave of enemies who spawn in after the initial enemies have been taken out, it’s possible to get hit by a lunge from an enemy almost immediately after they materialize.

Still, it’s pretty solid for an early access game, and the combination of player experience and permanent upgrades make it easy to dive back in after dying. Don’t Die, Minerva!‘s Steam store page claims that the game is planned to be in early access for between 6 months to a year and that its final release will have more levels, abilities, and enemies. The thought of additional levels in a game where a single death sends you back to the beginning always leaves me half-filled with anticipation and half-filled with dread, but I look forward to seeing how all of this is balanced.

Don’t Die, Minerva! will be out on December 5th, 2019, on Steam early access and Xbox One game preview.

Don’t Die, Minerva! early access impressions (Steam/PC) first appeared on Killa Penguin