When I’ve covered a game from Atari and developer SneakyBox lately it usually is one of their classic titles with a new twist like Asteroids Recharged. This time something brand-new from them came my way in the form of Days of Doom. Instead of an arcade classic we got a tactical turn-based roguelite with a comic book aesthetic set in a post-apocalyptic world. Here is my review of the PlayStation 5 version.
The setup in Days of Doom is anything but original. You play as a group of survivors in the apocalypse and you are trying to get them to a safe haven known as Sanctuary. It’s very much Walking Dead like as along the way you’ll have to fight off zombies and bandits to keep your group alive. With this being a roguelite the focus is more on the gameplay and the randomized runs you’ll have each time. When you start off, you’ll have three different characters each with their own class giving them different abilities. The Pyro can set enemies on fire for instance that causes damage over time. Two of the other classes work well together as they combo off each other. It can be fun to play around with different ones on different playthroughs to see what works best for you or what you enjoy more.
Navigating your way to Sanctuary is done on a map that is separated into different areas each of which has paths to take. Along these paths are random events, shop points where you can get new gear or recruits, fights, and so on. I tried to avoid as many fights as I could in the hopes of surviving my run so I did as many random events as I could. I did lose all my party members more than once though and had to start over but the good thing is even when you fail you can make progression. You can get upgrades during your run that will carry over to future runs like starting off with more party members or being able to gather materials faster. I always appreciate when a game still makes me feel like I am making progress even when I fail.
When you get into fights, you’ll be fighting it out on a grid. Enemies are placed about and you’ll start off by placing you team in their spots. Your characters have 2 action points that are used to attack, defend, move, and cast abilities so you have to spend them wisely on whether to move around or attack. Really though I kind of found the battles to get a bit boring and most of the time waited for the enemies to move towards me. I’ve just played a lot of games like this before and Days of Doom doesn’t do a lot with its combat system to standout from similar games in the genre. Maybe it was just the slow pace of the battles or the fact that it felt like I was fighting the same types of enemies over and over but this game just needed something more to make the fights enjoyable.
Days of Doom has an appealing comic book presentation and some nice ideas but it doesn’t do enough to standout from other tactical roguelites. Navigating the map and trying out the different classes can be fun for a few runs but the slow paced and repetitive combat wore on me over time. I did have some fun in the wasteland but I don’t think I’ll be going back to it.
*Days of Doom is available now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. PlayStation 5 version reviewed. Review copy provided by the publisher for this review.
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