Drawn to Death

Drawn to Death is one of the most disappointing games I’ve played in recent memory. The premise is fantastic and there is a heap of potential buried beneath the surface. Unfortunately, even after you dig past that rough outer shell, the inside is almost entire empty and devoid of engaging content.

Drawn to Death has tons of potential, so it's a shame to see almost all of it go down the drain. The game promised a cool and fun arena style shooter with tons of funny and creative weapons and characters, all with the amazing sketchbook art style. What we got instead was a shallow game, full of unnecessary profanity, mostly useless weapons, forgettable soundtrack and an annoying announcer. The art style is cool and the arenas and characters are fun to look at, but even they can't.

We see a fairly normal kid who idolizes his brother, a serviceman, can't gather the gumption to talk to a girl in his class, seems somewhat embarrassed about his interest in guns and knives, and uses the world of his notebook to brutalize and embarrass the things in reality that make life miserable. All this creates a funhouse-mirror image of screwed-up teenage gamerdom worth exploring with a measure of detachment, which makes it even more of a shame of the outdated, obnoxious shooter that never shuts up Drawn To Death actually is.

With its immature design and humour, Drawn To Death is a game out of time. Its server issues and general instability compound that, distracting from what could have been a fun arena shooter.

One of the most unique-looking shooters of recent years, but not necessarily in a good way. Especially not when the action is this unrefined and purposefully annoying.

With a look this distinctive, Drawn to Death could have hit the ground running. But as a decent shooter it merely limps, thanks to a number of unfortunate design choices, a lack of options, and rampant bugs. Intricate levels, varied weapons and unique characters may have looked good on paper, but any positives Drawn to Death has get scribbled over and obscured by the constant barrage of un-funny abuse it insists on endlessly spewing in your face.