Let It Die

An inscrutable black box, covered in punk-rock graffiti and splattered in blood.

Let It Die is flawed, but it’s perhaps the best free-to-play game ever made on the PS4. It’s different, daring, and occasionally impossible. But it’s also a must play for fans of the roguelike gene.

Let it Die is hacky, slashy, and sometimes a little spendy, but with a game like this you can’t turn away. A deliberate and intense action murder simulator rife with humor, morbidity, and tons of style, Let it Die overcomes a few flaws to be a top notch and surprisingly great title. As it is free, there is absolutely no reason not to get it on the action.

This isn’t slick, soulless and focus-tested into insensibility. Let It Die is rough and engaging on a primal level, and intensely refreshing as a result. It’s also a shining example of a free-to-play title that doesn’t make lecherous moves on anyone’s wallet every five minutes. This game is less about paying to win, and more about playing to win.

It's lovably shonky in the classic Grasshopper style, but this is a game of surprisingly layered depth and subtlety, and the studio's best game in yonks. [Feb 2017, p.85]

Boasting some of the most compelling mechanics in a Grasshopper game to date and a terrific sense of style, Let it Die is often a great time, and easily one of my favorite F2P games on consoles. The game is held back somewhat by occasionally wonky difficulty that feels particularly punishing given the game's death system, and it often feels padded with systems that drag things down in the name of length, but overall, I've been having a wonderful time with Let it Die, and I look forward to diving into it for weeks to come.

It has an old-school feel to it that brings to mind the days of scrambling for quarters blended with some good old-fashioned ultraviolence, simple yet effective combat, surreal dystopian horror and some surprisingly deep gameplay elements. It’s just that it has a bit of a difficulty spike and a few annoying combat elements holding it back from true greatness.

Let It Die is a pretty crazy action RPG that can take a lot of your time. The game is free to play, but does not make you pay every five seconds, which is great.

Despite a lot of mixed problems (predictable AI, awful control system, etc.), Let it Die is a breath of fresh air, a well thought mix between a roguelike and a soluslike. And it's a free to play game...

Let It Die's gameplay is simplistic. It does add some crafting and decision-making as you progress in the game, but ultimately you’re in for a button-mashing method of gaming that is sickly addictive, even through its obvious flaws. It’s fun, frustrating and makes you want to come back for more, if not only to prove you’re capable.

Long load times, especially when quickly moving up and down floors in succession or engaging in Tokyo Death Metro, take a serious toll on the fun, and the fact that the seemingly fair free-to-play model allows anyone with a big bank account to smash bosses, eliminate research times, and basically just breeze through situations where non-paying players may falter is a serious hindrance to being the amazing game it could be.

Despite the monotony of procedurally generated environments and repetitiveness that with time creeps into combat, it would be absurd not to try Let It Die. It might be free, but it’s much more worthwhile than many indie games you have to pay for. [02/2017, p.46]

Let it Die won't surprise anyone when it comes to technical aspects and its gameplay mechanics have already been seen many times. However it has that Suda51's touch and you will always want to see more from Uncle Death. The fast degradation of equipment can be pretty annoying and even so, you will always want to go a floor further. We were expecting much more after that first Lily Bergamo's teaser and we hope that Grasshopper's next game isn't a free-to-play, even though this one has unnecessary microtransactions.

Let it Die is a psychedelic roguelike with a Dark Souls touch in the mechanics. Sometimes it feels unfair with player's time but it's also addictive. Akira Yamaoka's OST is one of the best in this generation.

Let It Die is a unique free-to-play game with great settings and gameplay. This souls-like manages to create an engaging experience along the levels of the Tower of Barbs through good combat system and interesting character development. Procedural level design might be a little repetitive but it is a compromise that is worth taking. Multiplayer is solid and well developed as well, it creates genuine competition among the players.

A roguelike type of game developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and Goichi Suda. Not for everyone and a bit too demanding, but it´s interesting and refreshing equally.

Let it Die is free and truly fun, but its constant microtransactions can ruin the experience of many users.

Trying to cross the genre of Souls games together with the random nature of roguelike games is a task that’s difficult enough to make work, let alone infusing it with a free-to-play system that punishes the player for dying. Let It Die somehow manages to find a very thin line bridging the three together and makes it work with a quirky infusion that stands by Suda’s game development. While some mechanical aspects, and yes, the freemium components, prevent it from being a perfect experience, fans of Souls games owe it to themselves to download this free-to-play title and give it a shot. Win, and see yourself standing at the top of the Tower of Barbs; die, and become just another Hater filling its halls.

You're going to be overwhelmed when you start playing, but once you learn the basic you'll discover one of the best f2p for consoles. It isn't easy, but take your time and explore Let It Die. Worst case scenario, you'll just delete it from your HDD.

Messy, mean, yet undeniably charming, Suda51's roguelike fascinates more than it flusters. Just. [Feb 2017, p.70]

There’s a level of complexity and polish that belies the lo-fi visuals, the gore, the bonkers story and the motley crew of nutbags that you encounter. Under new ownership, Grasshopper has – dare we say it? – grown up. [March 2016, p70]

Under GungHo's auspice it has made its deepest game in years, and one of its most fascinating, too. [Feb 2017, p.118]

There's nothing out there quite like Let It Die. This action game offers Souls-like combat, 40 floors to tackle, multiple paths to tackle, and a host of gear to make your own oddball fighter. The free-to-play mechanics are reasonable until you get to higher levels, where a death spiral may leave you looking for your credit card. It's not perfect, but Let It Die is damned fun.

Let It Die is a bit like – and this is meant as a genuine compliment – a budget PS2 curio. One of those games that is a bit rough around the edges and lacking in triple-A polish, but has an idea that is far more compelling and delivered in such a stylish way. Grasshopper Manufacture doesn’t deal in blockbusters, but this is likely to be another cult hit.

Coming at the end of a very impressive gaming year, Let It Die can't help but suffer in comparison to a whole bunch of other, more burnished titles. Still, the game's excellent action combat, weirdness, and variety of weapons give it just enough character to stand out and make it worthy of attention. The pay-to-win aspect is a bummer, and there is overall a sense of things being not quite solid, but anyone who's enjoyed other Grasshopper Manufacture games will enjoy this one as well.

Let It Die brings an amazing atmosphere full of nosense, gore and fights, but some elements may get really frustrating after the first hours of play. As a free-to-play opportunity, you should definitely try it yourself before deciding if you want to climb or not the Tower of Barb.

Let It Die is an ambitious game that threatens to charm players, but ultimately falls short due to unpolished gameplay, repetitious level design, and some really awful freemium schemes.

It’s definitely worth the time, especially being free to start, and I would recommend anybody with a PS4 and a love of brawling check it out. It’s a well put together little game with a good dash of trademark Grasshopper oddity. As a throwaway bit of violent action with some clever online features, it’s a good time...A good time, but not a particularly enthralling one. At some point, as with everything involved in this production, you’ll eventually just have to Let It Die.

A game that manages to entertain despite being a little rough around the edges. It's not particularly beautiful or well controlled, although it's fun.

Let It Die feels pretty damn polished for a game that costs nothing to play. In spite of the terrible menus and potentially broken PVP aspects, Let It Die is still very much a fun roguelike action RPG you can easily sink hours into.

A fun mix of Dark Souls and roguelike, and although the microtransactions create their own problems it does mean everyone can now experience a Suda51 game for free.

Bloodsplatters, exploding mushrooms, dark humor and being able to bring katana to a shotgun fight – all that helps Let it Die get noticed. Unfortunately, substance doesn’t live up to style, as gameplay turns out to be rather shallow and considerably limited by its free-to-play model to boot. [Issue#216, p.48]

Let It Die has numerous rough edges, but it manages to entertain through the sheer force of its weird personality and its varied, if clumsy combat. The controls are often clunky and there's rarely a meaningful sense of attachment to characters or gear, but its characterizations and settings often manage to keep the pain of the poorer stuff down to a minimum, at least for a while.

Suda51 tries to find the recipe for a perfect souls-like, but misses the correct dosage of the main ingredients: Let it Die is clearly unbalanced, and the ineffective mix of survival and roguelike diminish the ambitions of this pulp adventure.

One of the best free-to-play games for PS4. In some respects, it refers to the popular Dark Souls, but to be perfect it lacks better visuals and interconnection with environment. [Issue #271]

I can really get lost in the world of Let it Die, and I think I'll be playing it off and on for the next several weeks at the very least. It begs you to come back, and given the platform in which it's been distributed, it's something that can easily evolve into a better game in the future.