The game Let It Die is a survival dungeon crawler roguelike ASCII game that attempts to monetize the genre with a free-to-play subscription-based live service and pay-to-win microtransactions. However, the game's janky combat, grind-heavy progression system, and blatant pay-to-win economy outweigh its aesthetically creative design.

Facade of a Good Game Let It Die is a free-to-play game developed by Grasshopper Manufacturer, released in 2016 as a PS4 exclusive, with a freemium model of monetization. The game's story is set in a post-apocalyptic world where the player's goal is to climb the Tower of Barbs, a mysterious tower that has appeared in Metropolitan Tokyo, and reach the top where great treasure lies.

Gameplay Loop and Combat The gameplay loop of Let It Die involves equipping oneself with decent gear, riding the elevator to the highest checkpoint reached, and trying to find a route to reach a higher point that contains the next elevator. The higher the floor, the better the loot, but also the deadlier the enemies. The combat in Let It Die is extremely clunky, and the game's inventory system is very limited, making it difficult to carry all the necessary items. The game's analytics are abysmal, with only a dedicated fan base of around 100 concurrent players.

The combat mechanics in Let It Die lack flow and experimentation due to the lack of synergy between weapons and the inability to cancel out of attacks or move around during animations. The dodge roll does not provide invincibility frames and enemies have wonky AI, making the best strategy to simply run and bait out attacks.

Paying for Advantage In Let It Die, dying has dire consequences and players can revive on the spot by spending premium tokens called death metals, which can be obtained by spending real money. The game also has a subscription-based monetization system called the express pass, which offers advantages such as discounts on buybacks and access to the express elevator.

Is Let It Die Pay-to-Win? While the developers claim that players do not need to pay to enjoy the game, the game's inventory system and upgrade mechanics are designed to frustrate players and nudge them towards paying for progress. While paying can give players advantages, it cannot circumvent the amount of grind required to progress, and the game can still be beaten without paying. However, the game's mechanics reflect its free-to-play model and are designed to entice a small percentage of players to become whales and keep the game afloat.

The game values quantity over quality, and every 10 floors occupy a boss known as a Don, which is a gear check. The higher the floor, the more tankier the mini bosses become, and some degree of grind is required to progress off the floors.

The grind in Let It Die is abysmal, with upgrades requiring certain materials but the drop rates for them are not guaranteed, making it possible to spend time farming for a certain material only for RNG to screw you over and return empty-handed. The game does not seem to value your time, but there is a method that can guarantee rare materials with no RNG on certain days of the week on floor 27, where a traveling Merchant sells high-end materials for gold.

Let It Die is not a Souls-like game and should not be compared to Dark Souls. It has a stat-based progression system rather than a skill-based one, with gear and weapons being the main factors for success. The game's combat can feel janky, but having overpowered gear can compensate for this.

Approaching Boss Fights To progress in the game, defeating bosses is necessary, but some bosses are extremely difficult due to gear checks and clunky combat. The game nudges players to farm for the best gear and use consumable fungi with powerful effects, but some players resort to cheap strategies like making themselves invincible, which takes away the challenge of the boss fights.

Let It Die's Flaws and Silver Linings Let It Die has a pay-to-win model and a grind that cannot be easily skipped, which may be why only a small dedicated fan base enjoys the game. However, the game has unique aspects like odd and eccentric style, addictive soundtrack, and creative boss fights. The author suggests a live service roguelike with no pay-to-win mechanics, no leaderboards, and no PVP, but just a game that values players' time and wants them to have fun.

The gaming industry is moving towards the idea of games as a service (GaaS), where paying for games will require a subscription instead of a one-time fee. Despite criticism, live service games like Overwatch 2, Pokemon Violet and Scarlet, and Diablo Immortal have been successful and made a lot of money. Criticism is important, but ultimately, data is everything for big companies.