Breath Of Death VII: The Beginning Reanimated Review (PC)

Breath of Death VII: The Beginning is a game that has been on my radar for a while but I never pulled the plug on buying the game. It has its infamy in the indie circles for its humor and quick pace. So I was ecstatic to see it get a remaster with a new coat of paint. This remaster is lovingly called Breath of Death VII: The Beginning Reanimated.

Game Name: Breath of Death VII: The Beginning Reanimated
Platform(s): PC
Developer(s): Shadow Layer Games LLC
Publisher(s): Shadow Layer Games LLC
Release Date: December 12, 2024
Price: $5.00

The world is at its end. Breath of Death VII: The Beginning Reanimated takes place as the undead walk the world and have taken the whole thing over. You are in the bones of Dem, a silent protagonist because he does not have a tongue, he is a skeleton. He still gets dialogue in the form of his thoughts though! You must find your three party members and save the world from the evil that has now come to take the world away from the undead.

The Good

Breath of Death VII: The Beginning Reanimated brings you to a simpler time in the JRPG landscape. You must talk to citizens and pay attention to what they tell you. They will give you ideas on where you can go, as well as treasures you can find. That said, the maps are simple enough that you can pretty much see what direction the game wants you to go.

Combat in Breath of Death VII: The Beginning Reanimated has a fun twist in turn-based combat. The longer the battle goes, the more damage enemies can do to you. There is a combo stacker though that lets you do more damage too. Some techniques and spells do multi-hits that continue the combo stacker. There is the combo boost passive in abilities that adds damage based on the stack you have accumulated. This makes combat important as a time mechanic. If you wait too long for a strategy to buff yourself, enemies will plow you through their enhanced power.

Breath of Death VII: The Beginning Reanimated is hilarious. The comedy of this game is top-notch. A lot of the buildings you can enter, but you can’t do much because NPC’s will notice you and get annoyed at you stealing their chests or going through their drawers. They play around with Dem as the silent protagonist and how he loves being silent because he can think whatever he wants without anyone thinking any less of him… except Sara who can read his mind.

 The Bad

The music of Breath of Death VII: The Beginning Reanimated is simple too. It is fine for the first few areas, but honestly, the music can feel pretty similar. I turned off the sound of my Rog Ally and didn’t lose anything from the experience.

Breath of Death VII: The Beginning Reanimated is short, like really short. There is replayability by adding the duck difficulty and finding some of the other areas of the world map, but my entire run of the game took two and a half hours. The game page stated it was four hours long, so I imagine the speed-up of battles and the faster running might have something to do with getting places faster.

The Verdict

Breath of Death VII: The Beginning Reanimated is a game that has more value than its price point. With a nice visual upgrade, faster combat, and even faster movement, this is the best way to play Breath of Death VII: The Beginning. If you have a spare five dollars this is a short but fun experience!

Breath of Death VII: The Beginning Reanimated comes out on December 12th, 2024 on PC.

Review Disclosure Statement: Breath of Death VII: The Beginning Reanimated was provided to us by Shadow Layer Games LLC for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.

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