The Executive Decisions update for Have a Nice Death on Steam Early Access is now live, thanks to Gearbox Publishing and Magic Design Studios. This new feature drop marks the final significant update for the Early Access edition of the darkly entertaining roguelike before it debuts on Nintendo Switch and PC (Steam and Steam Deck) on March 22, 2023.
Have a Pleasant Death The Executive Decisions update includes a wealth of new material for Early Access players, including new bosses (including a secret mini-boss! ), weapons, spells, story content, and festive winter holiday decorations. Furthermore, significant upgrades to the quality of death have been made, including six new difficulty categories, including a beginner-friendly option, and a new meta progression system.
Here’s the full list of all the features for the Executive Decisions update:
- New Difficulty Modes: With these six new difficulty modes, you can choose to take a less stress-inducing adventure or really put your hack’n’scythe skills to the ultimate test – you call the shots, Boss!
- New Beginner Difficulty Mode – “Self-Fulfillment”: A friendlier mode for anyone, which players can select in the Death, Inc. Lobby after they die for the first time. With this mode, players will start their run with three Anima (healing items), restore half of their Max HP when they defeat Sorrows, fight weaker minions and Anima heals will increase after each death.
- Five New “Breakdown” Difficulty Modes – With five new “Breakdown” difficulty modes (Breakdown XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV) players can choose just how challenging they want their adventure to be. Depending on which Breakdown difficulty you choose, prepare for soul crushingly difficult changes to occur, including bosses (Sorrows) and mini bosses (Thanagers) being granted even more abilities and attacks, minions becoming more powerful, having to start a run with less HP, and much more.
- New Bosses: Depending on how you progress in your adventure, there’s a chance you may encounter one new Sorrow and one new mini-boss (Thanager)…
- New Sorrow – “Barnaby Proudfoot”: Sometimes, Brad (World 1’s Sorrow) puts on his suit and can actually do his job. If you run into him, prepare for a tough fight as he’ll unleash new attacks that’ll catch you off guard!
- New Secret Thanager: Rumor has it that one of Death, Inc.’s loyal and adorable employees has eaten a mysterious fruit causing them to become evil and… not so adorable. Will you find this secret Thanager?
- New Renovator Content – Holiday Decorations: To really get Death, Inc. in the holiday spirit, players can customize the lobby and breakroom with brand new holiday decorations via the Renovator. To access the Renovator and the merry decorations, all you need to do is speak with Muriel the Reverent in the lobby.
- New Weapons and Spells: There are even more deadly tools to add to your arsenal, as four new spells, including “Lyberis Skull” that lets you summon a slew of tiny but mighty skulls, three new cloak weapons, like a Bow that shoots a homing arrow, and a new scythe have been added.
- New and Revamped Rooms: The world of Death, Inc. has expanded with over 50 new rooms and rooms have been updated to include new traps, tutorial elements, and rewards.
- New Questlines – Experience two new questlines, including a limited-time winter holiday questline:
- Limited Time Event – “Secret Santa”: Starting today and ending on January 15, you’ll discover each Death, Inc employee has a holiday gift, including Death! Once Death opens his gift, you’ll be able to receive a Prismium in Mark’s shop.
- “The Musical” – Some employees are preparing the annual Death,Inc. Musical this year’s musical is “The Little Mermaid” featuring two Have a Nice Death fan-favorite characters.
- New Progression Systems: With these new systems, you have even more power to choose how you dive deeper into the Underworld…
- Starting Scythe: At the beginning of a run, you now can choose between one of two scythes – Death’s trusty, original one or a randomly selected, unique scythe.
- Scythe Transformation: With this new scythe upgrade system, your starting scythe can now be upgraded in three different ways.
- Meta Progression: A new leveling system has been added that lets you obtain new bonuses, like additional Anima, buffs and more.
- Additional Quality of Death Improvements: Along with NPCs having new character animations that reflect their mood, thanks to Early Access community feedback, you have the option to skip boss cinematics and the end of run screen to quickly jump back into the action – and the UI has been improved with new features like an ingot (gold) indicator.
Early Access users may expect modest updates in the build up to Have a Nice Death’s release. Furthermore, as players continue to provide input, new “quality-of-death” enhancements will be included.
Have a Nice Death’s complete release will have all the wonderfully gruesome material you could desire, including content from prior significant upgrades that fans appreciated in the game’s Early Access edition. It will also include a slew of new features, such as a new realm replete with new bosses, mini-bosses, and opponents, as well as additional plot content that will bring the main storyline to an epic finale. Players may also discover fresh information about the person responsible for all of Death’s problems.
