You died – Journey Through Hardship

To start I want to confess: I’ve never played any tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) before. I’ve heard stories of great times people have had when playing Dungeons & Dragons campaigns with their friends. It sounded so much fun. But I’ve had two obstacles in my way. Firstly, I would have to have a group to play with. And to my surprise, no one has appeared on my doorstep to recruit me. Weird. Secondly, TTRPGs have always kind of intimidated me. My brain just can’t fathom how they work. The most probable answer in my opinion is black magic. I understand that by playing I could also learn this forbidden knowledge. So let´s go on a journey. Journey to discover what TTRPGs are about. And what is my game of choice, You Died, about?

You Died is a three-act adventure. You’re Unearthed with a goal to get to the top of the decaying corpse of the Giant King Kohln. All Unearthed share a fate to ascend and claim the Rockskull Crown and become the new ruler in the Kingdom of Kohlnren. None have succeeded, and now it’s your turn.

On my ascent, I battled some enemies. The combat was not too complicated, but I found a way to make it harder and forgot some key elements. The biggest one I forgot was that after defeating an enemy I got some Bone Fragments that could have been used to upgrade my statistics. So, there I am, struggling and dying, wondering how to move forward until I noticed my error. The first thing was to get more Bone Fragments and head back to the Camp to improve myself. Going back to camp resurrected all the enemies I had defeated, but it was still worth it.

After getting slightly more powerful, I ventured on. I found a new weapon that sadly required too much strength that I did not possess. I took it with me and dredging on I came across Odella in a library. It was a brief encounter, as she fled when she noticed me. She did drop a Hollowskull Pendant that I took with me in hopes of it being useful to me later. I have a feeling that this is not the final time Odella and I meet.

After a lot of battling enemies, getting hurt and ultimately getting stronger, I finally reached the end of act one. Now between me and the next part of my ascend was only one boss, The Unpassed. And despite all my growth so far, I died. It was time to journey again, cutting down everyone between me and The Unpassed. And then to die again. The third time I got myself face to face with The Unpassed was different. At the end, we both had one hit point left. After a lucky dodge and an unfortunate miss from me, like a cruel twist of fate, The Unpassed did not try to hit me. Instead, it used its ability. Now, if I do damage to it, I’ll take one hit point worth of damage myself. After I have accepted my fate I land the hit, and we both perish. I woke up back at the Camp.

You Died grabbed my attention for three reasons. The first reason was that it was a single-player game, so no need to search for that mystical gaming group to play with. But that would not have been enough if the game would not have also sounded interesting. The setting of the desolate fantasy world was interesting and fit perfectly to the gameplay that at same time punished you but also encouraged you to persevere. The third thing that pulled me in was the looks. The art of the game is amazing. It’s dark and grimy and fits the game perfectly. I feel like I’m there fighting to reach the top of the Giant King Kohln and the Kingdom, rather than just rolling a die, and drawing cards.

This game was a learning experience for me about TTRPGs. And I have to say, that this was a great game for that. It at the same time was brutally punishing but you could continue if you had the determination. Now, if you excuse me, I need to continue my adventure to claim the crown.

Information:

Designers: Giles Penfold & Edward Yorke

Publishers: Giles Penfold & Edward Yorke

Release Date: May 2022

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