Death Howl review – A soulslike deckbuilder that turns sorrow into strategy

An open-world, soulslike deckbuilder sounds like a mishmash of genres that just shouldn’t work. But somehow, developer The Outer Zone has masterfully stitched them all together into something remarkably cohesive—a harrowing, punishing, and visually striking game about grief and survival called Death Howl.

The game hit digital shelves on Dec. 9, and its premise is simple: You play as Ro, a woman who enters the spirit realm to save her son Olvi from the clutches of death. But the other side of the veil isn’t all that friendly to outsiders, and Ro must fight her way through dangerous spirits who aim to cut her search short and send her back to the world of the living empty-handed.

Using mana and a deck of cards, you battle these spirits, moving Ro around a gridded battlefield. Each battlefield looks a little different, consisting of a set of tiles arranged in unique layouts with various environmental objects that can either help or hinder you in the fight. The foes you face vary greatly in design and combat style: floating crow heads that attack from a distance, infected molars that cause fissures at your feet (yes, you read that right), and jellyfish that can kill you with a single touch. Yeah, did I mention how dangerous the spirit world is?

Throughout your journey around the spirit world, you’ll travel five different “realms.” In every realm, you craft cards with items and Death Howls (or spirits) left over from the entities you defeat. Each realm has its own set of cards that vary in effects, giving you the chance to rebuild your deck with an entirely new playstyle for each region you visit. The Realm of Hostile Plains, for example, has an archetype based around movement. Certain cards in this realm increase the number of tiles you can move at one time, while other cards reduce their cost the more tiles you’ve traveled that turn.

There are over 160 total cards in the game, and with the various playstyles they offer, gameplay never feels stale. Though you’re not limited to using only cards from the realm you’re in, cards from other regions cost more mana to play. And because you only have five or six mana per turn, and most cards cost between one to three mana, you’ll likely be swapping cards out every time you change realms. This isn’t a big problem if you choose to focus on one realm at a time. But the game is open-world, and realms can become more difficult as you progress through them, so you may find yourself fast-traveling from one to another to train up. This then leads to you having to change out your deck every time you do so, which can be quite time-consuming.

At the heart of each realm lies a powerful boss, or Great Spirit. In boss fights, you’ll find fun and unique mechanics that challenge everything you’ve learned from the realm thus far, but getting to them won’t be easy. Don’t forget—Death Howl is a true soulslike experience, and any good soulslike boasts a difficulty level that’s not for the faint of heart. Through limited health, frequent enemy encounters, and close-quarters combat, gameplay can be quite unforgiving, and you’ll have to consider your every move. But whenever I lost a fight, I felt as though victory was within reach, and I was always eager to jump back into the fray and try again.

Like other soulslikes, Death Howl has a checkpoint system that allows you to restore health but respawns every foe you’ve defeated up until that point. As mentioned earlier, foes drop Death Howls that can craft cards or be put towards Teardrops that unlock new skills. Die in combat, though, and all your hard-earned Death Howls will be dropped at the location of your demise, and you’ll have to return to the scene of the crime to pick them back up. If combat proves too difficult for you, or you can’t progress past certain encounters, you can choose to grind easier encounters, stock up on Death Howls, and then use them to unlock better cards and more skills that will assist you in your next fight.

These skills can be unlocked in each region’s skill tree. Though they’re all separate from one another, there’s quite a bit of overlap between realms. Some skills allow you to charge an ultimate ability, which varies in effect depending on the realm. In one realm, for example, your ultimate increases the damage you deal in a turn, while in another, it deals damage to all enemies in a row.

In between combat encounters, you’ll navigate the various spirit realms and their harrowing landscapes. Death Howl‘s environmental design is simultaneously creepy and breathtakingly atmospheric, with giant forests filled with poisonous mushrooms, corpse-filled crevasses, and ghouls of Ro’s regrets. Visually, the spirit world may seem straightforward at first glance—but make no mistake: it’s full of secrets, and those who pay close attention to their surroundings will be rewarded with hidden maps and extra resources. You’ll also meet non-hostile characters who will assist you on your journey if you first solve their problems. These side quests add a layer of intrigue to the worldbuilding and help the spirit realm feel truly alive.

I played Death Howl on both my gaming laptop and my Steam Deck, and it ran excellently on both—though, I’ll admit, there were times when I couldn’t properly select cards or menu navigation was wonky, and I’d have to switch back to my mouse or touch screen to bypass the issue. These problems were few and far between, and they by no means disrupted my overall positive experience with the game.

All in all, Death Howl is a fantastic representation of both the deckbuilding and soulslike genres. The gameplay will teach you a few lessons, but the experience will be well worth your patience.