Death by Game Show is a really weird strategy game now on Linux, some thoughts

I love strategy games, so I just had to give the totally weird looking Death by Game Show a go. My PR people sent over a key so I could check it out.

About the game (Official)
In the 26th century, humanity has become utterly and irreversibly stupid, caught in a 21st century social media world loop. A lead-footed tub of goo by the name of U.H. Wutt demonstrates the special powers to read and react which is problematic with the worlds droid overlords. Because of it, U.H Wutt has been sentenced to Death by Game Show.

One of the silliest game descriptions I've ever read, and the game is just as crazy as it sounds. The game is inspired by the movie Idiocracy, pop culture, and game developer Oointah’s strange sense of humour.

My thoughts
I've been testing it with both the Steam Controller and Mouse, and I'm not sure which method I prefer. I very much like to sit back and chill with the controller, but I'm finding it hard to remember all the buttons I need for Death by Game Show.

I think the Steam Controller config for it needs a little bit of work for the right touch pad, as it feels terrible to control U.H Wutt's grabber and place buildings. I figured out what it was eventually, the right pad by default uses the mouse like joystick mode for this game, which is terrible. Switch it to joystick move and it's much better to the point of actually being enjoyable. Sadly though, the game needs the mouse for some minor parts, like rewards and unlocks as you progress. I had no idea what they were, and I realised I was supposed to hover the mouse over to read what they were. For a game that advertises full controller support, that annoys me. I found no way to hover over stuff like that.

The above issue is especially annoying since buildings are a limited resource you only acquire through certain levels, so you may need to go back and grind specific levels with a reward wheel option at times to recover some. I didn't realise this as it wasn't explained, so I experimented and lost all my buildings early on by this experimenting.

Gameplay
You run around as U.H Wutt collecting coins as you destroy bots and enemy buildings, place buildings and order in bots. It's pretty standard strategy stuff when you get down to it, but the presentation is brilliant. The round planet play-area makes it a more unique experience too.

It's weird, the gameplay is a mix of general strategy and tower defence, but you can pause it at any moment to go into a strategic view. In the strategic view you can order in bots and have a look around to see what you're dealing with, so you can make sure you order in the right bot to deal with what's heading your way. I do feel like that feature has made it a little easy at times though, but I imagine it's essential in later levels.

Collecting coins can be a challenge, as they sink through the world so you need to keep zooming out to make sure you didn't miss any, but luckily your grabber can go through the ground to a certain distance. You can't grab a coin past an enemy bot either, so you need to get rid of them quickly before the coin sinks too far.

The addition of making your own challenging levels with their editor will be fun to see what people cook up.

The developers are responding to feedback and will be tweaking the game over time too. They responded to my issues, and I hope to see them sorted in the first patch.

Final thoughts: I hope they make the game a bit easier to understand, and explain things like buildings being a limited resource like they are. I like it, but it doesn't explain enough early on which causes frustration.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.