Introduction

Another roguelike…joy. Don’t hate me if I don’t jump up and dance when I hear another roguelike has been released into the gaming wild. There are so many that I can’t help but compare them to either Hades, Dead Cells, or The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. When we here at SunsetNerdVerse got a copy of R.I.P.: Reincarnation Insurance Program and I read what it was, I did sigh a bit. Luckily, I gave R.I.P.: Reincarnation Insurance Program a chance, and I won’t lie folks, this is what I expected. Is R.I.P.: Reincarnation Insurance Program yet another roguelike that is just average at best, or something that could put it a step above the rest? We find out in our R.I.P.: Reincarnation Insurance Program review! Thanks to developer WarmCore Studio for the review copy!

Gameplay

R.I.P.: Reincarnation Insurance Program is a top down twin stick shooter roguelike with an added gameplay concept: Diablo loot drops! That’s right, R.I.P.: Reincarnation Insurance Program has random equipment drops and that makes it quite a different beast than other games. Now with that out of the way, here’s what to expect when you dive into the shoes of a zombie apocalypse’s fighter.

Run, dodge, and kill hordes of enemies in R.I.P.: Reincarnation Insurance Program as a survivor who can die and be brought back to life. As you kill zombies and various baddies, you’ll level up and, as most roguelikes, you gain different abilities to boost your attack such as blades that cover your character or random shots that inflict freeze. What boosts you get can change a run for the best or make it even harder. Where R.I.P.: Reincarnation Insurance Program changes things up is adding random equipment drops that will enhance your character even further. You can sell the excessive, unneeded equipment or use it on other characters you can unlock as you progress further in. You can definitely feel the equipment advancements make your character stronger and more capable, and there’s also a skill tree that every character can add to as they level up, giving them permanent enhancements.

Where R.I.P.: Reincarnation Insurance Program loses me is it does a very poor job explaining how a lot of the game works aside from the combat. The equipment specs, the skill tree, and even the fact that there were multiple characters were all things I had to go out of my way to find. Maybe that is what developer WarmCore Studio was aiming for, but I would have liked a bit more explanation or a better tutorial.

Another issue is unfortunately what most roguelike games have…repetitive gameplay. Yeah, shooting and dodging on a simple map is fun…for a short duration. When I’m repeating it over and over or playing for long sessions, it becomes tedious. The maps in R.I.P.: Reincarnation Insurance Program are very plain. There’s very little going on, aside from the hundreds of enemies swarming you, and even when you change maps, they all just look the same albeit with different backgrounds. I really always warn people to play games like R.I.P.: Reincarnation Insurance Program in short durations for maximum enjoyment.

Graphics

In my opinion, R.I.P.: Reincarnation Insurance Program visually is middle ground. The character designs are very well detailed and feel like effort was put into them. Even the menus, aside from the generic main menu design, have some fine design choices. Where R.I.P.: Reincarnation Insurance Program doesn’t wow me is the below average settings. The various arenas lack a lot of details and most maps are just color palette swaps of one another. The swamp looks like one, sure, but the sand level just looks like the swamp…with sand. I don’t think most will focus on the map when outgunning massive armies of baddies, but when you do look…you’ll see the game doesn’t offer much visual flair…just enough to impress you but also make you want more.

Sound

The OST in R.I.P.: Reincarnation Insurance Program is pretty good. The tracks do change with each level and there is some voiced dialogue occasionally. I do wish there was some more voiced dialogue aside from the threat detection comments and stage information portions, but even the few dialogue sequences are good.

Story

There’s very little story in R.I.P.: Reincarnation Insurance Program that is thrust out to you. If you talk to NPCs and pay attention, you can observe that the world was taken over by a deadly virus and led to zombies and other monstrous beings plaguing the land. Your character was given the ability to combat the undead horde and if they should die, be resurrected to try again. Again, not the most original story, but it gives you enough drive to fight.

Overall Impression

R.I.P.: Reincarnation Insurance Program surprised me. I was about to knock off this game as yet another typical roguelike that doesn’t reinvent the formula, but there are actually some clever mechanics here, albeit some are more obvious than others. I think for how much R.I.P.: Reincarnation Insurance Program is worth, as of this review it is around $10 usually $14.99, this is quite a fun game with a lot to offer.

Conclusion

While not perfect, R.I.P.: Reincarnation Insurance Program does a lot that makes it quite an impressive roguelike compared to so many others like it. The added Diablo-esque themes and concepts make it a rather ambitious game that is fun and quite challenging. Plus, for the price, R.I.P.: Reincarnation Insurance Program is hard to say no to. There are a few gameplay elements that keep it from being as amazing as some of the popular ones, but R.I.P.: Reincarnation Insurance Program shows the developers really put some love into this game and it shows.