Death Howl – The Mother’s Burden

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• DEVELOPER: The Outer Zone
• PUBLISHER: 11 bit studios
• PLATFORMS: PC
• GENRE: Deck-builder / Turn-based
• RELEASE DATE: December 9, 2025
• STARTING PRICE: TBA
• REVIEWED VERSION: PC

Death Howl is a dark, tactical, card-based and story-driven game where you guide a grieving mother named Ro through a dangerous spirit world. After losing her child, Ro enters this world in the hope of bringing them back. The world she travels through is quiet, dangerous, and filled with spirits that react to her presence. The game mixes deck-building, grid-based combat, and a soulslike sense of risk, all tied together by Ro’s emotional journey. Each new region introduces different enemies, new cards, and new challenges, making every part of the world feel unpredictable.

Plenty of Combinations and Card Building

Since you’ll be visiting and exploring new areas all the time, you have to keep in mind that you can’t easily use the cards from an old area in a new one, because they will cost more to play. However, you do have special “realmless” cards that work everywhere. This also means each area has a different focus on deck builds, such as close-up fighting, long-range spells, poison, or defense and many, many more.

What really impressed me was the number of cards in the game. While it may not be as deep as a proper deck-builder, there is enough variety to let you create many different strategies. For example, I built a deck that used cards that discarded others to trigger powerful effects, like gaining a shield or extra damage. Later, in the snowy area, I created a new strategy focused on giving enemies weakness, making them take more damage from my attacks. You have many options for building your deck, and you’ll always find new ideas.

The game also features Totems, which grant special powers that significantly influence your overall strategy. These effects include, for example, gaining +1 damage at the start of the turn, receiving +2 shield at the beginning, or drawing a card from a selection of five options, among others. While Totems are designed to be combined with your deck build, I found the system quite underwhelming. They appear to be poorly balanced, as you rarely pick more than two or three, leaving the rest feeling ineffective. For instance, the Totem that allows you to select a card is highly useful, it’s arguably the best available, offering flexibility to acquire a card you might need immediately.

Battles in Death Howl occur on a grid, making positioning and energy management crucial tactical considerations. The enemies present a significant challenge, which is why I initially compared the experience to a Soulslike: you save your progress at checkpoints, but dying causes you to lose the Spirit Points earned from defeating enemies. These points are essential for crafting new cards and leveling up skills, and they must be spent alongside collected resources to create new cards.

Deeply Rewarding Experience If You Like Grinding

Skills are unique to each region, offering diverse tactical options such as allowing you to temporarily use a defeated enemy’s card or granting special passive and active abilities. Enemy variety includes normal ones, elite enemies, and bosses. What I found quite annoying is the sheer volume of enemies faced simultaneously, which significantly extends the gameplay duration. This often leads to frequent deaths and extensive grinding to acquire better cards. While some players might enjoy the sense of reward from finally conquering a difficult challenge, the time investment required to clear a single, often huge region can be a lot.

Furthermore, the rewards for exploring hidden areas, secret doors, and completing side quests are quite underwhelming. Receiving only a single skill point, some resources, or an occasional new card feels disappointing given the effort involved. However, what I genuinely enjoyed was the game’s tactical format. It’s highly satisfying figuring out how to position yourself and execute a plan to defeat each enemy. Death Howl is not an easy game. Enemies hit hard, and resting or healing often resets them, so you must repeat fights if you make mistakes.

Also, bosses are quite strong, each having large health pools and unique attack patterns, meaning you will likely need to repeat the encounter until you succeed. A great quality-of-life feature is the quick respawn system: upon death, you reappear instantly near the area where you fell, removing tedious travel time. Another strong element of Death Howl is the atmosphere since each region has its own tone and history. Ro’s journey is not just about beating enemies, but about moving through grief, remembering what she lost, and trying to find something meaningful in a world that feels broken.

The story is quite memorable, centered on the deep grief and desperation of a mother searching for her lost child. While this specific experience may not be universally relatable, the narrative is told with such emotional intensity that it truly sticks with you. The pixel graphics perfectly complement the game’s atmosphere, and every character you encounter is meaningful, adding distinct layers to the overall narrative.

Memorable Soulslike Deck-Builder

Death Howl is best suited for those who enjoy deep tactical battles, careful planning, and emotional stories. It is a good choice for players who like to experiment with different builds and who enjoy learning through challenge. It is not a good fit for you if you want simple gameplay and faster action. This is a game that rewards slow and tactical thinking.

In the end, this is not your typical deck-builder game as it does bring some soulslike elements, meaning it certainly won’t be easy to master. It may take time to learn and it may feel heavy, but if you’re ready for its challenges, it offers one of the most memorable and thoughtful experiences in recent years. It stands out because it dares to be quiet and demanding, and because it builds a world where every battle matters.

Review copy provided by the publisher