Death Howl is one of those games where simplicity acts as a veil for great detail. At first glance, the open-world Soulslike deckbuilder looks straightforward. Travel through the world, fight spirits, and complete quests along the way. However, like any good Soulslike, the environment is dynamic, setting a tone you don’t want to underestimate.
I didn’t have any expectations coming into the game. There wasn’t a lot of information provided by its Denmark-based developer, The Outer Zone (the one interview I read I’d only found after finishing the game). That said, I knew the game was about grief, and its horror elements intrigued me. The PC version launched back in December 2025, but I didn’t watch any gameplay beyond a trailer.
A lot of Soulslike games are hard just for the sake of it. Yet, Death Howl approaches difficulty in a way that’s strategically deliberate. Its combat demands patience but is ultimately rewarding, wrapped up in a beautiful story about learning to heal from life’s most challenging experiences. There were definitely some frustrating technical issues in my 50+ hour playthrough, but overall, Death Howl succeeds in its mission, encouraging power and perseverance over pain.
Journey to the Spirit World
The first few moments in Death Howl sent me spiraling back to my NES days. There weren’t any voiceovers to guide me or indicators to tell me where to go; I was left alone to figure things out.
At its core, Death Howl is a story about a mother’s grief as she navigates the loss of her son — and fights to bring him back. Rattled by the events leading up to his death, she forces herself into a spiritual plane housing the souls of the afterlife. Early on, it’s revealed that her father was a shaman. Without giving too much away, he faced his own challenges, which made him lose himself before he had a chance to pass on his skills. As Ro, you’ll unravel a world that is as insidious as it is tranquil, as defined by the actions of its inhabitants.
Throughout the game, you’ll travel to four different realms, much like The Legend of Zelda, where you’ll discover new quests, items, NPCs, and bosses. Each area has a great spirit that has become corrupted and must be defeated. The spirits who call the world home range from animals (like birds) to abstract, nature-spawned creatures (like a talking vine).
Despite being a newcomer, it becomes clear immediately that the spirit world has changed for the worse since Ro’s arrival. Monsters are more abundant, and Nantook, a talking moose who serves as the first NPC you meet, warns you to be careful.
Embracing a Shaman’s Powers
Death Howl’s deckbuilding and Soulslike elements tie back to Ro’s experiences, specifically her ability to hunt and trap. In turn-based battles, you’ll navigate an isometric grid, a la Into the Breach or February’s Mewgenics. Your initial kit includes movement, close and ranged attacks, defense, and counterattacks. Unique to Death Howl, however, is the changing variability of your deck based on which region you’re fighting in. Each realm equips you with a unique deck, which you build up by defeating monsters or collecting plants, gems, and items scattered about the environment.
There are five decks in total, with your initial deck functioning as a sort of “base deck.” Each deck must have between 15 and 20 cards — a good limiting factor that keeps the game challenging. Assigned to each card is a mana number, representing how much energy it takes to complete that action. Beyond your decks, you also have various equippable Totems, which provide effects like increased damage and specific boons upon enemy death.
Combat itself is straightforward. You start with five mana circles — which can be spent on either movement or actions — and five cards from the deck. Once you complete your turn, the enemy goes next, using the same set of options. When you defeat an enemy, you receive a “Death Howl,” which can be spent either to upgrade cards or at checkpoints called Sacred Groves (think Dark Souls’ bonfires). When spent at a grove, you’ll acquire “Crimson Tears,” which upgrade Ro’s overall combat prowess and provide access to special cards called Spirit Cards.
Fighting with Ro feels like playing a game of chess, and requires multitudes of patience. With each encounter, you must understand how your opponent attacks and anticipate their next move, all while learning the ins and outs of your ever-evolving deck. There is no guidance on how to deckbuild, but each region has unique properties that make surviving a little easier. Likewise, applying the right combination of Totems will make life significantly easier.
Death Howl’s combat loop is like any other Soulslike: Learn enemy movesets and upgrade your skills (cards, decks, Totems, etc.) until you can dominate a territory and move on to the boss fight. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself stuck on fights for long periods of time; it’s an indicator you need to fine-tune your strategy and reallocate resources. Death Howl is really well balanced in its various mechanics, and the synergy of a good deck feels amazing as you breeze through enemies and realms.
Loving the Journey, Despite the Challenge
What’s so compelling about Death Howl is how well its various systems work to slowly reveal its story. The music is cheerfully symphonic in moments of harmony, yet creepily ambient in zones filled with terror. These shifts can happen within moments of each other, depending on how you choose to explore each zone. Dialogue is sharply written and does a great job of telling the story from a limited perspective. Everything we learn about the world is through Ro’s eyes — and through the memories she recalls on her quest — which leaves room for bias and interpretation.
The game’s “antagonist” is its narrator, a nameless being that regularly recounts Ro’s emotions and questions her about her memories. Their text bleeds into the experience with a thick red color, threatening Ro without needing to take any action on screen. It’s an effective vehicle for storytelling — one that kept me hooked throughout Death Howl’s lengthy campaign.
Side quests scattered throughout each realm provide new cards and Totems, as well as information about the world. Each new character introduced paints a fuller picture of the environment, and there’s a constant sense of wonder when engaging with them. Some of the best NPC exchanges come through these interactions, and I cannot recommend them more highly.
Nevertheless, Death Howl isn’t without technical challenges, at least on console. One of the game-breaking bugs I found involved enemies dying after Ro sets a campfire. In certain instances, these foes would simply die, and combat would continue as intended. Unfortunately, in other scenarios, the game would freeze. I lost many hours of progress having to reset these fights and start tough encounters all over again.
Final Thoughts: A Tale of Healing Worth Exploring
Death Howl provides healing to one of life’s most challenging experiences: the death of a close loved one. As Ro physically fights through this world, defeating monsters to save her son, many of her most important battles are emotional, as she wrestles with grief. The hard truth of emotional experiences is that they ground us. These are the battles no one usually sees — and the ones we see Ro experience alone, in an unfamiliar environment.
The beauty of this game is that the spectre of death always looms near, keeping an open dialogue about this topic we often avoid. We see this in the gameplay itself, as while there are certainly challenging encounters, you can always walk away from fights you’ve lost and return later to collect your “howls.” After all, through loss, we gain experience. Ultimately, the cycle of life is more about understanding and overcoming challenges than holding on to rewards.
While Death Howl leans heavily into its Soulslike difficulty, its chess-like tactics allow for countless possibilities. I logged about 56 hours completing quests and exploring the world, and I’m just short of that platinum trophy. You better believe I’ll be back to finish it and revel in the spirited strangeness of another world.
Score: 9.0/10
Death Howl, developed by The Outer Zone and published by 11 bit studios, was first released on December 9, 2025, for PC. It later released on February 19, 2026, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch. MRSP: $19.99. Version reviewed: PS5.
Disclaimer: A review code was provided by the publisher.
Vaughn Hunt is writer who has loved video games since he picked up a controller. His parents wouldn't let him buy swords as a child (he wanted the real ones) so he started writing, reading, and playing video games about them. A historian at heart, you'll often find him deep into a rabbit hole of culture, comics, or music.
