Breath of Death VII: The Beginning: Reanimated brings a fresh coat of paint to a 2010 Xbox Live Indie Game title, but not much more

For many (including myself) the seventh generation of consoles was likely their first foray into digital games. For those that owned an Xbox 360, this might have even included Xbox Live Indie Games, a subsection of the Xbox Live Marketplace featuring smaller indie titles.

Breath of Death VII: The Beginning was one such title, priced at the equivalent of $1 and offering a parody RPG experience that you wouldn’t really find anywhere else on the 360. When I found out about Breath of Death VII: The Beginning: Reanimated it was a shock, since it’s been over 10 years since the game’s initial release — you can even still pick up the PC port in a bundle with Cthulhu Saves the World.

Unfortunately, while this new version of the game brings with it a fresh coat of paint and some minor changes, Breath of Death VII: The Beginning: Reanimated feels like an unnecessary re-release even with its low price point.

A Streamlined JRPG Adventure

Breath of Death VII: The Beginning: Reanimated doesn’t have too much of an overall plot, with it acting as more of a springboard for simple jokes — many of which referencing popular media at the time like Mass Effect. Set in the future after humanity is wiped out in a nuclear apocalypse, undead now roam the world. However, monsters have started to threaten this now peaceful land, and the party (sort of) ends up on a journey to deal with them.

I say sort of, because there’s never really that much agency to how things progress. Self-proclaimed hero Dem, a silent skeleton knight, just sort of picks up the rest of his party along the way as he meanders through the short 5 hour journey. It never really feels like there are any major plot points to worry about, but again that’s not exactly what the game is going for.

Instead, Breath of Death VII: The Beginning: Reanimated wants to focus more on humour. Most jokes are quick, though whether they land or not will depend on your affinity with older memes and franchises. Personally, while I can see why I had an okay time with the writing back in 2010, it’s not really my cup of tea nowadays.

A new look, same old gameplay

Presentation is where most of the main changes take place, with the visuals matching later Zeboyd Games titles. I don’t think it looks bad, especially with the enemy sprites that have unique death animations. But many of the areas are quite bland, lifeless in a way that I don’t think was intentional.

Ironically, I think visuals are something the original version might have actually done better. Breath of Death VII previously had a style more reminiscent of NES RPGs like Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy, with the simple style allowing it to lean more into nostalgia. Reanimated is more technically impressive, but ends up losing that in return.

It also clashes with the actual gameplay, which has changed very little since the Xbox Live Indie Games days. You explore a small world, buying new gear from towns and finding dungeons to clear for loot and experience. Everything works, but almost at a bare minimum level. There’s not much to break up the pattern of exploring and fighting, with only dialogue (that you might not enjoy) to keep you company.

Combat is something that really could have done with a few tweaks. They’re relatively standard old-school RPG battles, with most random ones beatable by spamming the basic attack command. They feel a little faster than before, but it still feels like it desperately needs an auto-battle or speed up option.

The few ways the game does try to be unique don’t actually matter much in the long run. The amount of random battles are capped in each area, though you’ll rarely actually hit this number (especially since there’s not much reason to re-explore dungeons.) You can also choose from two options on each level up, but again you’re mostly incentivised to just pick damage to make things go faster.

Breath of Death VII: The Beginning: Reanimated review – Final Thoughts

Breath of Death VII: The Beginning: Reanimated is a strange re-release, one that I assume mostly just exists as a passion project for the newly formed Shadow Layer Games. It’s cheap enough, but by that merit you can pick up the original for even less. Even as someone who has fond memories of the Xbox 360 digital library, this just didn’t make for a particularly enjoyable experience.

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Breath of Death VII: The Beginning: Reanimated was reviewed on PC via Steam using a code provided by the publisher.

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