Death's Gambit

Death's Gambit: Afterlife is a 2D soulslike Metroidvania and action RPG for PC, expanding the original Death's Gambit with a larger world, reworked combat, additional bosses, new weapons, and deeper character customization. The current Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG storefront name is Death's Gambit: Afterlife; the original Death's Gambit is now the legacy version rather than the main PC listing.

Combat, exploration, and the road through Siradon

You play as Sorun, an agent bound to Death and sent into the hostile realm of Siradon. The adventure uses a side-scrolling 2D perspective with interconnected areas, ability-gated routes, hidden rooms, platforming challenges, and boss arenas. Progress is not built around a strictly linear sequence, so exploration and combat decisions often determine which region or encounter you tackle next.

Moment-to-moment play combines melee attacks, ranged options, defensive timing, movement abilities, and weapon skills. Enemies are dangerous enough that spacing matters, while boss fights are built around recognizing attack patterns, learning tells, and finding the openings that make each encounter manageable. Death is part of the structure, but the game also gives you room to improve your build, equipment, and understanding of the world between attempts.

The Metroidvania layer becomes more important as Sorun acquires movement upgrades and combat abilities. These tools open previously inaccessible paths and turn familiar areas into useful revisits rather than disposable stages. Players who want a darker alternative to movement-focused exploration can compare its combat-heavy structure with gothic soulslike Metroidvanias such as The Last Faith.

Classes, talents, weapons, and build flexibility

Character creation begins with seven playable classes. A class establishes starting statistics, equipment, and class-specific mechanics, but it does not permanently lock Sorun to one weapon category. You can experiment with different weapons and combine progression choices to create a character that fits your preferred range, speed, defense, or ability usage.

The expanded edition adds class-specific talent trees and more than 100 talents across the broader progression system. Talents influence how a build generates or spends resources and can push the same class toward very different combat roles. This makes early choices meaningful without making the initial class selection irreversible in the way a traditional fixed-class RPG might.

Equipment variety includes longswords, bows, scythes, halberds, and other weapon types, with abilities tied closely to how each weapon is used. Crafting also supports the progression loop: materials and unwanted equipment can be scavenged, hunted, or dismantled to create useful items. The result is a system that rewards testing different loadouts instead of treating every weapon as a simple damage upgrade.

Boss mastery and post-game challenges

Bosses are the central tests of Death's Gambit: Afterlife. The expanded game presents 20 major bosses and legendary creatures, with encounters that emphasize different combinations of timing, movement, positioning, and environmental awareness. Defeating a boss is not always the end of the challenge, because many encounters can be revisited in Heroic Mode.

Heroic versions introduce more demanding patterns, additional abilities, and stronger rewards. They function as a separate mastery layer for players who want to learn an encounter beyond its standard solution. The game also includes New Game Plus, with new enemy variants and modifiers that change how a repeat journey through Siradon plays.

For players who prefer concentrated challenges, the Ashes of Vados content adds a Boss Rush mode, a wave-based Horde mode, and the Halls of Cruelty platforming challenge. Its optional modifiers include randomized item pickups, forced heroic bosses, equipment loss on death through Madness Mode, and surprise encounters associated with Fink Mode.

What the current edition includes

Afterlife is the expanded and reworked version of the original game rather than a separate unrelated sequel. It adds 10 new levels to the original world, brings the total to more than 20 levels, and includes over 30 weapons, additional bosses, expanded talents, movement changes, combat revisions, crafting, alternate endings, and New Game Plus.

The base Afterlife package is a paid single-player game. Ashes of Vados is separate paid downloadable content on the current storefront listings. It functions as an epilogue and adds the Ash boss encounter, the Halls of Cruelty, Horde mode, Boss Rush, extra modifiers, and new rewards. Buyers should distinguish the standard Afterlife listing from the Deluxe Edition, which bundles the base game and Ashes of Vados.

There is no live-service progression model or competitive multiplayer structure. The replay value comes from alternate endings, class experimentation, heroic boss rematches, optional challenges, and New Game Plus modifiers rather than an online season system.

Who should play Death's Gambit: Afterlife?

Afterlife is aimed at PC players who want a demanding 2D action game with RPG progression, interconnected exploration, and boss encounters that reward practice. It is a strong fit if you enjoy changing builds, searching for ability-gated secrets, and revisiting difficult fights with better knowledge rather than relying on a conventional difficulty slider.

It is less suitable for players who want a relaxed platformer, a co-op campaign, or a purely reflex-driven arcade game with minimal character management. The game expects attention to equipment, talents, resource use, and route choices. Its pixel-art presentation and dark fantasy setting also place atmosphere and world mystery alongside the mechanical challenge.

Those who prefer repeated runs and constantly changing layouts may find a different kind of replay loop in fast 2D roguelite action-platformers like Dead Cells. Afterlife instead uses a persistent, authored world where progress is primarily tied to exploration, equipment, bosses, and unlockable movement abilities.

PC features, input, and localization

The PC release is available through Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG. Steam lists single-player support, achievements, trading cards, Family Sharing, Remote Play on TV, and controller support. GOG identifies its version as DRM-free and states that no activation or online connection is required to play, while the Epic listing presents the game as a single-player PC title.

English is the supported full-audio language. Text and interface localization covers English, French, Italian, German, Brazilian Portuguese, Latin American Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Turkish. No online co-op, split-screen mode, dedicated server tool, or mod-support feature is listed on the current PC storefront pages.

The game is a practical choice for players who prefer controller-based 2D combat, but the important PC distinction is storefront flexibility rather than a large collection of platform-exclusive features. Players looking for another dark, combat-oriented exploration game can also consider soulslike Metroidvania combat in GRIME II, although Afterlife places more emphasis on classes, talents, bosses, and alternate outcomes.

Death's Gambit: Afterlife FAQ

Is Death's Gambit still called Death's Gambit on PC?

The current PC storefront name is Death's Gambit: Afterlife. It is the expanded edition of the original Death's Gambit, which is now treated as the legacy version on the main Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG listings.

Is Ashes of Vados included with Afterlife?

Not in the standard base-game listing. Ashes of Vados is separate paid DLC, although the Deluxe Edition bundles it with Death's Gambit: Afterlife.

Does Death's Gambit: Afterlife have multiplayer or co-op?

No. The current PC listings identify Afterlife as a single-player game. Steam's Remote Play on TV feature does not change the game's underlying single-player design.

How many classes are available?

Afterlife offers seven classes. Classes affect starting attributes, equipment, and unique mechanics, while the broader talent and weapon systems allow substantial build experimentation.

What makes Heroic Mode different?

Heroic Mode provides harder rematches for defeated bosses. These versions use more demanding encounters, including additional abilities and stronger rewards, so they are designed as optional mastery challenges rather than mandatory replacements for every normal fight.

Does the PC version support English voice acting?

Yes. English is listed for full audio. The other supported languages provide interface and subtitle localization rather than additional full-audio tracks.