Is Nearly Dead – Live And Let Die, Worth Playing? (2 / 10)

The Lowdown.

It Is A Spin Off Of A Failed Game.

I must preface this by saying it’s possible for a spin-off of an unsuccessful title to become more successful than the original product; however, this rare occurrence requires several main components to be perfectly aligned for it to happen.

1. A Large Development Team.
2. A Sufficient Development Budget.
3. Community Support.
4. A Passionate And Capable Lead Developer.
5. The Original Game Has A Passionate And Engaged Community.

Unfortunately, that is not the case with Nearly Dead – Live And Let Die for the following reasons:

1. Due to Nearly Dead failing to do well on Kickstarter and poor sales on Steam, the development team was slashed from six to three team members within a few months of launch.
2. As a result of low sales, the lead developer admits that he cannot sustain development and lacks the resources to support himself, let alone a team, without working on outside projects.
3. The backers of Nearly Dead feel they were cheated and are very unhappy with the arcade-style gameplay of Nearly Dead – Live And Let Die, which is nothing like the survival game they were promised (Nearly Dead); the fact development on Nearly Dead was suspended in favour of Nearly Dead – Live And Let Die, made them even less supportive of Mono Software Inc than they already were.
4. In a post on the Steam community hub for Nearly Dead, the lead developer spoke of his disillusionment with the project and his ongoing depression, going as far as to hint at considering “ending his life” when discussing how badly Nearly Dead performed.
5. Nearly Dead is entirely dead, with an average online user count of less than one player every 24 hours, meaning what little community that existed for Nearly Dead and its derivatives are long gone, and were not that large, to begin with.

Boring.

While  Nearly Dead – Live And Let Die works on a technical level and fighting off a horde is enjoyable in limited doses, the majority of the game isn’t very exciting and feels like it has been cobbled together from assets and code intended for another project, which is exactly what happened, with Nearly Dead – Live And Let Die being the last ditch attempt by developer Mono Software Inc to salvage something from their poorly performing Kickstarter & Steam Early Access title “Nearly Dead”.

Progression.

Nearly Dead – Live And Let Die has a huge skill tree full of interesting unlockables, however with it being intended as a multiplayer game, solo gameplay is lacking, and this, coupled with the fact almost no one is playing, means the massive skill tree more of a torturous grind-fest than anything remotely resembling a good time.

Cheat Menu.

The developers have left the developer menu active by default, and by pressing F11, players can grant themselves unlimited currency, which I discovered quite by accident when hitting F11 instead of F12 when taking a screenshot.

Throw-Away Weapons.

Instead of scavenging for weapons and ammo, players are required to craft or scavenge a new weapon once its clip is empty, meaning that a top-tier assault rifle can only fire 20-30 rounds before vanishing from the player’s inventory, destroying any feeling of immersion or achievement, and requiring the player craft or scavenge another weapon to continue the game.

Lack of Tutorials.

Nearly Dead – Live And Let Die does very little to let players know what is happening, with no tangible form of in-game tutorial or guide readily available.

While players will pick up the basics by trial and error, I feel that less experienced gamers will get frustrated quickly by how difficult Nearly Dead – Live And Let Die can be when played incorrectly and give up long before they discover the correct way to do things for themselves.

Terrible UI.

While I have seen some very basic UI in my time, It has been a very long time since I have seen a UI as bare bones and unattractive as the one in Nearly Dead – Live And Let Die, with it best being compared to the type of UI a total novice would use when creating their first Unity project as part of a “Learn Unity” tutorial.

Undisclosed Nudity.

Players can create nude male and female characters, which is uncommon for a game to do without warning users of such an option being present; that being said, the characters are very doll-like, and even when fully naked, nothing overtly explicit is shown.

Recycled Assets.

Nearly Dead – Live And Let Die is almost exclusively comprised of assets created for Nearly Dead, which results in locations that lack character and characters who look far too interesting for the mundane locations in which they find themselves.

Nearly Dead - Live And Let Die FAQ

Nearly Dead - Live And Let Die is a action video game developed and published by Mono Software, it was released on 24 Feb 2023 and retails for $6.99.

Platform Availability.

Nearly Dead - Live And Let Die is available exclusively on PC.

Are The Developers Active?

Nearly Dead – Live And Let Die remains in active development officially; however, without a drastic increase in sales or a new source of income, is likely to cease development before Q3 2023.

Is Nearly Dead - Live And Let Die Dead?

Nearly Dead – Live And Let Die is essentially dead, with a daily peak of just 22 players.

How Many People Play Nearly Dead - Live And Let Die?

Nearly Dead – Live And Let Die is estimated to have less than 100 active players in total, a number that appears to be decreasing by the day.

Is There Group Finding/Matchmaking Support?

Nearly Dead - Live And Let Die offers the following matchmaking options:

• ☑ Server Browser

What Peripherals Are Supported?

The following peripherals are officially supported:

• ☑ PC - Mouse and Keyboard.

Is There Any Mature Content?

Nearly Dead - Live And Let Die is rated unrated and contains:

• ☑ Gore
• ☑ Nudity
• ☑ Violence

Final Verdict.

Nearly Dead – Live And Let Die is a last-ditch attempt to save a failed Kickstarter project, and honestly, while it is not a bad attempt at making a viable product from a failed one, its chances of survival are no better than Nearly Dead, and as a result, I cannot recommend it.

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