The Worst Grim Reaper is a game developed by Moon Moon Moon that I was certainly interested in checking out at Play NYC 2018. The game is simply the tale of the grim reaper Sebastian and his sapient lantern Lux. Sebastian is pretty bad at his job, and the opening cutscene shows that he has begun his day by oversleeping so much that he is already three souls behind his quota. (A convention-goer and game journalist sympathizes with the dangers of oversleeping.)
The Worst Grim Reaper opens with a short bit of dialogue between Sebastian and Lux. You're then deposited into a small section of a town where you're meant to collect the soul of a recently-departed resident. The deceased had left their stereo on blast, which rather annoyed the downstairs neighbor who was currently blocking their door.
A simple puzzle was presented where you would have to find the neighbor's cat in order to get them to leave and be able to enter the building yourself. This was the general idea of the early portion of the game - solve one or more puzzles to be able to reap the souls. Unfortunately, the puzzle was not yet functional and the demo was otherwise quite barebones in terms of gameplay.
I took a bit of time to talk to the developers about the game itself. The first portion of The Worst Grim Reaper will focus on collecting three souls in different parts of town. The second part will slightly shift the tone of the game, focusing on a young child and a decision for the player to make. Overall, the game will have a heavy narrative focus, but that's not to say that it will be completely devoid of gameplay. The "collect souls by solving puzzles" portion is also considered by the developers as an avenue for potential post-launch content for players to enjoy.
From the little bit of the game that I did see, The Worst Grim Reaper has adorable art, good writing, and an interesting concept for a plot. However, it is still very early in development and it remains to be seen how Moon Moon Moon will execute their idea. I'm looking forward to seeing how The Worst Grim Reaper turns out. You can keep up with the developers by following them on Twitter (along with the game's official account) and checking the game's website.
The screenshots in this article were provided by the developer upon my request.
What do you think of The Worst Grim Reaper? Does the concept of a grim reaper who is really bad at his job appeal to you? Let us know in the comments below! Check out what else we saw at Play NYC by going to our Play NYC 2018 Coverage Hub.
