ahem

Meet the “trash-tier girl” Hazuki and witness her adventures as she starts her medical carreer in the most hilariously braindead way possible

Remember the themes of mortality in Persona 3, where death was depicted as a tragic yet inevitable phenomen, which every living person should come to terms with? Well, make it as absurd as possible and you get Hazuki Dies. This game is about an anime girl trying to survive in a world where everyone dies by exploding tacos, or getting mugged by a thuggish “promoter” sent by a fast food chain run by psychopats, or by getting bit by a mutant rat in sewers… And she is also trying to pay her tution bills by working in such an “explosiove” taco joint. What could possibly go wrong?

Through a series of insane events, Hazuki has to save her abusive boss which has only two days to live (according to a WebMD user medical practitioneer called John Smith). For that, she has to learn some healing magic and, more importantly, become stronger herself, because she is so frail she can’t survive even a single hit.

As such, the battle system here is more like a puzzle than a standard turn-based mechanic. You can move around or perform an attack, but each action takes some ticks on the timeline. When the enemy’s delay value become 0, it’s their turn. Your objective is to avoid getting closer to enemies and snipe them as effectively as possible through a rhythm-based QTE - because if you fail to one-shot them or keep the distance, you get the bonk. What a harsh world we live in.

I actually like this kind of dark humor, so I found myself giggling at the every “WOW YOU DIED” screen or Hazuki’s stupidly cute remark. Also, by the description above or anime graphics you might think this game is a typical Japanese kusoge, but it’s rather an American shitpost - the devs are from Guam and the amount of jokes about the American healthcare is as huge as the cost of ambulance.

As you can see, I’m pretty hyped for the release. Also, the music here slaps.

Links:

• Steam page (demo still available)
• Website
• Trailer
• OST on Bandcamp