Screenshots & trailers
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (Metacritic) | – | – | 0 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 86% | 79 | 1000 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | – | 0 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 83% | 77 | 29 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 84 reviews sampled · 72 total reviews in window · weighted 34 up / 6.9 down · computed 2h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (12)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 80
“Death and Taxes offers an entertaining look at how bureaucracy works in the afterlife. The combination of simulation and visual novel elements blends well with the game’s attractive graphics, pleasant music, and witty dialogue. It’s just a shame that the mechanical nature of the gameplay carries over into the story, and unless you’re willing to thoroughly explore every detail, the game will likely start to feel repetitive pretty soon. Your first playthrough will be great, the second maybe even better, but any subsequent ones will probably be just for the achievements or alternate endings.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“If you want a story driven game that makes you question everything you know and think about yourself . If you want something with gameplay that isn’t too hard and that you can relax with, get this game. If you want something that narratively challenges you while respecting you as a person, then get this game. If you want a bang for your buck and one of the most underrated gaming experiences this year then please, for the love of god, get this damn game.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“Despite looking like a management-style game and bearing many of the signature elements of such a game, the goal isn’t necessarily to follow the rules. In fact, there isn’t really a set “goal” that you’re aiming for, as bad endings can be every bit as amusing as good ones, and you’re mostly figuring out how much you can get away with before experimenting with killing and sparing people based on coin flips, the voice of Grim’s conscience that sometimes confronts you in the mirror, and whatever capricious whims strike when reading a short synopsis of a person’s life. There aren’t any bad decisions, after all: just ones that can accidentally wipe out the human race.”
read full review ↗ - 80
- 70
“Good storytelling and voice acting is matched with colorful characters and nice visuals but the gameplay is very lacking in the fun department.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“As Death and Taxes is quite a short game its definitely worth your while to play through the game a few times to make the most of it and its different endings. I found the game to be enjoyable and funny. On my second play through I made different choices and got a completely different ending. While playing as the Grim Repear and dealing out death to unsuspecting humans may not be to everyones taste, Death and Taxes is a sarcastic, humorous take on a mundane office job with a twist!”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Death and Taxes is a short, fun game with plenty of replay value and enough challenge to keep you reincarnating a few times over.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Death and Taxes is a pleasant way to spend an afternoon or two discovering the various ways your actions and choices can impact the world and find an outcome.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Death and Taxes is a puzzle game where you play as a newly spawned Grim Reaper. Set in an office building we are given the task of deciding who lives and more importantly who dies, through the admin of quite a lot of paper work. With a new quota of who lives and dies being set each day we can choose to either ignore these or follow them dutifully. However there are consequences…”
read full review ↗ - 75
“It's definitely a worthwhile game, especially if you're a fan of bureaucracy simulators. If you get stimulation from organizing, considering, and processing. Entrepreneurial pirate aside, the game is well written and delivered. The soundtrack is outstanding, the atmosphere is just so, and the replay value is nice. I'm not sure I'll be exhuming it for another playthrough anytime soon, but it was a decent experience before it was put to rest.”
read full review ↗ - 100
“Death and Taxes has so much more going for it than I’ve even been able to discuss. The art style is fantastic, the voice acting is perfection, the music is brilliant, and the mechanic is sure to delight any Papers, Please fans. But what really, really stuck with me was not only how it dove deeply into existentialism in an entertaining way that didn’t get mired in the macabre, but how it quietly, so subtle, you could miss it, elevated the feel right back up at the end, aligning morals back to a human scale and setting the expectation and desire to do better.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Game with a simple approach and gameplay, with a fun 2D art and an immersive soundtrack that make us reflect on our moral compass and the reality of the butterfly effect.”
read full review ↗
Gaming Professors
Unboxed
Killa Penguin
Games Freezer
Bazimag
LadiesGamers.com
TechRaptor
Gaming Fyx
Rapid Reviews UK
Destructoid
Hey Poor Player
NaviGamesPatch history
- Patch Update + CraftCraft Bundle!Jun 9, 2025
- Fixes, Changes and News!Jul 20, 2022
- Version 1.2.27 HotfixNov 10, 2021
- Hotfix 1.2.13 + More Cool Fanart!Jun 12, 2021
- 1.2.12 - Piglet Hotfix & Fanart Showcase!May 13, 2021
- Hotfix ver. 1.2.7Feb 11, 2021
- Update ver. [1.2.5] & Last Days of Sale!Nov 14, 2020
- HALLOWEEN UPDATE RELEASED! [+HOTFIX 1.2.4]Oct 29, 2020
- Halloween Update Coming 29th October!Oct 21, 2020
- Summer Update & Sale Time!Jun 25, 2020
- Development Update 12: The First WeekFeb 26, 2020
- Development Update 11: My Personal Dream Is Coming True: The ReleaseFeb 20, 2020significant · resets scoring window
- Development Update 5: Happy New Year!Jan 7, 2020
- Development Update 4: Writing (THE GRIND)Dec 20, 2019
- Development Update 3: How to name an Indie Game?Dec 13, 2019significant · resets scoring window
- Development Update 2Dec 4, 2019
- Development Update 1Nov 27, 2019