Drawn to Death turns a teenager’s notebook into a four-player arena, and then asks you to take it seriously. The game launched in 2017 on PlayStation 4, developed by The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency with San Diego Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was conceptualized by David Jaffe, the creator of God of War, and it was the studio’s first and last game.
Trailer, via PlayStation.
A Lizard That Doubles as a Flamethrower
The premise is the best thing about it. Every level, character and weapon in Drawn to Death comes out of the imagination of a high school kid, and the whole game takes place inside the pages of that notebook. The visual style is hand-drawn to match, so sketched characters drop into sketched environments. The tone is juvenile on purpose. One weapon is a lizard that doubles as a flamethrower, and a power-up summons the child’s hand into the world to interfere with the fight.
That is a real idea, not a reskin. The arenas carry secrets to turn against other players, a habit Jaffe built in the Twisted Metal series. Each character has its own behaviors, passive tendencies, buffs and special attacks. The action is fast and frantic, with sprinting, double-jumping and quick climbs to high vantage points.
Skill Should Be the Only Determining Factor
Jaffe was clear about progression. He said skill should be the only determining factor, and that a veteran should win through map knowledge and muscle memory, never through better weapons. On paper this is the right call for an arena shooter. In practice, a multiplayer-only game lives or dies on how many people are playing it, and Drawn to Death never found enough of them.
| Element | What Drawn to Death offers |
|---|---|
| Setting | Inside a teenager’s notebook |
| Visual style | Hand-drawn |
| Modes | Multiplayer only, four players |
| Perspective | Third person |
| Weapons | Sketched, including a lizard flamethrower |
| Progression | None; skill decides |
Key facts
– Released: 2017
– Platform: PlayStation 4
– Developer: The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency, San Diego Studio
– Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
– Critic aggregate: 6.0/10 across 9 outlets
– Multiplayer: four players
– Servers closed: March 25, 2019
– Studio shut down: 2018
The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency closed in 2018, making Drawn to Death its only game. Sony announced the servers would close on March 25, 2019, which rendered it unplayable.
That ending is the story here. A multiplayer-only shooter with no single-player mode and no progression system has nothing to fall back on once the lobby empties. The notebook idea deserved better than a game that could not survive its own studio. The 6.0/10 is fair: a strong concept, a fast and tactical arena, and a business model that guaranteed it would not last.
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