Deaths

Sometimes, not much is needed for a video game to catch you in its spell, especially if the gameplay mechanics have something unique about them. As such, even basic-looking platformers can kill a few hours of your day, as long as they keep you intrigued. Hence, it doesn’t take too much to design something addictive, but the initial idea must be pretty inviting to attract the necessary attention.

Deaths is all about death, as the title clearly implies. At its core, the game is a simple platformer in which you have to avoid a variety of traps and get to the end of the level, in order to move on to the next one. However, there’s something unique about it that makes the experience a tad different from the rest of the platformers out there, and it sparks curiosity in the players.

As such, the game retrieves that last fifty deaths from players all over the world and it places their bodies throughout the level you are currently playing. Thus, whenever you stumble upon body parts, you can be sure that there’s a deadly trap nearby. While this may seem like cheating, you should know that just because you are aware of a trap, that doesn’t make it easier to overcome it without dying yourself, as you’ll see while playing this game.

Everything is out there to kill you, including spikes, pits filled with spikes, flying spikes, and the more common falling spikes. Hence, you need to both move quickly and watch out for the next deadly thing waiting for you, which is easier said than done, given the fact that there’s no time to wait and analyze the situation.

Sometimes, using the corpses of the other players may be the only way to get past a particular section, although you can also use your own if you are willing to sacrifice yourself a few dozen times. There are no checkpoints, however, so you always have to replay the entire level if you happen to die, or if it’s your decision to die. Thankfully, the controls are very simple and responsive, so you only need to remember the required steps in order to get out alive. It’s all about repetition.

All things considered, Deaths is a really neat idea and a nice breath of fresh air in the genre. Unfortunately, this is merely a six-level adventure, which means that the entire thing is over before you know it. It’s still worth a try, however, if only to see whether you are comfortable using the suffering of other people for your personal gain.