You Died: But a Necromancer revived you

Gamers rarely back down from a challenge, especially if the concept is simple but the gameplay is demanding. You only need to take a look at the torturous Super Mario levels created by fans to understand that there’s no such thing as “too difficult” when it comes to platformers. However, the whole thing must have a purpose, otherwise there’s no point in bothering too much.

You Died: But a Necromancer revived you is a funny jam game with a very simple idea at its core, yet you’ll be aging a few days in mere minutes trying to pass the levels. In short, the goal is to navigate a series of mazes without falling into the spikes or touch any of the other traps, while also staying ahead of the self-destructing tiles that obliterate your way back.

Since this is a jam game, there is no story to worry about, although the name probably tells you everything you need to know. There are multiple characters to choose from, but the only difference between them is their appearance, because they play the same. You can never truly die, however, because a vile necromancer brings you back every time to keep torturing you.

The maze is only one tile thick, which means that any wrong step puts you right into the sea of spikes that surround the platforms. Death comes instantaneously, so there’s no going back. However, there are also various other traps you have to keep an eye out for, such as rotating saws, or bombs that periodically fly across the level at a quick pace. On top of that, the floor self-destructs behind you, so you always have to keep moving forward.

Although this is a jam game, which means that it was developed in a very short time and with limited resources, there are a few things that could be changed to make the experience more enjoyable. For starters, it’s very annoying that any death resets your entire progress, taking you back to the first level. Hence, it would be a lot nicer to replay the current level, because gamers might get too frustrated to go on after seeing the first two stages over and over again.

In the end, You Died: But a Necromancer revived you can be an engaging distraction if you are into hardcore arcade games. Hence, it would be nice to see a proper release sometime in the future.