Life Goes On Demo

Video games treat death pretty lightly on a regular basis, given the fact that you can always respawn to the last checkpoint or reload a previous save and everything is suddenly OK. However, it’s usually a good thing to avoid dying too often, because it breaks the experience and you may get too frustrated to go on. On the other hand, it could be possible to approach the concept of death from a different angle as well.

Life Goes On is an arcade platformer that allows you to laugh in the face of death and even welcome it, because it happens to be the key gameplay mechanic. Hence, it is impossible to pass the levels without dying at least a couple of times, because the traps are designed in such a way as to require a pile of corpses to be overcome. Naturally, everything is coated with a thick coat of humor, otherwise the idea would be pretty sickening.

You play as a nondescript knight ready to explore dangerous dungeons at the cost of his life, which is just as well, because many lives are needed to reach the holy grail waiting at the end of each stage. Each lifeless body gets left behind, and you have the opportunity to step on it in order to avoid spikes, or even use more of them as a ladder to reach higher platforms.

The level design is quite ingenious most of the time, in the sense that you need to really think about a strategy before you begin your approach. In some cases, the solution requires a succession of rapid actions, because the environment keeps changing from second to second. Other times, bodies need to be used in order to press buttons and unlock the way further, which is indeed a funny take on the companion cube from Portal.

As far as the technical aspects are concerned, the game uses a three-dimensional graphics engine, but the perspective is locked in the classic 2D view. It certainly looks nice, and the physics engine feels pretty convincing, especially during the puzzles that require a bit of environment manipulation. To top things off, a brilliant soundtrack keeps you company throughout the adventure.

All things considered, Life Goes On has managed to turn the old and rusty platformer genre into an exciting prospect again, thanks to all the ingenious new mechanics and ideas. Hence, if you are not afraid to die and you enjoy a bit of dark humor in your video games, this is a perfect solution.