Gesundheit

As far as original ideas go, they can sometimes impress through simplicity as well, because the feeling of playing, watching or hearing something new is always something special. The video games industry is filled with these kind of ideas, even if they sometimes remain quite hidden under the heavy load of triple A titles that come out every year.

Gesundheit is a simple adventure game that basically has you sneezing for survival, which is anything if not original. In order to integrate the simple act of sneezing into the gameplay and form a story around it, a lot of creativity must be involved, as well as quite the rich imagination. However, this does not mean that the plot has to make sense as well, since the game at hand certainly did not bother with that.

In essence, you play the role of a green piggy with a bit of an allergy problem, while his village is invaded by terrible monsters. Naturally, he stays inside while the invasion is going on and manages to avoid being eaten, but not for long, since he must leave the house and go out in search for food. Your job is to make sure that the piggy does not turn into dinner himself, by avoiding the monsters and luring them into traps.

As previously mentioned, the piggy has a few allergies that he must deal with, but they always manifest in the form of excessive sneezing. The act of sneezing brings forth a few less-than-pleasant bodily fluids as well, which, as you might have guessed, must be used to lure the enemies away. Buggers may be green and plenty disgusting, but they attract the monsters and there's no purpose in questioning mechanics of this sort.

Technical-wise, the game is almost completely hand-made, and it's not all about the code either. The graphics are made using colored pencils, the soundtrack is homemade and incredibly wacky, while the rest of the mechanics are basically invented specifically for the game as well. It may not win any prizes, but it is definitely artistic and it goes well with the general theme.

In the end, Gesundheit's purpose is to make you laugh as often as possible, a goal that's thoroughly achieved from the first seconds of the game. Moreover, the levels become increasingly more difficult and the monsters are not always as easy to fool as they may seem in the beginning.