Karoshi: Suicide Salaryman
Genre: Platform Puzzler
Platform: Browser (Flash)
Developed by: Jesse Venbrux
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The Scoop: Karoshi: Suicide Salaryman is the first Flash version of indie developer Jesse Venbrux’s morbidly amusing puzzle series. Gamers play as as a nameless, generic office worker, and the goal of each stage is to find a way to kill yourself.
The game gets a lot of attention for it’s suicide-centric premise, but that premise is really just an excuse to create puzzles that aren’t really that different than those found in most platform puzzlers. The only difference is instead of opening a route to the exit, you’re opening a route to a pit of spikes to throw yourself in. Fun! This means you’ll be pushing and pulling blocks to activate switches, making sure you’re in the right position when activating a switch, figuring out how to reach specific levers, etc.
Across the game’s 49 stages you’ll ultimately end up killing your salaryman protagonist only a handful of ways – touch an electrified block, run into a spike wall or spike pit, get splattered by a falling safe, or get hit with a flying bullet. This simplicity works in the game’s favor. When you start a new level, how you need to kill yourself is usually immediately apparent. If you see spikes but no other dangers, that’s your answer. The trick is then working through the puzzles to get your salaryman over to them. There are a few tricky exceptions later in the game that require outside-the-box thinking, but for most stages, a little logic is all you’ll need.
The kill-yourself theme leads to some amusing moments for longtime gamers, as videogame conventions are flipped on their head. During the game’s final bossfight, hearts are thrown at the player. When collecting one, the player actually gains a life, meaning they now have to be hit by the boss one more time in order to “win.”
(8 votes, average: 4.13 out of 5)
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Links:
Newgrounds Mirror
Kongregate Mirror
JayIsGames Review
Guide/Walkthrough
The Escapist Write-Up
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