Mix Dungeon Master with Lemmings, add a dash of Frankenberry, plus a whole lot of graphic, even though presented cartoonishly, gore and you have 4 Door Lemon’s, 101 Ways to Die, an indie developer’s first foray into the world of puzzle games. Known for their miniature sport and quiz games they have concocted a wild physics based puzzle game where the goal is to dismember, blow up, amputate, and grind up game characters with as much blood letting as possible.
The game shows very little restraint in the violence department but they have aimed to keep things from going over the line by making the subjects of these macabre mousetrap designs, nonhuman – Frankenstein like creatures – that are reminiscent of the Frankenberry creature from the breakfast cereal. You know the pink one that has the strawberry flavoured cereal which gives the milk a pale pink blood look? And what would such creatures in such a game as this be called? Why Splatts, of course.
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“Mix Dungeon Master with Lemmings, add a dash of Frankenberry, plus a whole lot of graphic, even though presented cartoonishly, gore…”
You are an assistant to a mad scientist and your goal is take these hapless Splatts and kill them in as many ways as possible – 101 ways if you have the needed imagination. The more complicated the mechanics you create for the kill the more points you earn. Splatts can be killed as easily as luring them with cakes and then dropping a boulder on them or spreading slippery goo over ramps and have them slide into a pit of spikes. More complicated deaths can be created using catapaults, fans, and harpoons to name a few tools.
Like Lemmings each level presents you with a goal but this time instead of making sure a certain number of Splatts live you need to make sure a certain number of them die. With a tool set you can plot and plan where the best or most inventive places to lay your implements of death and then release the hounds er Splatts. If you meet the target numbers you earn points and obtain more tools.
To add longevity and variety to the gameplay there are different stages of levels that require you devise new strategies. Additionally, there are different types of Splatts to make things more interesting and complicated. You got your slow, tougher Splatts and your faster, nimbler ones; each of which require you to rethink your best laid plans.
Despite 101 Ways successful implementation of a lighter tone this is not a game for the small ones. There is plenty of gore and blood and over time you cannot help but develop some empathy for the Splatts no matter how oblivious they remain to their impending doom. If you are a horror hound then 101 Ways To Die might pump some new life into your enjoyment of puzzle games.
101 Ways To Die is set to splatt its way to PC, Xbox One, and PS4 this March 22nd.
*** PC code provided by the publisher ***
