[PC/MAC/LINUX/STEAMOS] Suicide Guy Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Linux OS, SteamOS

[Nighthawk]

Suicide Guy
Publisher: Chubby Pixel
Developer: Fabio Ferrara
Genre: Platforming / Puzzle
Release Dates: 14 Jul, 2017 (EU & NA)
Price: 4,99€ (Steam)




Suicide Guy is a game about killing yourself in a variety of ways by solving puzzles, the complexity of which increases with each level, ranging from simple solutions like jumping off a building to other more unique ways like getting eaten by a T-Rex or ending up in a volcano. The level design is an homage to many known video game franchises such as Super Mario or Portal, each level following a thematic, some of them being related to other video games while others have a more general appeal. You play as the Suicide Guy, who does not have a name, as he enters a long dream that lasts for the entire game, ending up in a fast food place from where you can enter each different level until you reach the end.

There is no story, as each level has its own theme and nothing ties them together, as for the main pretext behind ending up in the level selection fast food place I mentioned earlier, it's that because apparently the Suicide Guy character only cares about hamburgers and beer and the whole point of finishing the entire game is so that he can catch his beer before it falls down when he wakes up. That being said, there are around 30 levels in total and while some of them break out of the ordinary level design, especially in those video games themed ones, a lot of them are just bland and aside from the items that you must use in order to solve the level and get yourself killed, there is little in the background to catch your eye.






The only things you can do in this game are walking, picking up items and finding a use for each one, with the occasional button pushes and vehicle levels, but the vehicle levels especially are plagued by a multitude of bugs and glitches. The main element in the game is solving the puzzle which will result in a way for you to get killed, and while some of those levels will make you chuckle once you realize how you're supposed to die, a lot of them are pretty straight forward and basic, and on top of that there is only the predetermined path to death, even though you can probably point to at least 5 other ways to kill yourself in each level, neither of which work. That is probably my biggest disappointment with the game, since having multiple ways to die would've encouraged experimentation and even bugs would've been an extra reason to laugh, but it's less funny when the item you need to finish the level disappears because you accidentally dropped it where you shouldn't have and you have to restart the whole thing, knowing that you have to repeat the whole process in order to get back there.

The quality of the game depends largely on the level you're playing as some of them are genuinely interesting and laugh worthy when you figure out how you're supposed to do it, but a vast majority of them are lacking creativity and the solution to those is always more obvious than the others where finding out how you're supposed to solve it is part of what makes this game fun to play. There are also quite a few glitches that I have encountered, from getting stuck in a place unable to move, to items disappearing in the floor or behind objects and not being able to retrieve them anymore and a very weird camera glitch that I've encountered multiple times during those vehicle sections.






Since this game was built by a very small group of people you can't expect too much and you can pretty much see from a screenshot all the game has to offer graphically, although the one thing that the game does well is variety when it comes to its level design, as each level has a distinct look based on its theme, but a lot of graphical elements present in modern games are missing here, from visual effects to decor, all the way down to the details of each level which are missing for most parts. A vast majority of the items placed in a level have a use, with the ones used as background being very basic and uninteresting.






The sound effects are okay considering the quality of everything else, with the soundtrack not having too many musical tunes, but since every song comes out of a radio that is literally next to you in each level, you can turn it off or change it to something else in some instances. There is no voice acting since there aren't any speaking characters and the only sounds that Suicide Guy makes are the grunts when he jumps, falls and moves.






You can finish the entire game in around 4-5 hours, with the only reason for replaying the game being some achievements that you might miss the first time around. Considering the game's price even with its limited run time, I would recommend picking it up and trying it for yourself if the idea seems fun and appealing to you.




If you ever have moments when you think about suicide, here is a safe way to do it without actually dying in real life and cheering you back up just by playing it. There are many problems with this game and I could see it being a much better product in the hands of developers with more funds, but for what it is, it's an investment worth your money in exchange for a few hours of fun.