1000 Deaths Review (PC)

A name like 1000 Deaths almost sends shivers down my spine. Just thinking of all the ways I’m likely to die. And to accompany the staggering number of deaths will most probably be a brutal playthrough. I can’t say it doesn’t motivate me a bit. A keen curiosity to discover just how exactly the developers plan to bring home the notion of wanting to die over and over again, because the gameplay is just that good. 

Reading 1000 Deaths’ blurb, I gotta say, it left me a bit confused. A story-heavy, choice-driven platformer? We rarely get those in gaming, and if a platformer happens to have a story, it’s seldom the most compelling. Checking out the visuals and gameplay trailer, you come off loopy. The psychedelic graphics of the game will do that to you, and not at all in an off-putting way. This is evidently a unique game, one I couldn’t wait to try. 

Will it live and die by its name, though? Just how fun is it? And are you likely to challenge yourself to multiple playthroughs? Let’s find out these and more in our 1000 Deaths review below.

Stripping it Down to the Basics

1000 Deaths’ story is, admittedly, a little tricky to grasp. You can tell the developers really wanted to challenge themselves to create something out of the ordinary. And in some ways, they manage to do so, much to my pleasure. You have four protagonists: Vayu, Boga, Terry, and Maxie. Each has a unique story, all taking place in the hub worlds of Nowherestown and Jollywood. The protagonists can interact with one another, alongside other NPCs, building friendships and close relationships. However, as you know, with all human relations, complications are likely to arise, whether a breach of trust, betrayal, or consequent dilemma on how to move forward.

That’s the gist of 1000 Deaths’ story mode. You, the player, take the form of a tiny TV with legs and a jetpack, helping the protagonists make heavy decisions during vital moments of their lives. You’ll help them navigate their young lives through to adulthood, effectively helping them live out full lives. The more you play 1000 Deaths, the more the stories begin to make sense. Vayu and Maxie become best friends, for example. However, Maxie decides to move to Jollywood to seek a better life. This leaves Vayu with mixed feelings of regret. She feels she’s fumbled the opportunities in her life to be and experience more. We all can relate, can’t we?

Man in the Mirror

That’s the beauty of 1000 Deaths’ stories. They are pretty relatable and genuine, and hence, feeding off of your own emotional ties to whatever you might have experienced in real life. And the same feelings of regret and contrition factor when making decisions for the protagonists. You can choose to follow Maxie to Jollywood, for instance. However, you’re likely to encounter an unexpected “bad” outcome. While Maxie might allow you to live with her, she might demand that you pay the full rent. And working in the big city to take care of two people might take its toll. 

I won’t give any spoilers beyond saying that there are some pretty interesting story arcs here. Some are even impactful enough to push you to question your own life decisions. And isn’t that the creativity and brilliance we look for in story gaming?

With the story taking place across three episodes, and each protagonist having their unique story arcs, filled with well-thought-out decisions to make, and consequent multiple endings, you’ll come out of 1000 Deaths’ story mode having enjoyed, at the very least, some semblance of fulfilment. 

Tripping Out

A huge part that makes 1000 Deaths’ story worthwhile is its visual and audio design. You begin exploring either Nowherestown or Jollywood, which are somewhat open hub worlds. You can walk around and talk to NPCs, for instance, and even discover some hidden secrets and collectibles. However, don’t expect a fully-fledged open world akin to RPGs, as there are very few things that will pique your interest in the world design. You won’t find activities to do here, thus simply serving as a backdrop for the story to unravel.

And I’m not mad at it. It’s a missed opportunity, for sure. But the developer Pariah Interactive is an indie studio that’s already put their brilliance into the platforming sections to be discussed in a bit. 

Where Pariah poured their blood, sweat, and tears, though, is in the visuals. It’s filled with all sorts of vibrant colors that somehow play into each other in a nostalgic way. It reminds you of the oddball cartoons from way back when: colorful and trippy. 1000 Deaths’ world is indeed a beautiful place to be exploring because of its striking art style that will leave you in awe at every turn. And the detail is impeccable, too, incorporating absurd creations that extend to the character designs.

Even though the characters have real, genuine stories, their designs are far from normal. They have alien features, which double down on the old cartoon feel. And then there’s their transitions as they grow older, adding more charm to how close you grow to them. 

Striking the Right Note

Sealing it off with a neat bow is the audio, which features exceptional music matching the tone and vibe of 1000 Deaths. And in the platforming sections, the music picks up pace, incorporating electronic sounds with an upbeat speed. Sound effects, though, aren’t as rampant, with the characters lacking voice acting, and in their place, only strange, gurgling noises. Nothing I’m particularly mad at, either. 

Mind Your Head

When making decisions for the protagonists, the developers have implemented an interesting method. The characters go about their lives in the hub worlds, and when they come to a dilemma, you’re taken to two big TV screens representing the choices you can make for them. You make these choices by embodying your little TV screen character and entering the minds of the protagonists via the TV screen of your choice. But to fully complete the decision you’ve made, you must beat platforming challenges. The platforming challenges take place in the headspace of the protagonists, with your little TV navigating puzzles and obstacles to beat the stages and cement the decision you’ve made in place. 

If it sounds complicated, don’t worry. Playing through 1000 Deaths will make it simpler to understand, navigating from the hub worlds into the headspaces, back to the hub worlds, and so on. 

Now, the platforming challenges are pretty great, with immense variety and unique stages for every decision you make. The movement is simple enough for any casual platforming gamer (run, jump, and dash), which cuts across all the platforming challenges. This leaves you with solely mastering precision timing. And therein lies the difficulty of 1000 Deaths, thanks to the gravity-bending feature of the game. Essentially, gravity-bending constantly changes the environment and how you move. You may encounter a curved, spiraling staircase, for instance, and have to navigate certain sections upside down.

Defying Gravity

Gravity is still in play. It’s just that 1000 Deaths’ physics engine dynamically alters the direction of gravity based on your movement and environment. That way, you’ll find yourself running, jumping, and dashing across floors, normally, or walls and ceilings in abnormal perspective shifts. This does amp up the difficulty in some sections, though not to the point of the challenges becoming impossible to beat. And thus the question of dying…

You will die, for sure, though certainly never anywhere close to 1000 times, at least in the first run. 1000 Deaths is pretty easy to beat, with a few deaths kept track of by the counter at the top of the screen. Where the difficulty comes into play is the speed, which you can hop into the arcade mode and replay previous platforming stages to try and beat your previous times. I suspect speedrunners will have a blast here, attempting to nab that coveted bronze and platinum win. And I can assure you it won’t be easy at all, factoring in all the gravity-bending shenanigans and precision timing going on. 

Verdict

There’s plenty to love in 1000 Deaths. However, I will say the name is misleading, given the relatively casual playthrough. Any gamer will easily beat the game without ever hitting 1000 Deaths, and I suppose that’s fair in the sense that gamers who want a higher difficulty can always try out the speedrunning challenge. Either way, this isn’t your everyday platformer, incorporating choice-driven narratives that actually have a genuine, emotional impact. Your decisions matter, not just in determining the fate of the protagonists, but also in affecting the platforming challenges you’ll encounter. 

I suppose there’s more indie Pariah studio could do to truly elevate 1000 Deaths to rank among the greats. But what’s here is impressive still. The trippy but delightful visuals stand out among the many platformers out there. The gravity-bending mechanic creates some truly unique stages. This one’s an imperfect platformer definitely worth checking out.