Karoshi Factory

By: Derek Yu

On: August 29th, 2008

Jesse Venbrux is at it again! Karoshi Factory, his latest release, is the third installment in his popular series of “kill yourself” puzzle games. This time, however, the theme is “group suicide!” Using the spacebar to switch between characters, you have to make sure everyone dies in the end – woe be to the last guy standing with no way to expire!

(FOX News Headline: “Dutch Teen Develops Video Game to Promote Suicide Pacts: Are Your Children at Risk?”)

Karoshi Factory feels like a natural progression for the series, and I’m happy to see Jesse take it into a new direction with the group game mechanics. 18 levels in (out of 25), I noticed there’s less “mind fucking” in this one, which is fine with me, because, in my opinion, Karoshi 2 pretty much did all it could in that area. KF’s puzzles are certainly devious, and more than a few levels require quick wits and reflexes both.

And this isn’t all Jesse’s been up to of late. Between Deaths, the last of his games we covered, and Karoshi Factory, he’s released a few others, including Torque, an awesome abstract arena shoot ‘em up, and You Made It, a bizarre platform game where the graphics never refresh. They’re definitely all worth checking out.

TIGdb: Entry for Karoshi Factory

Deaths

By: Derek Yu

On: July 15th, 2008

Deaths is a simple platformer where the last 50 deaths from all of its players are loaded into the game. Your own corpses, and the corpses of people you will never meet, are strewn about its six short levels and can be stepped on and used as platforms. The game, which is labeled as “demo,” is a successful proof of concept, and here’s hoping that its creator, Jesse “2dcube” Venbrux, decides to expand on it.

Jesse, who’s also responsible for Execution and the Karoshi series of games, obviously has a fixation on death (in video games). Well, I should mention Frozzd and Mubbly Tower, too, lest you think that’s is all he thinks about. But in any case, I’m really glad people are spending time exploring the concept and our perceptions of it. Morbidity FTW!

(Source: Tim, via the Indiegames.com blog)

TIGdb: Entry for Deaths

Execution

By: Derek Yu

On: May 19th, 2008

Execution is a short, experimental game from Jesse Venbrux about the consequences of one’s actions. I’ll leave the discourse for the comments (don’t read them if you don’t want to be spoiled).

(Source: Jared, via Puppy Buckets)

Karoshi 2.0

By: Derek Yu

On: April 10th, 2008

The basic idea behind the original Karoshi was completely counter-intuitive to most games: in every level you must FIND A WAY TO KILL YOURSELF. It was harder than it seemed!

In Karoshi 2.0, creator Jesse Venbrux extends that metaphor across 42 more levels, creating some of the most LOL-worthy and mind-bending puzzles I have ever seen. This is a true battle between Man and Game, and Game is using every trick up its sleeve. Prepare to have your head messed with (sometimes literally). I love it!

Karoshi 2.0 also comes with a level editor and a timed version of the original game (minus the irritating blood splatters on the screen that obscured the playfield).

(Source: Auntie Pixelante, the awesome new games blog from dessgeega)

Karoshi

By: Derek Yu

On: March 4th, 2008

Karoshi, which means “”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kar%C5%8Dshi">death from overwork" in Japanese, poses an interesting challenge to the player: kill yourself! It’s a gimmick that’s actually carried quite well across the 25 levels of this unique puzzle platformer. The game often messes with your expectations to genuinely hilarious effect – I love that you can pick up a gun, but can’t use it to off yourself directly. I don’t know why, but I love that.

Despite the lack of polish in the game’s overall presentation, Karoshi is, in my opinion, much more entertaining and clever than Adult Swim’s Kill Yourself in 5 Minutes.

(Source: dessgeega, via The Gamer’s Quarter forums)