Suicide Guy is an exercise in finding clever and sometimes frustrating ways of killing yourself, but it’s not about suicide or depression. That’s not to say it doesn’t have issues.
Even with its problems, there is a small segment of gamers who will love it in spite of its flaws. Should you jump off a building to avoid it, or should you gleefully run through dragon flames to buy it?
The premise for Suicide Guy is simple. You are a dopey slob who has fallen asleep on the couch while drinking a beer and watching TV. The beer is slipping out of your hand, and it will spill its precious contents all over your floor.
In order to save it, you have to kill yourself in increasingly complex ways in order to wake up from your low resolution Inception. The levels are accessed from a main hub that looks like a diner. Each level occupies a table, and takes place in different dream locations, from a barn to an office. Trophy hunters will need to find a silver statue hidden somewhere in the level.
After selecting a level, there is a quick loading screen that simulates you closing and reopening your eyes. Each level contains a way for you to end yourself, and you will have to interact with everything to understand what combination of items and actions will end this existence and move you to your next puzzle and death.
Some of the levels share elements and ideas, but there is a good amount of variety. Not everything in a level is necessary, and you will often have to combine one or more things to meet your end. This requires a lot of trial and error on your part, and it leads to one of my most frustrating parts of the game.
The platforming in Suicide Guy is squishy. This leads to your fat body bouncing off a platform, flying over a platform, or hitting the upper side and slowly pulling yourself to the top. I would have to awkwardly throw myself at a platform or a place I thought I could reach by jumping until I was successful or finally gave up.
The platforming is inconsistent, but the physics made solving the puzzles even more confounding for a dunce like me. I could only slowly drag a crate from one place to another, but the same crate on top of it would slide off like it was covered in industrial grade lubricant and weighed a gram.
The visuals look like a simplified PSVR game. There are basic colors and shapes, but the objects and environments are not very detailed. A few of the designs are better than others, but don’t expect anything complex.
There are a few places where the visuals will clip or just behave strangely. Using the crane in the junkyard, I encountered more jittering than a stomach churning shaky cam movie. It’s not constant, but it’s there.
The music fits the quality of the visuals. The songs are short looping tunes, and most are unremarkable, but fine. Some of them were so annoying I had to turn off the radio that plays the music in each level. There were a few other audio quirks and errors, but nothing constant.
I have a lot of complaints about the game, but, despite the problems, I didn’t hate all the levels. That’s the weird part about Suicide Guy, even though some solutions were almost accidental.
After working in offices for over a decade, that level felt like a creative end for a few of my more annoying coworkers. The dinosaur level was a little confusing on what they wanted, but the ending is not bad. The church level is not complicated, but it was a surprise that made me laugh when I put it all together.
They even have two tribute levels to famous games that may or may not get them sued in the future.
Suicide Guy is $7.99 in the US or £11.99 in the UK. It’s a bargain title at a lower price. You have to decide your own ideas around value, but I think it’s just a bit higher than necessary. I do respect that they know what they are and priced their game accordingly. You get a few hours of gameplay for that price, but no real replayability.
Despite the final score, this is a split review to two separate groups of people. There are some of you who should play this game, and you already know that I am speaking directly to you. If this looks appealing and you like this quirky style of game, you are going to have a blast, and the many flaws are not going to be a problem for you. There are a few moments of brilliance that will be all the reward you need.
For the rest of us, I would say Suicide Guy is a game to avoid permanently or until it lowers its price in one of the sales. The frustrating physics, simple visuals and music, and inconsistent gameplay will not hold your attention over the 26 levels.
Review Disclaimer: This review was carried out using a copy of the game provided by the publisher. For more information, please read our Review Policy.
Reviewed using base PS4.
