Indie games, especially those involving puzzles have never really been my kind of game. So when the opportunity came up to review Psydra Games’ Mike Dies, I was ready to pass. However, being the indie game God that he is, Tom pleaded for a chance to play the game and so, on the basis that he played AND reviewed the game for Attack On Geek, a code was given. Here’s his take on the game, Mike Dies. Great title eh?
Mike Dies is an excellent puzzle-platformer produced and developed by Psydra Games.
The game has you play as the titular Mike, a man trapped on a spaceship that is filled with countless teleporters. That is this game’s shtick: teleporters. It’s a pretty simple game mechanic really. The teleporters are represented by staticky squares, and when you stand in one it will slowly start turning pink and will eventually teleport you somewhere, but you need to make sure Mike’s WHOLE body is within the teleporter or, you guessed it, Mike dies, as half of his body is sent somewhere and the remaining half collapse in a bloody mess. This is going to happen more than once, I assure you.
Psydra Games have definitely nailed the puzzle-platformer progression system. They introduce the basic mechanic of the game, making sure Mike stays completely within a teleporter while it’s charging up. And then once the player has mastered that, Psydra Games changes it up ever so slightly. Now there are teleporters that Mike clearly can’t fit into or there might be a strip of teleporters along the floor that only Mike’s feet fit into. Welp, you better not stand there for long otherwise goodbye feet and goodbye Mike. Psydra Games continues to do this throughout your play through of the game, they’re always keeping you on your toes and mixing it up.
Of course, like many puzzle-platformers, there are plenty of secrets for the veteran puzzle solvers to find, just enough to make you want to go back and 100% the game but not so many that you would feel it’s a waste of time. My first play-through of the game took me 3 hours before I hit the credits screen and I finished the game with about 70% of the collectibles. On my breaks while writing this review, I am getting closer to that 100% completion. (I would highly recommend getting 100%, there’s a nice little surprise at the end).
The visuals of this game are not ground breaking, nor are they terrible. Everything fits the “Space Station” aesthetics. The soundtrack, again, fits the space theme as you teleport from place to place, it’s good background music but nothing I would download and listen to separately.
One of my favourite things in this game is the underlying story. Throughout the game Mike begins to question everything around him, and eventually has to face his personal demons. I don’t want to spoil too much, but I recommend grabbing all the collectible cellphones you’ll see through your play through.
Overall Mike Dies is a great game if you want something that’s not going to take you 8 hours+ to finish and you feel your brain needs a little bit of exercise.