Karoshi 2.0

Posted by Derek Yu Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:59:00 GMT

Karoshi 2.0

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)

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Comments

  1. Cycle said 43 minutes later:

    Haha, I just submitted a piece about this game for the next issue of PCPOWERPLAY, THE NUMBER ONE PC GAMING MAGAZINE IN AUSTRALIA (VERY INDIE FRIENDLY) and mentioned that I really wish it had more levels. MY WISH CAME TRUE. I’ll have to mention it next issue.

  2. Nu said about 1 hour later:

    really great game, even better than the first

  3. "Voice Over" Guy said about 1 hour later:

    Our regular posting will continue after that unscheduled advertisement.

  4. Tantan said about 1 hour later:

    how2do level13?

  5. Lolfo said about 2 hours later:

    Tantan: I think it has something to do with jumping..

    How2do level22?

  6. jkd said about 2 hours later:

    Awesome. I finished it in one sitting. :)

    Don’t lump it in with difficult platformers like IWBTG; it’s much more of a puzzle game than a platformer.

    Thank God for that, because the controls are ass!

  7. jkd said about 2 hours later:

    I knew those “how do i do level x?” questions were coming. :)

    Complete walkthrough (not written by me): http://forums.yoyogames.com/forums/5/topics/11836

  8. sinoth said about 3 hours later:

    Very clever and fun game :)

  9. Exoduster said about 3 hours later:

    Lolfo: No knowledge of the command prompt is required. Just remember your goal.

    I’m stuck on 34…

  10. Exoduster said about 3 hours later:

    Haha, never mind, just got it. That was really clever…

  11. BTW said about 4 hours later:

    Level 5. Pressing x does not make my shooter shoot.

  12. Melly said about 5 hours later:

    Genius.

    finds a music CD

  13. Adam Atomic said about 5 hours later:

    definitely brilliant!! Got stuck a few times, 45 was a real mind-melter with a brilliant solution…god that’s good stuff. Thank you for bringing the awesome, Jesse!!

  14. Farbs said about 5 hours later:

    My CD drive is broken :(

  15. Zaphos said about 6 hours later:

    The author posted a version that doesn’t need a cd over on the indiegames comment thread for the game…

  16. Zaphos said about 6 hours later:

    It’ll probably just get caught in the spam filter or something, but anyway here’s the link to the no-cd version: http://venbrux.com/karoshi2/Karoshi%202.0_nocd.zip

  17. Farbs said about 6 hours later:

    Oh cool, thx.

  18. gustav said about 7 hours later:

    Two days ago i showed the first game to my girlfriend, not expecting much of a reaction. She loved it. The next day this comes out and we both had a complete blast playing it through. This is definitely one of my favorite indie games EVER. Pure joy.

  19. Mandrake42 said about 8 hours later:

    Ooooh! A new Karoshi game, now I know what Im doing this evening :)

  20. muku said about 9 hours later:

    Damn. I’m on level 5 too, and indeed pressing X does not shoot. I must be missing something…

    This is much harder than the first one…

  21. muku said about 9 hours later:

    Oh, shit. That was mean.

  22. crackers said about 9 hours later:

    Everything up to the ending was good. The author really needs to learn when a joke has been stretched too far because it just ended up sucking.

  23. agh said about 9 hours later:

    For those who get stuck, there is a walkthrough on IndieFAQs: http://www.indiefaqs.com/index.php/Terry_Karoshi2

  24. muku said about 10 hours later:

    Ha! I finished it. Man, this is this year’s Portal…

  25. Richard said about 12 hours later:

    I’ve downloaded it three times now, and every time it says the .exe file is corrupt )-: I can’t get it from the YoYoGames either.

  26. whocare said about 13 hours later:

    “press any key to skip loading” nice intro.) stuck once on “die”. cool game)

  27. Pip said about 13 hours later:

    :O I absolutely loved the first game. Really out-of-the-box stuff. I was never expecting a sequel so quickly!

  28. will said about 13 hours later:

    It make me real “idiot”.

  29. mots said about 18 hours later:

    yeah, some nice little puzzles there..

    what’s on the menu?

    hint * you can’t eat anything off of it

  30. Advenith said about 21 hours later:

    I found it a lot easier than the first one, actually. Damn great, though.

  31. FishyBoy said about 22 hours later:

    No CD version doesn’t work for me. I reused a save file, so maybe that’s it? If I press escape, it just goes to the menu and nothing new happens.

  32. mots said about 23 hours later:

    fishy, you don’t get the puzzle or it just doesn’t work?

  33. Pip said about 24 hours later:

    Fish, you need some SPACE in your life.

  34. Chiguire said 3 days later:

    Level 15, man… I fell off my chair… Hilarious.

  35. gnawingonfoot said 3 days later:

    anybody know what the xfire url thing is on level 5?

  36. Dusty Spur said 3 days later:

    Level 5 has some random stuff. I’ve only gotten a youtube link and a Paula Deen’s Home Cooking recipe. I’ve actually had the dish it was a recipe for: Bananas Foster with French Toast Croissants.

  37. Tim said 3 days later:

    Dusty Spur/gnawingonfoot: hahaha

    Now I know what you guys have been doing!

  38. Andersonger said 3 days later:

    Gustav:

    Interesting, also showed Karoshi (albeit number 2) to my girlfriend (whom had no previous experience with games at all) as a joke. She totally loved it! Was great fun working through the later levels together.

    We were originally going to watch a movie, but after finishing she wanted to play more games! So we went through Samorost 1 and 2, and after that I got her addicted to Ouendan and DJ Max Portable and some puzzlers for the DS and PSP.

    Conclusion: Karoshi works magic with the ladies. New pickup line: “Want to go to my room and kill yourself?”.

  39. Disraptor said 3 days later:

    This game oozes extreme awesomeness from every cyber-pore.

    And thanks to playing Karoshi 2, I discovered Karoshi 1.

  40. Jesse said 4 days later:

    Andersonger, that’s really funny and great. I was surprised too when my younger sister really liked the game. It has broader appeal than I thought.

    By the way. Level 5 just pastes what’s in your clipboard.

  41. Andersonger said 4 days later:

    Oh, I was wondering about level 5.

    I had been discussing Xbox360 achievement whoring with a friend on MSN earlier, and I ended the conversation by saying something like: “Oh well, I’m off to the volleyball practise. Gotta grab me some achievements!”

    For some reason, I must have copy-pasted the “Gotta grab me some achievements!”, ‘cause that’s what popped up in the game. I didn’t, however, remember having said that, so I thought it was some kind of nod to how there’s only violent, gun-toting games on the 360 (first time I saw the gun; started with Karoshi 2). Never mind that the copy pasted portion actually was in Swedish (Oh, the creator is from Sweden as well? Neat!)…

    Not sure how I managed to make it through the game with a brain like this.

  42. Jesse said 4 days later:

    Haha.. You just don’t expect it can be something from outside the game, especially I think because it’s also in the game’s font.

    There was another game creator who thought the level was a nod at one of his own games. Apparently he had his game’s name in his clipboard.

    I’m not from Sweden, even though it says so at TIGdb >_>

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