[Puzzle/Platformer] Karoshi

These games have not been posted yet. They should be. (Yes, multiple games in one topic. But they are all very closely inter-related, and share a common concept, protagonist, and level structure.)

The Karoshi games are made by Jesse Venbrux. In them, you play as a nameless businessman. The object of each level is to kill yourself. Killing yourself is not always easy. There are puzzles, many of which require you to think laterally. They are very good games.

Three of the games are made with Game Maker (and thus Windows-only); the other two are Flash games.


Two days ago, the Karoshi games got a new website. Super Karoshi just came out today.

Incidentally, the order you play them in does not particularly matter. None of them is a direct prequel/sequel to any other.

Most enjoyable. The music in the downloadable one is really good to start with, but it grates after a while. Other than that, this is a nice puzzle platformer.

Managed to beat all the levels in all of them except for the giant stereo one. Still great game.

The stereo level is unfair, I think. I didn't get it without looking at a walkthrough.

Now isn't this a slightly sensitive topic? We have to remember that there could be 5 year old kids on this website. Personally, I love the game, but these young children that may want to try it may come to think of suicide as fun, and they may try to hurt themselves (not likely, but we must consider all possibilities).

All of the games (I think all of them, anyway) feature disclaimers saying that real-life karoshi is a bad thing, and if I remember, there are maybe a few links to real karoshi-related websites or something.

Of course, the disclaimers are of the cliched "don't try this at home" sort, but then I can't think of many games that don't have any objectionable (in real life) content, or that have such disclaimers.

While true, we have to remember that at some ages, kids can play this game, but they can't read yet... leading to the uselessness of the disclaimer, not to mention the fact that the Karoshi games that I have played have all had the disclaimer at the end, anyway, and a little kid may get bored or just not pay any attention to it. I have to admit, this game is really funny, but conditioning kids to an environment where the whole object is suicide is kind of a depressing thought. Oh, and yes, I do realize that if a kid can't read they may not stumble upon the link in the first place, but what about an older sibling? Although they may think its okay for the younger kid to play it, we must consider the consequences of allowing a young kid to play it. They may think its normal and a fun way to escape life, and that is NOT what we want them to do, right. And while most games have objectionable content in them, they have (fairly) appropriate ratings, and parents or older siblings have a forewarning. Probably the reason I even brought this up is because I live in a high suicide area, and would like to prevent suicide where possible (except when playing Karoshi, of course ).

uh, why do you think that five year old kids that can't read have to be considered on a medium that is text-based like this forum is?
I don't think that there is a real considerable risk for totally unsupervised pre-schoolers browsing a forum, finding a game like this, and actually be suicidal or stupid enough to get the idea that running into spikes is a good idea. Which is why I'd say it's quite alright to have this game posted and talked about in here.

Running into spikes wouldn't kill you anyway. Stuff like knives would.

All I'm saying is, although I love the game, sometimes little kids may see it being played and get the idea that suicide is okay. Believe me, I know that the chances of this happening are very remote, but it is still possible... anyway, I just wanted to make one little comment, originally, and I really don't think there is a problem with this, I just am the kind of person who tries to find every possible way something can go wrong, sometimes. Other times, I can be an optimist. Anyway, I shall say no more on this subject.

Awe. Some.

This is full of epic win.

Running into spikes wouldn't kill you anyway. Stuff like knives would.

It depends, really.  Falling onto spikes (particularily the enormous ones featured in video games) would be pretty likely to kill you outright, assuming that they actually impaled you.  Falling onto knives would probably have a similar effect assuming the knives are propped upright (and they aren't butter knives or something), although some knives would be too short to penetrate any vital organs.
If you ran into spikes (as in, a wall is covered with spikes and you decide to run into it for some reason), then it would be very unlikely to kill you.  The fastest clocked sustained human running speed ever was a little below 25 MPH, so you would probably bounce off the spikes with a few minor puncture wounds.  Knives would probably be a lot more dangerous in this situation due to their shape, but I still doubt that they would cause any serious injuries.



...did I seriously just type all that out?