Life Goes On: Done to Death Review Summary

A puzzle-platformer with a unique death-based mechanic and balanced progression, though repetitive music, frustrating physics, and difficulty spikes hinder the experience.

Great puzzle-platformer experience: The game is consistently praised as a polished, charming, and fun puzzle-platformer with well-designed levels. Many reviews highlight it as a great title even by 2014 standards.

Unique death-based mechanics: The core mechanic of using death to progress, including sacrificing knights and using their corpses as tools, is seen as innovative and creative. This unique approach sets the game apart from other puzzle-platformers.

Balanced difficulty progression: The difficulty curve is well-paced and fair, with challenges that increase progressively without becoming frustrating. This balance is a standout feature for many players.

Humor and lighthearted tone: The game is consistently described as funny, humorous, and entertaining, with jokes throughout the story, credits, and overall tone. The humor contributes greatly to the enjoyable experience.

High replayability with challenges: Optional challenges for minimal deaths and time, along with special Jeff challenges, provide significant replay value. Players appreciate the extra goals that extend the game's longevity.

Music is repetitive and weak: Multiple reviewers found the music monotonous, repetitive, and lacking stimulation. Clusters 3, 40, 41, 42, 43, 47, 50, 66, and 67 all mention that the music or sound gets on the nerves, is simple, or feels like background noise.

Physics and controls cause frustration: The physics engine and controls are often criticized for causing frustration, such as slippy controls, auto-grabbing edges, and unresponsive platforming. Clusters 12, 18, 19, 30, 31, 32, 37, 44, 58, and 61 cover issues like ice cubes sliding away, sink into spiked knights, and loose jumps.

Achievements are too difficult: Several reviews mention that achievements are annoying or extremely difficult to obtain, often due to physics-based challenges. Clusters 1, 38, and 54 highlight the high difficulty of getting full achievements and the massive number of deaths required.

Difficulty spikes are frustrating: The game has sharp difficulty spikes, especially from 'The Ruins' onward, and the last world is considered too crazy or difficult. Clusters 7, 8, 14, and 26 mention requiring walkthroughs, ridiculous challenge difficulty, and overly strict timing.

Rewards and cosmetics are unsatisfying: Cosmetic items like hats and knight skins have no gameplay effect and are considered low quality, with the feeding Jeff mechanic giving no reward. Clusters 5, 13, 33, and 34 express dissatisfaction with rewards and customization.

Puzzle platformer with death mechanics: The game is a puzzle-platformer where death is a core mechanic. Players must sacrifice knights and use their corpses as tools to solve puzzles and progress.

Death as a required mechanic: The game relies on dying as a resource to progress. Players must strategically kill themselves or their knights to use their bodies as tools for puzzle solving.

Sacrifice knights to solve puzzles: Players must sacrifice knights, who have unique names, to use their bodies as platforms, tools, or to activate mechanisms. This is essential for progressing through levels.

Corpses used as resources: Dead knights remain in the world and are used as platforms, levers, trampolines, or bridges. Their corpses are integral to solving puzzles and overcoming obstacles.

Optional completionist challenges: The game includes optional challenges for completionists, such as extra puzzles and medal tiers (yellow and purple), rewarding players for achieving goals with minimal sacrifices.

Good general performance: Users report the game runs very well, with smooth performance and absent loading screens. This suggests an optimized experience on capable hardware.

Linux support is solid: Feedback indicates the game runs great on Linux, with a separate positive test on a Mac Mini M4 running macOS Sequoia. This suggests good cross-platform stability outside Windows.

Black screen bug on Linux/Mac: One user experienced a black screen bug when starting the game in full-screen mode on Linux and Mac. This is a notable issue for those platforms, though it appears to be rare.

High system requirements are needed: A single mention of high system requirements suggests some users find the game demanding. This is a minor concern compared to the numerous positive performance reports.

Great for puzzle enthusiasts: The game is recommended for puzzle lovers, thinking game fans, and those seeking a fresh take on puzzles without monotonous themes.

Appeals to platformer fans: It is a must-buy for platformer fans and puzzle-platformer enthusiasts, with strong recommendations for fans of silly platforming puzzles and puzzle-platformers.

Best purchased on sale: Multiple reviews advise buying it on sale or at a discount, especially for casual puzzle fans, with recommendations to wait for a summer sale due to low price and good quality.

Good for puzzle beginners: The game is recommended as an entry-level puzzle game for beginners and newcomers, and is strongly recommended for action puzzle beginners.

Unique and interesting: The game is considered highly recommended and interesting, with encouragement to experience the ending and strong enthusiasm like 'Play this!!!!'.

Community fair range: $2.49 - $4.99.

Game completion: 6.0h.

Some players find the game immediately fun due to its unique dark humor hook, while others experience early weakness and repetition before the game becomes great after a turning point.

Friction: weak and repetitive early gameplay.

Unlock drivers: progression through puzzles; good difficulty progression.

Puzzle Enthusiast: Methodically experiments with knight deaths to find clever solutions to puzzles. Motivation: Enjoying the novel puzzle mechanic of using death as a tool to solve challenges. Stance: buy.

Completionist Achiever: Replays levels to optimize knight usage and time, aiming for 100% achievements and challenge medals. Motivation: Mastering the game through achievements, medals, and efficient play. Stance: buy.

Casual Newcomer: Plays casually, tries different approaches through trial and error, and enjoys the dark comedy. Motivation: Having fun with an accessible and humorous puzzle game without pressure. Stance: buy.

Steam Deck: The game runs smoothly on Steam Deck with good controls. A known bug in Linux versions exists but does not appear to hinder gameplay for most users.

Linux and Proton: Based on limited feedback, the Proton version runs perfectly on Steam Deck, while the native Linux version has a known bug. Overall, Linux compatibility via Proton is good, with only a minor issue in the native build.