Spooky Pixel Hero review – “More platforming, less heebie-jeebies”

• An eerie world
• 120 levels filled with challenging platforms
• An engrossing story with a dark secret

Spooky Pixel Hero is the latest instalment in the DERE horror series of AppSir Games, coming out for iOS and Android devices on August 12th. The game is also set for a Steam release, but fans must wait until September 17th.

Having finished DERE Vengeance within a few days of release, I was on the lookout for AppSir’s next horror platformer and I just couldn’t pass on the opportunity of a pre-release sneak peek at Spooky Pixel Hero. 

Fix This Classic For Us, Please

In Spooky Pixel Hero, players assume the role of a young and talented game developer who gets recruited by a secret organization. This talented developer is asked to repair a classic platformer game that is “decomposing.” You also get a sidekick, an Advanced Interactive Debug Engine, or A.I.D.E. Yes, that’s her. Make of that what you will.

Struggling to make his mark on the gaming industry and hoping to improve his skills, the developer accepts the project. However, the game developed in 1976 by Walter Salazar is more than it gives off. The game is too advanced for a ’70s platformer and the novice developer is way out of his depth here. But, as he drops deeper and deeper into the game, he’s left with no choice but to continue fixing everything that’s broken, one level at a time.

Things Are Just As They Seem

Spooky Pixel Hero ain’t no deceiver. Everything you see in this 2D platformer does exactly what it looks like it’ll do. Gold keys will open the locked doors. File icons are indeed file icons that you should collect to fully repair the game. Leave them be and you might be setting yourself up for failure. Anything that looks like it can kill you does so on the touch. So, if you’re coming from DERE Vengeance like me where we had to second guess everything, Spooky Pixel Hero saves you the trouble.

Sticking to their traditions, AppSir Games once again goes with a minimal controls setup. You get three buttons to go left, right and to jump. However, we don’t get those crafty mid-air jumps or double jumps this time around. Instead, many levels that require taller jumps use bounce pads.

Apart from the intentional glitchy patches here and there supposed to add that horror, I didn’t find any annoying glitches or bugs in the game. The gameplay is smooth as if it’s really a ‘70s game running on modern hardware.

I do miss the background music, though. Sound effects are good and all but, for me, nothing sets the horror tone quite like some background macabre. Maybe the full release will have the soundtrack used in the announcement trailer.

Difficulty Climbs As You Dive Deeper

Speed, timing, precision, and patience – you’ll need to master just about everything if you are to complete the 120 Levels. As I mentioned earlier, every time you complete a level and go through the gate, you’re falling deeper into the game. And the deeper you go, the tougher platforms you’ll face.

There’s a huge spike in difficulty once you cross the Level 50 mark. That’s when collapsing and moving platforms as well as deadly obstacles come into play. Luckily, as was the case with DERE Vengeance, none of the levels feel impossible. Yeah, you might need double-digit retries for a few, but it never gets too frustrating to make you want to quit.

There’s zero room for complacency in Spooky Pixel Hero because there are no checkpoints. Overcome the toughest obstacle and you might die the silliest of deaths. Happened to me a couple of times but an in-game ad helped me shrug it off. You can remove those via in-app purchases, though.

You Shall Not Compare

The only way to fully enjoy the latest horror platformer from AppSir Games is to not compare it with the other games of the DERE series. It is a retro horror platformer, much like the other games, but it’s also so much more.

Spooky Pixel Hero is what you call a conventional platformer where you get what you see. Then there’s the story that takes us back to ground zero. Chronologically speaking, Spooky Pixel Hero is the very first game you should play in the DERE series. So, if you are new to the AppSir universe, start with Spooky Pixel Hero and play the other games in the following order to fully understand the DERE-verse:

1. Spooky Pixel Hero
2. Sorority Rites
3. The Last Yandere
4. DERE EXE
5. DERE EVIL EXE
6. HopBound
7. Puzzling Peaks EXE
8. DERE Vengeance