Browser Ramblings is a new part of this blog, which is dedicated to stuff that I played at college campus between classes. These will be dedicated to short games that can be played in the browser and these are less reviews and more like, “hey check out this cool thing I played during school.” I mean, I could be a responsible college student and study between classes but I also consider trying to keep a regular blog to be responsible. All Browser Ramblings will be queued for Mondays and Wednesdays. So anyway, Necromorph.

Necromorph is made by Supernaught (made up of  coder Alphonsus and artist Dave) for Ludum Dare 33. I’m giving it a quick look and the theme of this jam is “You Are the Monster.” I’m guessing that some entries let you play as a monster or a standard video game enemy archetype while some others are “the hero/you are the villain all along.”

This is a platformer starring a skeleton/bandit looking fellow going through this cave system, armed with some sorta swinging weapon to kill enemies. You sort of have to do this to kill enemies because jumping on them is a no-go, as it kills you instantly. In fact, a everything kills you instantly, being a one-hitpoint type game, sending you back to the beginning of the level every time you eat shit and die.

The game’s gimmick is that you take on the appearance and abilities of whatever enemy you just killed. You’ll look like a knight looking guy when you kill one, though your attack remains the same. Kill an archer though and you get a bow with two shots. Kill a demonic bat enemy and you gain its ability to fly and drop projectiles on top of enemies. It’s pretty neat!

The game’s palette is full of pinks that look real cute, though there’s still this sense of grittiness with cracked blocks and bent, blood-covered spikes. There is no soundtrack, but there are sound effects and it sure is satisfying to hear an enemy explode.

Unfortunately there are only three levels to play through, which is a shame because I thought this was pretty neat – I hope that the devs want to expand on this in the future! Though, since Necromorph‘s so short and can be played in the browser you have no excuse not to try. I am the law, do not question me.