I no longer Want to Be the Guy

June 11, 2024 3:13 PM

Level Devil is a minimalist browser-based platformer that combines cruelty, accessibility, and a wicked sense of comic timing.

Across dozens of single-screen levels, it never stops innovating with playful new mechanics. You can skip any level after after failing twice.

posted by longtime_lurker (22 comments total)

This is fiendishly delicious, thanks for posting!
It's giving Loderunner, but with tricks.
posted by chavenet at 3:27 PM on June 11 [2 favorites]

Evil.
posted by dobbs at 4:09 PM on June 11 [3 favorites]

This is such a nice balance of the game just mercilessly screwing with you, but not so much that you want to rage quit.
posted by mrphancy at 4:27 PM on June 11 [9 favorites]

Definitely enjoying this; I seem to have found a (barely?)hidden level via messing around in the settings for a while.
posted by sagc at 4:39 PM on June 11

Also takes me back to the junior high computer lab days of N.
posted by sagc at 4:41 PM on June 11 [4 favorites]

the absolutely hilarious tom walker tries a game that literally physically hates you
posted by Sebmojo at 4:54 PM on June 11 [3 favorites]

Spoiler:

I’m assuming that the final level with the colorful door is just the credits and not a beatable level, but I’d love to hear theories how to beat it. I’ve managed to time my jump to get over the first teleporter, but not the second.

posted by Kattullus at 5:07 PM on June 11 [2 favorites]

This is great. Reminds me a bit of an old flash game called "This is the Only Level" by jmtb02 IIRC.
posted by Pemdas at 5:07 PM on June 11 [5 favorites]

I managed to beat the first level on the first try because I was jumping around for typical, non-paranoid "try out the controls" reasons. So forewarned, I got the second level on the first try too.

On the third level I laughed out loud at my immediate death.

Now that I've cleared world 1 I'm looking forward to the rest!
posted by dick dale the vampire at 5:12 PM on June 11 [1 favorite]

A+ trolling, all 80 or whatever levels.
posted by aubilenon at 5:46 PM on June 11 [3 favorites]

Thanks for the post. Very evil, but fun!

Spoiler:

Kattullus' question

The last level is indeed just credits... I was interested enough that I went into the code and turned off the warp trigger. The outside door doesn't do anything when you get to it.

posted by netowl at 6:27 PM on June 11 [4 favorites]

"egypt what are you playing?"

"An I Wanna Be The Guy-Like".
posted by egypturnash at 6:38 PM on June 11 [4 favorites]

Was just smiles for the first five minutes, enjoying the little rug-pulls and sudden changes in physics. Then played the level where a wrong move launches you into the ceiling spikes. Yelped with joy at the sheer gall of this. A+ would recommend to friends and enemies alike.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 9:32 PM on June 11 [2 favorites]

Occasionally I would anticipate a surprise obstacle and avoid it and feel smug for about 2 seconds before (spoiler alert) the next surprise obstacle got me.
posted by aubilenon at 10:05 PM on June 11 [2 favorites]

wicked (pejorative)
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 4:37 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]

This is a great game!
I had to skip one of the flappy bird levels, but I really liked that the game is fair, while still feeling unfair.
posted by Acari at 8:50 AM on June 12 [4 favorites]

Brilliant.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 9:46 AM on June 12 [1 favorite]

I am terrible at these things so I greatly enjoyed all of the deaths that were not because I timed the jump wrong.
posted by Karmakaze at 12:52 PM on June 12 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I think what makes this work so well is that it's generally not a difficult platformer, as far as that kind of thing goes, but rather a tricksy one that is telling you upfront that it's going to kill you in unexpected ways. But once it's done that, you know how the level will react in that part, and can solve the puzzle of avoiding it.

Also, as noted in the FPP, the comedic timing of this thing is top-notch.
posted by Navelgazer at 1:51 PM on June 12 [2 favorites]

THis had me laughing out loud a number of times, it's perverse.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 5:59 PM on June 12 [2 favorites]

Very cool. I love/hate that you have to keep dying to figure out in what unexpected way things are going to kill you in each stage.
posted by dg at 9:22 PM on June 12 [1 favorite]

Back when it was new, I loved the game Out of This World aka Another World. It was mostly a platformer with some story but the general gameplay was figuring out how to get around the obvious threads. There were a few unexpected dangers of being on this hostile alien world, but for the most part you could figure out what was dangerous and avoid it. Sure I died a lot, but most of those deaths felt at least somewhat fair. There were some sequences that were Too Difficult, but whatever, it was the early 90's, we died in video games all the time. At least theoretically if you were smart enough and fast enough you could maybe imagine playing through without dying - though I think the story of the game played straight through would involve Conrad making a few lucky guesses.

Years later once emulators became widespread, I found out about a sequel Heart of the Alien, released only for the Sega CD which I don't think I even knew about that platform before this. So I excited fired it up. It picks up right where the first game left off. But fairly early on in the game, you're walking down a corridor and ... the roof just caves in on you with no warning and you die. If you know that's happening you can wait and avoid the rocks but I never really tried to go any further than that.
posted by aubilenon at 9:15 AM on June 13 [3 favorites]