The Perfect Game for the Global Economic Meltdown

October 18, 2008 4:52 PM

Karoshi Suicide Salaryman challenges you to maneuver yourself into hazards rather than around them. And it's free, a quality we could all use more of in these trying times.
posted by mattholomew (31 comments total)

Ditto with Phalene.
posted by champthom at 5:31 PM on October 18, 2008

I can't get past #41.
posted by Memo at 5:33 PM on October 18, 2008

Okay, I figured it out: Get the other safe underneath the one that falls. Push the safe and the top safe will fall on you.
posted by champthom at 5:33 PM on October 18, 2008

5 Minutes to Kill Yourself via Adultswim.com
posted by The Whelk at 5:34 PM on October 18, 2008 [2 favorites]

Hahahaha. I'm on 37 now. Great find.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 5:38 PM on October 18, 2008

34 is killing my brain!
posted by tmt at 5:39 PM on October 18, 2008 [1 favorite]

26 has got me.
posted by brundlefly at 5:46 PM on October 18, 2008

(nevermind)
posted by brundlefly at 5:48 PM on October 18, 2008

Walkthrough, I needed it on level 7, 4, and 2.
posted by amuseDetachment at 5:57 PM on October 18, 2008 [1 favorite]

There has been a couple of levels where I'm not sure if I beat the level properly or by exploiting a bug.
posted by Memo at 6:02 PM on October 18, 2008

Sick fun, but it's no Portal.
posted by infinitewindow at 6:07 PM on October 18, 2008

that was fun, yes.
posted by gcbv at 6:10 PM on October 18, 2008

Finished! I had to use the walkthrough for level 10.
posted by Memo at 6:20 PM on October 18, 2008

OK...so I have a gun? Why can't I shoot myself? UNREALISTIC.
posted by jimmythefish at 6:36 PM on October 18, 2008

Even a quadruple post won't get you killed... you'll have to try something else.
posted by Foosnark at 7:01 PM on October 18, 2008 [3 favorites]

Aha. Did it all, sans walkthrough. Only took 3 hours of my life. Now I feel smug and empty.
posted by RokkitNite at 7:34 PM on October 18, 2008

Here is a post about the music.
posted by xorry at 7:48 PM on October 18, 2008

Hooray! For beating it without a walkthrough in less than an hour, my weekend is finally starting to look up!
posted by barnacles at 8:15 PM on October 18, 2008

41 on my machine seems impossible. I cannot possible get my guy under the safe while also jumping and shooting. My reflexes and keyboard response time seem like it's impossible.

Twitch stuff was funner when I was younger.
posted by maxwelton at 8:35 PM on October 18, 2008

Man, I hate it when you have a good puzzle game going, then they go and change the rules on you. It's such a lazy way out of putting work into level design. I liked this game until level 13.
posted by samw at 9:11 PM on October 18, 2008

Beat it. Level 7 was the hardest, for me, and I disagree with samw. I was getting kind of bored, but 13 made it fun again.
posted by Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America at 10:04 PM on October 18, 2008

41 on my machine seems impossible. I cannot possible get my guy under the safe while also jumping and shooting. My reflexes and keyboard response time seem like it's impossible.

Go for the spikes, instead, and no youngster reflexes are required.
posted by Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America at 10:06 PM on October 18, 2008

Beat it, no walkthrough; unjustly self-satisfied.
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:35 PM on October 18, 2008

There's also Karoshi (not flash) and Karoshi 2.0 (not flash) if you want more of it. I haven't played through more than the first few levels of this flash version, so I can't really comment on the differences, except that I imagine it would be difficult to accomplish some of the effects in 2.0 in flash.
posted by Pyry at 11:35 PM on October 18, 2008

Also, I forgot to mention Karoshi Factory, which is like the other Karoshi's except that you control multiple characters and have to get them all killed.
posted by Pyry at 11:38 PM on October 18, 2008

Heh, last few levels are amusingly maddening.
posted by MetaMonkey at 3:50 AM on October 19, 2008

I didn't think this deserved a post by itself, so here it is: Don't shoot the puppy!
posted by P.o.B. at 4:14 AM on October 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

I think I like Don't Shoot the Puppy and Five Minutes to Kill (Yourself) more. Five Minutes to Kill (Yourself) is strangely complex while Don't Shoot the Puppy is just twisted.
posted by fiercekitten at 8:27 AM on October 19, 2008

I get that it is all fun and games (literally) but this is death-by-overworking we are talking about here.

I'm no prude but if someone made a similar game about dying in car crashes (just to pick a sadly common form of death in the US) would it be so funny?
posted by gen at 1:06 AM on October 20, 2008

gen: "I'm no prude but if someone made a similar game about dying in car crashes (just to pick a sadly common form of death in the US) would it be so funny?"

Obviously you've never been exposed to Burnout and Flatout. The second one even has mini games where you have to get the driver to some kind of goal after crashing.
posted by Memo at 5:33 AM on October 20, 2008

I get that it is all fun and games (literally) but this is death-by-overworking we are talking about here.

I'd say it's actually that your job drives you to kill yourself. You know, when the phone doesn't stop ringing and all your clients are pissed, and you just found out you've been passed over for a raise and your friend was just fired. You know, every other day.
posted by fiercekitten at 9:56 AM on October 20, 2008