Flipping Death

Flipping Death is a puzzle platformer from Swedish developer Zoink Games, who you might know from games like Fe and Stick it to the Man!. While Fe was a rather unique experience, Zoink Games hasn't strayed too far from their own front porch for its next game, because both Stick it to the Man! and Flipping Death sound and look alike.

Now, don't put your wallet away just yet, because we still feel a recommendation brewing.

The story follows Penny Doewood, who, after having been fired from a funeral home for being "too enthusiastic", is mistaken for The Grim Reaper's temp. She, therefore, is tasked with guiding restless souls to their final resting place, which mainly includes running a bunch of errands. One should think Death has more important things to do, but then again, this is the type of game that uses the fourth wall like a common kitchen table. The only reason for actually doing all of these errands is because it's just a game.

We're still not sure how we feel about this ironic approach. Anywho, the game's visual style is what you might get if Tim Burton and Craig McCracken drew a pop-up book together. The soundtrack is composed mainly of farting jazz trumpets, and we are instantly transported back to the glory days of Ed, Edd & Eddy. It's got a playful and intense tone and tempo, fitting of the game's visual style and central mechanics.

The core gameplay mechanic consists of solving puzzles across dimensions, meaning you have to possess the bodies of living people, have them perform tasks that open the way ahead to the afterlife - flipping death, as it were. Through this mechanic, you get to explore a wide cast of characters, each with their own quirks and unique traits. This is where the game's humour has its chance to shine, but unfortunately, it shares the limelight with a tour bus full of bugs.

We usually encountered these bugs when trying to possess someone's body, which halted all progress dead in its tracks. Other times it was the game's own physics that turned the simple task of moving objects into a hellish ordeal. Even when this worked as intended, we experienced it as a science less accurate than astrology. It was still fun, but it could definitely use that extra bit of polish.

As we progressed we realised we really like the kind of level design that Flipping Death is sporting. Yes, figuring out where everything is and how it works does take some time, but once you've figured out a solution to one problem, the other problems become increasingly easy to figure out. You experience a domino effect of eureka moments. There is, however, not much development or progress in the mechanics, which leaves the humour as the pack-animal tasked with carrying the game to the finish line.

Sometimes the humour goes beyond reasonable doubt, though. A lot of fun can be had when the game is so fast paced you don't get time to consider what is actually being said, and Flipping Death definitely pulls this off. But sometimes they insert nuggets of what we assume is social criticism. We tried to keep tabs on how often this occurred, and no less than four times did we hear mentions of or allusions to toxic masculinity.

To us, it seemed pointless and tonally jarring. It's an important subject, don't get us wrong, but here it felt like a newly-divorced best man saying marriage is just a social construct in his speech at the wedding.

Despite this, we left Flipping Death in a very good mood. Those who are familiar with Stick it to the Man! will probably not be blown away by how innovative or fresh Flipping Death is, but it's still a pretty great game. The over-the-top visual style and soundtrack gave us the feeling of playing something that belongs on the Cartoon Network. Seriously, we can't count all the times this game made us laugh out loud.

This is a game that doesn't overstay its welcome and doesn't outlast its own capacity to entertain. Towards the end, it has definitely used up all its party tricks and has to resort to sacrificing fart sounds on the gallows of humour, but even this has its darkly funny appeal.