‘Jack the Reaper’ Demo: Restore the Natural Order as the Grim Reaper

Who hasn’t dreamt of being Death for a day or two? Well, probably not a lot of people, but in this game  you don’t have a say in the matter – you’re the Grim Reaper, and your mission is simple: the dead have risen from their graves as a result of the Moon falling onto Earth (wait, what?) and it’s up to you to put them back where they belong. Time to swing that scythe!

Being Death incarnate, or in this case, Jack the Reaper, doesn’t mean you’re immortal or that you can simply poke people in order to lay them to rest (again). You’ll have to fight your way through a wide variety of levels, aided only by souls harvest from fallen foes, which allows you to use certain abilities/attacks and lay waste to your foes with greater ease. Just remember: immortality is not on your resumé and your lives are finite, so be careful as you’re the only one who can restore the balance.

Oh and get this: the tutorial shows a SNES controller to explain the controls! How’s that for a unique way of paying homage to the classics? The game even has a ‘world map’ along the lines of Super Mario World, although not as detailed, and every time you enter a stage, a huge “Let’s Go!” pops up on the screen… crazy stuff. It all works well though, with tight controls, catchy music and an appropriately silly story tying everything together.

That said, it’s not all fun and games, or at least not yet, as a handful bugs have been reported in the devlog on TIGForums. But the developer does seem to be on top of things, and none of the bugs are downright game breaking, so I’d still recommend you grab the current demo and find out if you have what it takes to help Jack on his mission.