The life of a zombie is a sad one. Beyond tearing the still living to pieces and devouring their brains like a dog with a bone, the daily routine consists of aimless wandering, moaning, and staring off lifelessly until a new source of nourishment presents itself. There is little purpose and a lot of downtime. But what if the undead did have some function or higher aspiration? What if the mushy parts that power thinking and emotion remained intact with these otherwise lifeless husks? As the brainchild of Nick Yonge and Developer Curiobot, Love Is Dead provides the answer.
You play as two humans in love who meet their ultimate demise at the hands of the apocalypse (if you consider pianos and anvils raining from the sky apocalyptic). In the moments leading up to our lovers’ death, their precious pets Dogface and Catface manage to survive and scurry off to safety. While the nameless couple is “dead,’ their brains and hearts remain intact and drive the search for their lost animals. This quirky premise is what introduces us to the isometric puzzler that is Love Is Dead.
The lovers pursuit for Dogface and Catface involves traversing through seven different themed worlds as they hunt for clues. Each world contains a number of different areas most of which house three separate levels. Players will need to carry out an assortment of tasks within each level and reunite with their loved one in order to clear the level. The requirements vary immensely as players will need to do everything from eating other humans, piloting cars to take down obstacles, and even making sculptures. You’ll constantly be provided with new and unexpected challenges to overcome and tools to learn within each world. I went from chasing down unarmed humans and evading armed ones to painting blank canvasses in an art gallery in less than an hour. It’s this bizarre variety that kept me guessing and surprised as I progressed.
The above noted creativity combines perfectly with Love Is Dead’s simplicity. Virtually anyone can quickly jump in and find enjoyment in moving throughout the games wacky levels. Controls are easy to grasp, and it is fairly obvious what to avoid and what is safe. A single level can often be cleared in a matter of minutes, meaning it’s quick to hop in and out of the experience. However, with limited movement capabilities (you’re effectively controlling a moving chess piece) timing and close attention to where you’re moving will be required.
While the game can be cleared solo, a friend can join in for local co-op and take control of your other zombie lover. This will come in handy as many levels require each of the two zombies to work together to progress. These cooperative tasks can be easily done in solo as well as the game allows you to quickly switch between lovers with a tap of the space bar – it just takes a little longer with one person controlling. These two ways to play the game work to offer very different but both fun experiences.
For a game this simple, Love Is Dead boasts an impressive amount of replayability. With over 300 levels, it’s no small task trying to see it through to completion. Even getting to the point where the credits roll will not present you with a 100% accomplishment. Each level contains three pancakes which can be collected. Some of these pancakes are open and obvious, only requiring a bit of extra effort to pick up prior to the final reunion with your loved one. However, many others are hidden and require added investigation to uncover. You will need a set amount of pancakes to progress from one world to the next, however this is a small amount and many can be bypassed to move on.
Furthermore certain levels contain a secret hidden collectible, usually in the form of a photograph. These items are always hidden and are never obvious in their placement. Players will often need to revisit levels to collect these as you won’t know they’ve been missed until after an area is complete. It’s easy to sidestep these things – but a big part of me wanted it all. These items are never far out of reach and I found it impressive how the game teases you with them. I never felt like I really cleared a stage until I picked everything up. Love Is Dead somehow makes you want to leave with everything, and you’ll sink a lot of time into the game doing this.
Love Is Dead does have a few notable downfalls. There are some areas that require quick and agile movement in order to avoid death or track down a victim. This sounds simple but feels cumbersome given the movement limitations you have. I would watch myself endlessly trying to track down a human and be running in circles until it became an annoyance (it actually looked a lot like Q*Bert but on a flat surface). It’s just not a mechanic that fits all that well into the overall puzzle focus of the game. You’re also often teased into collecting pancakes and photographs in tough to reach areas that are barricaded by cheap obstacles. This combines and results in the game feeling tedious at times. But these minor inconveniences did not detract much from my overall enjoyment.
What Love Is Dead provides is impressive. A long lived and enjoyable puzzler packed into a quirky love story with two zombies at the center of it all. This game contains a staggering amount of creativity and variety with almost no barriers for entry. Despite some a few objectives that may make you groan, the overall experience is immensely enjoyable and will be sure to put a smile on your face.
Love Is Dead releases on Steam on Thursday May 31st, 2018. If you plan to pick it up, use our affiliate link to buy some Steam credit on Amazon!
Love Is Dead was provided to the reviewer by the publishing company but this fact did not alter the reviewer’s opinion.
Check out our Review Guide to see what we criteria we use to score games.
