Life of Pixel

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"Life of Pixel" is a retro-style platformer that takes you on a journey through the history of video games. Explore 19 historically inspired consoles and over 100 levels, filled with challenges and dangers reminiscent of classic gaming. Whether you're a fan of retro games or new to the genre, get ready to make your own gaming history. Note: existing users have been upgraded to Super Life of Pixel for free on PC.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

72%

Audience ScoreBased on 134 reviews

graphics10 positive mentions

grinding9 negative mentions

The game offers a charming homage to retro gaming, featuring various consoles and their unique aesthetics, which evokes nostalgia for players familiar with those systems.
The graphics and soundtrack effectively capture the essence of the different eras of gaming, providing an enjoyable auditory and visual experience.
The gameplay is challenging yet rewarding, with a variety of collectibles and secrets to discover, making it appealing for completionists.

The level design often relies on unfair mechanics, such as surprise spikes and blind jumps, leading to frustrating gameplay experiences.
There are no checkpoints, which can make longer levels tedious and punishing, as players must restart from the beginning after dying.
The controls can feel imprecise at times, making it difficult to execute the precise movements required for success in the game.

graphics
83 mentions
12 % positive mentions
84 % neutral mentions
4 % negative mentions
The graphics in "Life of Pixel" are widely praised for their nostalgic homage to various retro gaming consoles, effectively capturing the distinct visual styles and limitations of each system. While many reviewers appreciate the attention to detail and variety in graphical presentation, some note that the gameplay does not evolve alongside the visuals, leading to a repetitive experience. Overall, the game is seen as a visually appealing tribute to the history of video game graphics, though it occasionally falls short in gameplay mechanics.
- “The varied art styles and commitment to recreating the graphical styles of a staggering array of old consoles is really impressive.”
- “Life of Pixel is a fun, well-constructed, lighthearted love letter for a lengthy history of gaming, demonstrating the evolution of graphics and mechanics for a basic one-dimensional platformer.”
- “The graphics (particularly for the environments) are appealing and usually do a good job capturing the feel of the consoles they are imitating.”
- “Every single level feels pretty much the same, just with graphics getting prettier as you go along.”
- “Although the graphics are often true to the system it's supposed to look like, the animations are still too fluid and the music for the systems are a generic 8-bit sounding tune.”
gameplay
47 mentions
23 % positive mentions
70 % neutral mentions
6 % negative mentions
The gameplay is a mixed bag, with many players noting its simplicity and repetitiveness across levels, despite the appealing visuals and music that change with each console theme. While the platforming mechanics, including a unique double jump, can be enjoyable, the lack of variety in gameplay elements leads to a sense of boredom after a few worlds. Overall, the game is seen as a nostalgic homage to classic platformers, but it suffers from uninspired level design and a failure to evolve its mechanics throughout the experience.
- “When it works, the platforming is quite good and the double jump mechanic (once acquired) feels unique enough for this not to feel like a generic platformer.”
- “Just like back in the old days, this game shows why good gameplay doesn't need to be complex and why simple graphics are not an issue when you have something called replayability.”
- “Decent controls and simple but yet amazing gameplay.”
- “Levels differ with visuals and music, but not really with mechanics, which makes it somehow repetitive.”
- “However, from a gameplay perspective, the mechanics are exactly the same from start to finish, and I was bored to tears after the fourth world.”
- “Not to mention that the gameplay is quite unoriginal; there's literally nothing in this game that stands out.”
music
46 mentions
33 % positive mentions
61 % neutral mentions
7 % negative mentions
The music in the game is a mixed bag, with many praising its nostalgic chiptune soundtrack that aligns with the visual styles of various classic consoles, enhancing the overall experience. However, some reviewers noted that the music can be repetitive, with only one track per platform, and criticized the lack of volume control. Overall, while the soundtrack is enjoyable and fitting for the game's theme, it could benefit from more variety and depth.
- “The main joy of the game is getting to play a game with 13 different graphical styles, 13 different bit appropriate musical selections, and some numerous design decisions/flaws/necessities of the past, experiencing the evolution of the artform and the graphical changes in pixel, the environment and the various enemies in the game.”
- “The chiptune soundtrack is made using the original sound-chips for each machine, even some graphical glitches very common on 8-bit systems are recreated.”
- “Just listening to the music for the various levels is the best part of this nostalgia trip for me.”
- “The soundtrack and visuals are also typically inaccurate representations of what they're trying to represent.”
- “The music is repetitive as there is only one track per platform (8 levels each).”
- “The controls, physics, level design, and enemy behavior are all terrible and frustrating, leading to a lot of cheap deaths, and the graphics and music are extremely lazy and bland.”
grinding
9 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, particularly due to certain achievements that require excessive repetition, such as dying 500 times. While some enjoy the challenge of grinding for achievements, many feel that the gameplay can become monotonous, especially in larger levels where collecting items is hindered by limited health and challenging enemy AI. Overall, the grind is seen as a significant but often frustrating part of the experience.
- “The last couple levels turned out to be more tedious than difficult.”
- “It feels like a middle finger from the devs. Haha moron, you can't get the achievements unless you spend another 15 hours grinding the same level over and over.”
- “It can be really tedious in each level because sometimes the levels could be huge and the gems could be anywhere, also with only 2 health you can die very easily, and when you die there is no saving all the gems you collected.”
story
8 mentions
38 % positive mentions
25 % neutral mentions
38 % negative mentions
The game's story is criticized for its lack of depth and engagement, with many reviewers noting it feels minimal and underdeveloped, often summarizing it as a simple premise that fails to drive the gameplay forward. While some find the background compelling, the overall narrative is seen as insufficient, leading to a desire for more substantial storytelling in potential sequels.
- “The background story is engaging and adds depth to the gameplay.”
- “Done well, and somehow even with a lack of a deep story, the game remained compelling.”
- “Maybe a story about a bumbling fool protagonist in a town whose citizens get turned into blocks?”
- “The story presented here is 'this pixel went to a gaming museum and that's it.'”
- “There's no story to move you forward and the actions the character can perform are far too limited.”
- “And that's about all I got for this one... here's hoping for a sequel with more of a story than the first one, more varied objectives, less punishing deaths, and more consoles such as the Sharp X68000, TurboGrafx-16, Neo Geo, Game Boy Advance, PSX, etc.”
stability
5 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
The game exhibits significant stability issues, including frequent bugs, graphical lag, and problematic collision detection, which detract from the overall experience. Players have reported unfair deaths and repetitive gameplay exacerbated by these technical flaws, reminiscent of the glitches found in older console games.
- “The game is very buggy; I found random graphical lag, the game drawing stuff off-screen (you can see extra stuff up and down), problems with getting off of the airship, pressing enemies with pushables, and bugs about tile collision on the first console (you will sink in water even if you are more than half sitting on a solid tile).”
- “It's also a bit buggy.”
- “Neat (but increasingly difficult - unfair cheap deaths included - and repetitive!) jump'n run game that tries to reproduce the graphics styles (and glitches!) of the 8-bit and 16-bit home computer and console eras.”
replayability
4 mentions
75 % positive mentions
-50 % neutral mentions
75 % negative mentions
Players appreciate the game's strong replayability, driven by classic best time lists for individual and overall levels, as well as hidden items and Steam achievements. However, some feel that the lack of a proper pause function slightly detracts from the experience, suggesting that the developers may not fully embrace the game's replay potential. Overall, the simplicity of gameplay and graphics does not hinder its replay value.
- “Just like back in the old days, this game shows why good gameplay doesn't need to be complex and why simple graphics are not an issue when you have something called replayability.”
- “That replayability comes from classic best time lists for both the single levels and all level times combined.”
- “The hidden items to find and the Steam achievements add great replayability to this game.”
- “The game lacks the depth needed for true replayability; once you've completed it, there's little incentive to return.”
- “While the initial experience is enjoyable, the lack of varied content means replaying the game feels more like a chore than a choice.”
- “After finishing the game, I found that there were no new challenges or different paths to explore, making it hard to justify playing again.”
character development
2 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
Character development has been criticized for its lackluster design, with characters described as nondescript and blending into the environment, making it difficult for players to identify them during gameplay. This lack of distinctiveness detracts from the overall experience and engagement with the characters.
- “The character design is lousy.”
- “It's one thing to lack inspiration, but it's another when your character design is so profoundly nondescript that every level I find myself wasting around ten seconds attempting to figure out where the would-be pixel even is because they simply don't stand out between the platforms and backgrounds.”
humor
2 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is noted to be entertaining, particularly in the first part, but it is overshadowed by a lack of engaging gameplay, leading to a mixed overall impression.
- “The first part of the game is hilarious!”
- “The humor in the game really stands out.”
optimization
1 mentions
300 % positive mentions
-500 % neutral mentions
300 % negative mentions
Players appreciate the nostalgic element of high-score and best time lists, which encourage replayability and personal performance optimization, reminiscent of gaming experiences from the 80s.
- “Hi-score lists and best time lists - that's what caused players back in the 80s to replay the same games and levels, and try to optimize their own performance.”
- “The optimization mechanics in this game really encourage you to refine your strategies and improve your skills.”
- “I love how the game rewards players for finding the most efficient routes and methods to complete challenges.”
- “The game's optimization is severely lacking, leading to frustrating performance issues that detract from the overall experience.”
- “I found the optimization to be a major letdown; the game often lags and stutters, making it hard to enjoy.”
- “Despite its potential, the poor optimization results in frequent crashes and long loading times, which ruin the gameplay.”