
Blast evil robots in a retro psychedelic maze of an office, as you bring down the security servers and make your way home. Die for the Economy! is a retro arcade survival game featuring beautiful, chunky pixel art graphics with a psychedelic slant harking back to the old 8-bit game systems.
Modeled estimate, not a reported figure. How we estimate →
Media

About
Die for the Economy! is a love letter to 1980s maze-based arcade games like Berzerk and Frenzy. Armed with your trusty blaster, the P-45, make your way through the maze, blast the evil robots and avoid the electrified walls.
Gameplay:
Play either the regular game (escape the maze), a random game with powerups, or 'classic' mode.
As you venture through the maze, finding and destroying security servers, you are accompanied by your friend The Union Rep over the video communicator. The Union Rep will provide useful instructions for getting out of the maze.
For bonus points, you can also collect patent documents which appear in most of the rooms. Each room has one and you can see on the results screen how many of them you ended up collecting- it's just a little extra challenge to take on as you battle your way through.
If you run away from the robots, they WILL taunt you for it. Because they're mean.
In a security server room, there are four shield terminals (one in each corner of the screen) that need to be destroyed to disable the shield surrounding the server in the center. Once you've taken the shield down, the server will be exposed and ready to receive some laser blasts! Hit it until it is destroyed.
When you disable all of the security servers, it's time to return to the start screen (in the center of the maze) where the teleporter will be activated (The Union Rep will tell you when it's time to return, so don't worry about keeping track of that!). Get back to the teleporter to complete the game.
See how far you can get in a randomly generated maze - it's different every time! In this mode, there are powerups to speed you up and extend your firepower. Take down as many bots as possible, survive the longest and beat your high scores.
It's a random maze, no servers, no powerups just a huge maze full of robots. See how long you can survive!
Beautiful, chunky pixel art graphics with a psychedelic slant harking back to the old 8-bit systems.
3 game modes to suit your style of play
Leaderboards for chasing your own high scores
The gameplay captures the essence of classic arcade games, but modernized to enjoy new features without taking away the original vibe.
Pause the game at any time, ideal if you need to put the kettle on and make a cup of tea!
Will you take up the challenge? Wishlist now and follow now, to stay up to date!
Genres
Stats
All-time low is the lowest price we've recorded for this game since we started tracking it.
Languages: English**languages with full audio support
Engagement
Hours played at review time, across 21 reviews with recorded playtime.
Reviews
Feels like I waited so long for this retro gem. Its quite a challenge but the more I get used to it the more fun I have! I love the music and the dark humour. If I didn't know better I'd say there's some kind of allegory in this game somewhere, almost like its a satire on the 'ensh1tification' of tech today, 'back to the office mandates' and the rabid zeal of 'AI bros'. I don't know about the 'beserk' game that apparently inspires it but it gives me all kinds of 80s vibes from my ZX Spectrum days - Sabre Wulfe, Attic Attack, Chimera. Its fine complaining about all the AAA greed, but better to support the indie studios of this world so do yourself a favour and have a blast on this cute, retro, and charmingly terrifying game!
The best Berzerk-like spiritual successor I've ever played!
Berzerk is not one that I ever played, but it's not required here. This one starts out relatively easy (at least on standard difficulty - Frenzied is a nightmare from the onset) but quickly becomes hectic. Server rooms become increasingly complex as you go, and you will need to balance constantly moving forward (and staying ahead of the purple thing that is always chasing you) with racking up as many points as possible to earn extra lives. Recommended for a different sort of arcade shooter.
First of all: it runs like a charm on the Steam Deck, if you're on the fence about that. This is pure retro arcade "just one more game" fun! Simple, direct and addictive gameplay, tight controls and psychedelic graphics, it's the perfect brain flusher after a day of work for the economy. Also: "I hate mondays almost as much as I hate... ARGH!" _chef kiss_
This is a great Berzerk-a-like that features plenty of perks in the form of power-ups, options, difficulty settings, and game play modes. Features wonderful chunky pixels and a great retro vibe!
I died for the economy! It's like someone played Berzerk and thought hey, this would be slightly better if... and then they did that. And then they played their new game and though hey, this would be slightly better if... and then they did that. And then they played their new game and though hey, this would be slightly better if... and then they did that. And then they played their new game and though hey, this would be slightly better if... and then they did that. And then they played their new game and though hey, this would be slightly better if... and then they did that. And then they played their new game and though hey, this would be slightly better if... and then they did that. And then... So it's still Berzerk, but also a million times better and very clever and fun. Give it a shot!
Fantastic update to the Bezerk formula - the robots are out for blood and it's up to you to stop them. Gets pretty frenetic once you progress a little way into the game. You WILL die for the economy, and you will love every second of it
Excellent little Arcade shooter, with it's own vision of Bezerk. And it works lovely on the Steamdeck, so you get to have those quick five minute blasts, or a proper bezerk run around the angry robots, any time you like! Have you died for the economy, today?
A really nice modern take on Berserk
"Where are you going? To the chicken farm?" I've had a blast with this game - it is definitely a labour of love and tribute to early arcade games (developer mentions Bezerk as a main influence) but with the fluidity and polish that modern game development brings. The pixel art graphics are well suited to the game and some excellent explosion effects and screen shakes really add to the vibe. Special shout-out goes to the varied insults and office speak from the robots that are trying to ensure you will die for the economy. Be warned, this game is TOUGH. There are different difficulty modes for you to select and there are additional game modes which present differing challenges (and more game time for your money!). As with other Tea Monster games, this game is addictive and will have you going for just one more round, just to get that little bit further. Another great game from Tea Monster that I dive into for a quick go in between boring real life stuff - it's good to break up the day with quick blasts on games like this. Recommended for fans of retro gaming and arcade games of the past. WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: I died. I died so many times for the economy. Just kidding, I really enjoyed the whole thing - nice work!
Related
Related
Trends
Modeled estimate over time, reconstructed from Steam's monthly review histogram.
Audience
Estimated from the language of this game's reviews — a proxy for where players are, not official Steam demographics.
Related
| Algo Bot | $4.2K | 188 | 82% | $1.49 |
| Corporate Lust : Under My Desk, Under My Spell | $4.2K | 55 | 96% | $2.09 |
| Close Combat 2: A Bridge Too Far | $4.2K | 52 | 90% | $3.59 |
| Mahjong Destiny | $4.2K | 125 | 56% | $1.99 |
| 坤坤之家 | $4.3K | 103 | 93% | $1.99 |
| 西门立志传 | $4.2K | 57 | 37% | $3.59 |