I AM DIE

[h1]Can’t seem to roll with it[/h1] [b]Full disclosure:[/b] I got the game key on request. Shout out to the developer! On paper, [i]I Am Die[/i] sounds like a fun concept. You take control of a playing die to clear puzzles scattered around levels. From the way it was presented, you can tell the game aims to create a casual, easygoing nature around it. But ultimately, the biggest takeaway is I don’t know what this game is trying to be. In fact, it’s quite contrarian and complex in certain parts. Here’s the main core loop: you’re a playing die, and your goal is to press a button, guide a ball to its hole, which unlocks the dome that keeps a key to the exit that you grab, head to the exit’s tile to match its number, and complete the level by going through the exit. All while keeping your score as low as possible. In fact, the lower your score, the more stars you earn. And there are three stars in total. Right off the bat, I am not sure how the playing die’s capacity as a playing die fits in here. Much of what you do in that loop I mentioned is contextual; you park yourself as the missing bridge between one path to another so the ball can travel and not fall into a ditch. But how else do you use the die within this loop, strictly as a playing die and not a "bridge"? On the scoring, I often found myself going crazy like Alex Mason, wondering what the numbers mean. But at a glance, your final performance is calculated based on three factors; how long you took to finish a level, how many times you died, and how many points you racked up. Interestingly, every time you move — roll yourself forward, really — or jump, if you stop in your tracks and wait, you’ll have “rolled a number”, which counts towards your total score. But… I am a die. And all the levels are designed to encourage platforming; meaning, I’m going to roll and flip a tonne. By doing so, I’d be racking up points faster than the average citizen living under a social credit system. Even if that design choice was addressed, the time-based element puts pressure on the player to finish the level as fast as possible. By the time you’re done, the timer has gone beyond 100 seconds. With the most optimal score to earn those stars being set between 0 to 60, there’s no way you’d earn them anyway. Soooo... what’s the player to do if they’re discouraged from doing what naturally feels fun for them to do as a playing die? There’s some issue in the design's fundamentals that needs addressing. The metagame elements, or at least the benefit they bring to the gameplay, is not made clear either. For instance, how do the Triple Roll Transformations help the player? To add to this disadvantage are the physics. While it’s fun, it’s naturally random; you have no control over it. So this contradicts the player-deterministic role that the scoring system plays. Mechanics must mesh well with other mechanics to create smooth-sailing systems so players can bend the rules without feeling lost. I don't see that here. The user interface adds to the confusion; the bars on the top-right don’t tell me what they’re for. The elements in the screen’s bottom half show different features that neither communicate what they are meant for nor what they do. And because I’m too busy having fun hopping from spot to spot and racking up by rolling myself, I lose any intent to track the “metrics” being captured there. I think the game is trying to do too much, and needs a bit of a [i]de-work[/i]; less stuff that populates the game, a tighter core gameplay, and a complete (and frankly, much simpler) revision of the scoring system before it can be the game it wants to be. That is, if the game knows what it wants to be. And the only way to know is through heavy player-testing. Not the quality assurance kind, but the user feedback kind, just to see how people feel about the game. The tutorial succeeds at helping you connect some elements together, but I felt lost even beyond that. Killing some creative ideas to let an entire game flourish on its own is tough. But [i]I Am Die[/i] is proof of why that’s important.

This game has great music

Amazing lil puzzle game. You're in for a treat!

Sadly, I am not able to play this game in any shape or form. Keyboard doesn't work. Mouse is required for menu navigation.. Steam controller options were checked, Two controllers were plugged in PS5 Controller, and Razer Wolverine V2, both USB, both undetected. unplugged PS5, so just xbox is in, checked controller settings. Nothing. Game doesn't detect a single button pressed. Broken. Cannot recommend, because i tried to make it work. I restarted the game MULTIPLE times, in the different configurations, And I know both controllers work, as it's working fine in all other steam games.. Honest review, I am really sad that I could not play this, as it looked amazing, from 3D perspective and from the imagery, I wanted this journey to be a success, but it could not even start. Sorry Ryab, I wish i could play it. https://steamcommunity.com/id/1mantisphoenix/screenshot/2108304796890670110/ Reddit user- Thank you,

Fun and unique controls and mechanics. If you like puzzle games, random physics fun, then you'll probably enjoy I am Die. It took me longer than I would have liked to figure out the tutorial, but after that it was a fun twist on puzzle games. The in-game music and die voice are fun and made it more enjoyable. Excited to see how many puzzles I can finish! Note: I got a key for testing and feedback, but the above review is my honest feedback.

I AM DIE has an interesting concept, and looks like a fun puzzle platformer. However, there is no mouse and keyboard support and it seems it has not been properly tested for PS5 controllers. Most buttons work, however, rotating the die doesn't work at all. I couldn't even get pass the tutorial because of this issue. This wouldn't be as big of a problem if the game allowed key remapping, but it doesn't look like that's available.