When I dived into the behemoth challenge of trying out and writing about over 100 game demos, I couldn’t say that I expected to become a murderer through doing so. It just didn’t seem like something that was even remotely a possibility, but then I came across Game Over – A Musical RPG. 

To be clear, I didn’t have some kind of psychotic breakdown under the pressure of what I’d promised to do, and no actual person has been harmed in the making of this article. However, I am struggling under the weight of my guilt, here, because the Game Over demo introduced me to Micky and then subsequently gave me no choice but to kill him and no way to fix it. 

Disclaimer: The full game of Game Over may be entirely different from the demo, but I’ve only played the demo and that has left me traumatized.

What is Game Over?

Game Over is an RPG game in which players adventure through a variety of different locations and take on various enemies in DDR-style, keyboard-based song battles. These battles start out feeling difficult and end up at a level that borders on “well, this is impossible”, but thankfully, there’s something called a “Nigel Mode” that does them automatically for you. 

I tried to complete one of these battles in easy mode, but even that seemed like too much to ask for my old-woman fingers, so I’m not ashamed to admit that I gave in and put Nigel Mode on to get through the demo. 

Maybe if I hadn’t, I’d still be playing, and Micky would still be alive. 

Game Over is designed to be played just once. When you’re done with a save file and have completed the whole game, it can never be opened again. With such a design, the demo follows the same pattern with murderous intent. 

Introducing Micky 

Micky is a green… Something. He could be a frog, he could be anything, but he is annoying and lovable in equal measure. He’s your guide through the demo of Game Over, and he is desperate to live, which will come to an end if you close the game. So, he does his best to keep you there, even going as far as freaking out if you open the main menu to access the settings. 

He tells you, repeatedly, that if you exit the game at any point, he will die. Cease to exist. Never come back. He begs you not to exit the game when it comes time to do so, emotionally and desperately. But this is a game, right? That’s what I told myself when I reached the end of what I could do in the demo and closed it down. 

Oh boy, was I wrong. 

Apparently, Micky was not lying. This was not a “funny haha” joke, this was very serious. Opening up the game again was enough to tell me that Micky was gone and never coming back. I’d killed Micky. Micky was, and remains to this day, dead. 

I am, apparently, a monster.

Worth it for the humor

As if to make myself sound worse, I’d do it all over again because Micky is the perfect conduit for the hilarious writing provided by developer Jake Houston. I honestly wouldn’t mind killing him all over again, because the experience of dealing with him made me smile like no other demo I’ve managed to play. It reminded me of dealing with a toddler: Manipulative, but cute, so you can forgive him. 

Except I can’t do that, because even uninstalling the demo and deleting the game data didn’t remove what I’d done. It’s now permanently etched onto my psyche, and I may as well include “Micky killer” on my resume at this point, because I am haunted by what I’ve done. To get screenshots for this article, I’ve had to enlist my fiancé and turn him into a Micky killer, too. 

Thankfully, he’s a good sport about it. He even found some secrets by toying with Micky’s emotions and teasing him with death. Who’s the monster now?

Despite the side dish of soul-corrupting life-ending when it comes to Micky, Game Over – A Musical RPG is worth playing, as long as you can deal with the consequences of closing the game. You can download the demo now on Steam (you’ve been warned), and the full game is also available to purchase.