Lavapools is a fun, challenging and addictive ‘hardcore game about dodging death’ that sees you dodging deadly traps and collecting crystals to progress to the next level.
Each level starts of fairly simply, but as you collect more crystals, more and more traps are activated, eventually turning into a near unpenatrable mix of blades, enemies and lava. When you die (and you will) you lose all of the crystals you collected, but similarly to Dark Souls, if you manage to get back to the spot where you died you can get half of the crystals back. This creates a real risk/reward dynamic, as you hold off collecting the crystals from your corpse for as long as possible, to keep the difficulty down, always aware that if you die before you collect them, they’re gone for good.
Lavapools has a charming pixel art graphical style, which compounded by the quirky sound bytes, challenging gameplay and it’s addictive ‘just one more go’ nature makes for a thoroughly enjoyable game. It’s certainly worth taking a dip in Lavapools.
UPDATE: This Alpha Is No Longer Available