TouchArcade Game of the Week: ‘Spooky Pixel Hero’

Developer AppSir Games has built up a loyal fanbase over the years with their “AppSir Games Universe” which are a collection of titles that all interconnect with one another in interesting ways. The most popular, I’d wager, is the DERE trilogy which consists of DERE EXE, DERE EVIL EXE, and DERE Vengeance, the latter of which was our Game of the Week when it launched last year. These are platforming games on the surface, but really they’re horror games as you uncover all sorts of weird hidden stuff and routinely break the fourth wall as you run and jump your way through each game. They’re all incredibly clever and, well, pretty unsettling, if I’m being honest. They are horror games after all.

Well the latest title from AppSir is called Spooky Pixel Hero, and in true AppSir fashion, there’s all sorts of meta stuff going on with this one. Technically this is a single screen platforming game that was, storyline-wise, created in 1976. So when it comes to visuals expect something more along the lines of an Atari 2600 or the early personal computers of the late ’70s and early ’80s. It’s very meat and potatoes too. You can move left or right, and you can jump. That’s it. There are various puzzle-like elements like moveable boxes or keys to unlock the exit that you’ll need contend with along with running and jumping along platforms and over a variety of hazards. The platforming is actually excellent and a great challenge, due in part to the often wacky physics of the game (another hallmark of AppSir platformers).

Of course, this isn’t JUST a platforming game. Occasionally cut-scenes will pop up and you’ll discover that you’re actually a young programmer who has been tasked with debugging and finishing this game from 1976. In fact you play as a programmer named Darius and you’re hoping that this work will help you in developing your own video game which you’re currently working on. That game is… DERE EXE! The developer behind AppSir Games is… Darius Guerrero! Goodbye fourth wall! Have you ever seen the movie Adaptation? That is the vibe I get from Spooky Pixel Hero. The dang developer wrote himself into his own game. I love it! This also serves as basically the origin story for DERE EXE and provides some context on why all the AppSir games are so… haunted.

As with the other AppSir games, all the story bits and lore building are just icing on what is already a very good platforming game. You don’t have to care about all that other stuff if you just want to test your platforming prowess, but the beauty here is that if you DO care about that other stuff, and if you venture out into the rest of the AppSir Games Universe titles, it’s just so much more rewarding. In fact, AppSir just recently released a video which tells you the order in which to play the different games in their library if you’re looking to do things chronologically according to their timeline. And you SHOULD play them! Heck they’re all free with ads and ad-removal options so there’s no reason not to dive into this strange interconnected world, and conveniently Spooky Pixel Hero is the one to play if you’re wanting to start at the very beginning.