“What would you do if today is your last day to live?” I think that’s the question that we find ourselves asking as we progress through this thing we call life. The idea of death is terrifying for some, “What’s after this?”, “Will My family be ok?”, “Does death hurt?” These are all perfectly normal questions!

However, “What would you do if today is your last day to live?” Seems to be the question that is asked at the beginning of Rolling Glory Jam‘s ‘Rage in Peace‘.



Rage in Peace was originally developed in November 2014 at an event titled “Indies VS PewDiePie”, held by Indie game website Game Jolt. The theme was focused around the idea of “fun to play, fun to watch” games. The top ten games would eventually be played by PewDiePie himself who was, and kinda still is, considered the number one youtube personality on the planet. His gaming videos indirectly helped elevate smaller and more obscure indie titles, such as Happy Wheels, back in the day.

Thankfully for Rolling Glory Jam, PewDiePie still played Rage in Peace, despite not making it into the top 10. Naturally, because he played the game, other YouTubers also picked it up and played it on their channels for their subscribers.



There is no fair way of describing the story of the game without spoiling it, but I’ll try. You play the game as Timmy Malinu, an emotionally numb 27-year-old who, upon arriving to work at his office, is suddenly visited by the Grim Reaper only to discover that he will die today by having his head chopped off. I have to assume there is no connected universe and whoever cuts his head off won’t endure the quickening on their quest…there can be only one!

Unfortunately for Timmy, there are no details on when, where, or what will kill him. Because of this, the grim reaper decides to offer a hand and helps him cheat/delay his death so that he can fulfil his one and only dream of dying peacefully in his pyjamas. To be fair, I feel like this is the one way anyone would prefer to end their life. Laying comfortably in bed is the ultimate peaceful way to die.

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To make this dream a reality, however, will prove to be difficult as Timmy needs to find a way to get home all whilst avoiding the many deadly traps and obstacles that mysteriously appear to prevent him from completing his journey. The Grim Reaper simply describes it as ‘you are supposed to die, so things like this are happening to accelerate the process’ and that it would become harder to avoid the closer you get to home. I just want to say that the Grim Reaper does not lie!



Rage in Peace will take you across 28 levels over the course of 5 acts. Each level is a sidescrolling platformer in which you have to avoid death in the form of hidden traps and other nefarious means. The only abilities you have to avoid them are jumping, a double jump and much later in the game, you can fly. Rage is the perfect word to describe how you will feel in certain spots. The game wants to punish you and keep you at your wit’s end.

For example, there could be a spot in which you know spikes will pop up out of the floor, so you will jump over them just to take a couple steps and a light fixture will fall on you. Memorisation is absolutely 100% key to conquering the levels and unravelling more of the games incredible story. If playing the game in its normal mode proves to be too brutal, the developers were kind and added in “Goldfish Mode.” Goldfish Mode doesn’t necessarily cut back on the traps, but what it does do is add more checkpoints in a level. This is extremely useful as you get into the last act where death will happen very often.

Apart from the main game, there are other modes to play Rage in Peace in. Speed Run is pretty self-explanatory. You play through the individual acts and try to maximise your abilities in order to clear them as fast as possible. If you are able to memorise the levels, it is entirely possible to beat the entire game in under 30 minutes! The game isn’t too long if you take your time though as I was able to beat it in around three to four hours. That’s also including moments when I got stuck at various points in the game for a lengthy period. Other than that, If you are a severe glutton for punishment, you can take on Pilgrimage. Pilgrimage mode goes full roguelike and gives you only one life to beat the entire game! I admit, there is no way humanly possible for me to pull that feat off. Any person that can complete the game with no deaths surely deserves a marble statue of their likeness carved out on the Mt Olympus of gaming gods! (If/when this game comes to the PS4, I sincerely hope there isn’t a trophy for completing this mode – Rob)

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Apart from the stellar story of Rage In Peace, I was absolutely floored by the soundtrack within it. Upon researching, I found out that the soundtrack of the game is a collaboration with sound artist company Monkey Melody and indie label Nanaba Records. The soundtrack of Rage In Peace consists of 19 songs from Indonesian indie bands, as well as in-game BGMs. The songs are played during the story element part of the game and not so much during the game itself. They do a fantastic job of setting the mood of the scene so that during the “big scenes” you can feel the raw emotions that Timmy feels.

I hope they add the soundtrack to streaming services such as Spotify so I can listen to it when I am away from the game.

Official Trailer:



FINAL THOUGHTS:

The fact that Rage in Peace is Rolling Glory Jam’s first game they have created is truly unbelievable. You can literally feel the passion that every member of the team has for the game as you play this wonderful indie title. Sure, it has its moments, which feel cheap, when the difficulty gets to a point where you have to either focus really hard to conquer that section or just walk away and take a break. However, wanting to know how the story concludes is what pushed me through those tough parts, and I am glad it did. I plan on keeping an eye on this studio in the future!

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A copy of the game was kindly provided for review purposes

Rage in Peace £10.79 9 Final Score 9.0/10

















The Good: Impeccable soundtrack

Options to make the game easier

The story is amazing The Bad: Had some glitchy moments where things would go through me

Forgettable boss fights e-Shop Steam

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