Nitrome Must Die Game

Nitrome Must Die is a run-and-gun platformer built by Nitrome as a tribute to their own back catalog: instead of one setting, you fight your way through a string of levels stitched together from the studio's earlier games, each with its own look, hazards and cast of oddball enemies. The goal in any given level is simple — shoot your way to the exit and survive whatever boss is waiting at the end of it.

Guns and gadgets are scattered through the levels as pickups, and the arsenal ranges from straightforward (pistol, shotgun, machine gun, rocket launcher) to properly strange (a buzzsaw, thrown molotovs, even a fart-powered blast and a penguin you can lob at enemies). Twelve separate bosses cap off different stretches of the game, so no two runs settle into quite the same rhythm. You can take it on alone or bring a second player in for local co-op, with each player keeping their own score as you clear a level together.

Controls

Keyboard only, and each player gets their own set of keys to move, jump, shoot and throw a secondary weapon. If the defaults don't suit you, there's a key-remapping screen where every control can be reassigned per player.

Tips

• Keep moving between pickups — running out of ammo on a weaker weapon mid-fight against a boss is the fastest way to lose a level you were otherwise winning.
• The stranger weapons (buzzsaw, molotovs) tend to hit harder or cover more ground than the starting pistol, so it's worth grabbing one even if it looks like a joke item.
• Playing with a second player splits the incoming enemies between two guns instead of one, which makes the busier levels noticeably more manageable.

It suits a session where you want something faster and more chaotic than a puzzle platformer — short bursts of shooting and dodging rather than careful planning.