Short Life is a stupidly funny casual game with ragdoll physics and tons of gore

It’s often said that life is short, and this is especially true for the shambling, scruffy, understandably depressed-looking hero of Short Life.

The aim of this casual game from developer Gametornado is simply to get from one end of a short stage to the other without dying.

Unfortunately there are numerous obstacles to success, such as exploding barrels, great big crushers, swinging planks covered in spikes, arrow traps, and so on. Fall afoul of these and you’ll become a pile of gore.

And of course there’s the biggest obstacle of all: your own shaky ragdoll movement.  

The controls for the game, which you can play on Poki, couldn’t be simpler. Using the cursor keys you can make your hapless hero walk, crawl, crouch, and jump. But movement is a bit more complicated, since you’re seemingly always on the brink of collapsing into a heap of your own limbs.

It’s all about momentum and physics. Judge a leap wrong and you won’t just miss your target – you’ll crumple over the edge, fold, bend, and eventually slide to your doom. Try to stand up when you’re in wrong position and you’ll stagger around like a drunk puppet.

But these floaty physics also give you a surprising amount of versatility. In the space of a few short stages you’ll find yourself kicking a football, grabbing onto a handle to pull yourself up onto a ledge, riding a mine cart, and more.

The stages themselves are incredibly diverse, with varied layouts and a slew of deadly contraptions forcing you to think on your feet (or your hands and knees).

Each stage contains three stars, and you just have to collect them to ace the level. That means you can limp over the finish line with several arrows in your face and still get a perfect score.

Life’s too short for boring games that don’t contain multiple hilarious dismemberments and impalings, so you should hop onto Poki and play Short Life right now.

Marc Hewitt