De-Exit is about a voxel skeleton investigating spooky goo in the afterlife

De-Exit is an upcoming voxel puzzle platformer where you play as a skeleton person investigating strange happenings in the afterlife. You died and landed yourself in the in-between part, not quite heaven and not quite hell, but it's clear that something is a bit wrong. You'll need to explore ruins, collect artifacts and figure out why spooky goo is trying to engulf parts of the world. It's a bit Zelda-y and a bit Tomb Raider-y, but if both those games were filled with cubes.

During a Q&A, developers SandBloom Studio said that part of the idea behind De Exit is to show the different ways that people think about death. They compare it to the Pixar film Coco in that, in this version of the afterlife, you aren't truly dead as long as someone in the living world remembers you.

De-Exit doesn't have any combat, and focuses more on exploration, puzzle-solving and stealth. This is one of those games where the hero isn't a fighter, and makes their way through the world by being smart and sneaky instead.

I'm usually not a huge fan of the voxel style with games like this, but I actually quite like what I've seen of De-Exit so far. It's colourful, moody and surprisingly cinematic. There's a section where a huge skeleton bursts from the ground and chases the player across a bridge, complete with dramatic music and quick-time events for ultimate stress.

As you go through the game, you'll find artifacts that will gradually get more abilities that help you through various puzzles. The first one is a cool gold cube that functions as a torch, which I thought was a bit odd. "Artifact" implies something old, magic and mysterious. If you wanted to give me a torch, just give me torch. There's nothing wrong with a good torch of course, and I'm sure if I found a gold cube that could emit light I'd be very pleased with it. But, uh, I hope it does some slightly more interesting things down the line.

De-Exit is being made by SandBloom Studio, a small Spanish developer who previously made Emma: Lost In Memories, and published by THQ Nordic's HandyGames. It doesn't have a release date just yet, but you can find out more during tomorrow's Indie's Paradise stream, which you can catch on Twitch at 6pm BST (7pm CEST).