Die To Win: Free Platformer Rock Bottom

Jumping from platform to platform is easy in Rock Bottom [official site], it's the falling that takes skill. Rock Bottom's a free platformer where falling to our death gives us more power to jump higher, but we need to fall from greater and greater heights to keep growing stronger. The route to the exit is simple - just go up, way up - but reaching it takes a lot of death-planning and careful air control. It isn't new at all, but I've only just encountered it and am enjoying it so here, I'm sharing.

You can play for free in your browser on Game Jolt, Newgrounds, or Itch.

It starts out simple: jump down this pit and you'll be reborn with enough power to reach that just-out-of-reach platform. Then you need to find angles to nail a deadly landing. Then you need to swerve around in mid-air to get a hard enough fall. And then you encounter spikes which kill you without boosting jumping. And cushioned floors which frustratingly don't kill you at all. It's tricky, with a nice balance of thought and twitch.

I have a horrible inkling that I will soon encounter a level similar to VVVVVV's Kieron-enraging Veni, Vidi, Vici.

Developers Artless Entertainment released Rock Bottom in 2013, and visiting this later means that hey! designer Amy Dentata has already written a post-mortem of the game.

I've just seen the trailer and yep I totally spy a Veni, Vidi, Vici-ish spiky superdrop. Crud.