All Of Our Friends Are Dead has no real plot to it, and no real connection of linearity. In the creator's own words, "this is what happens when an artist makes a video game." The lack of comprehension and reliable frames of reference only enhance the overbearing discomfort, and it would not be even close to the same game if it had more of the standard video game mechanics included. It is great as is, lack of comprehensible story and all. However, this does not mean there is no writing in the game at all. Phrases, meaningless and otherwise, dot the landscape, and often change into cryptic symbols that then trail off into nothingness.

The graphics and sound in All Of Our Friends Are Dead are designed at every possible point to unnerve you. The three basic colors used were black, white, and red, and they are used to amazingly great effect. The spritework and animation, while certainly not the highest resolution, has a low fidelity quality that only breathes more horror into the game. Looking beyond that at the sound and you realize the same thing, as the sound is comprised of traditional 8-bit-style tunes. It's a glitchy, surreal, and incomprehensible mess to the untrained eye, but as you stare longer and longer at it, you begin to notice the pattern of awkwardness and surreality that permeates every inch of the game.

The gameplay is relatively simple. You can move left and right, as well as jump. Jumping high depends on how long you depress the button as well as whether or not you hit any accelerators which propel you into the sky. The mouse controls where you aim, and clicking or holding the left mouse button will cause you to fire rapidly. You have infinite ammo and can point anywhere, but trust me: it doesn't alleviate the fear at all. It only makes you feel more impotent when you are terrified despite your overwhelming firepower. In a way, the lack of major impact in both the sounds and animations of the gunfire really contribute to the oddity of this game world.

The goal of the game is simple. Pass each level until you reach the end. However, the end of each of the levels is certainly never explained in full, with only casual hints directing you towards a level exit. Find the key and unlock the door. Go right. Fall down through the hole. Nothing is ever explained, and that only mounts to the (deliberate) confusion. It is this disorientation where All Of Our Friends Are Dead really shines. You will be completely baffled once you finish All Of Our Friends Are Dead, but not in the traditional way.

The level design focuses around some intense platforming and the occasional shooting. However, as an extension of the art, the levels are so disturbing that they will actually send shivers up and down your spine. Floating platforms with columns comprised of human heads that spit out darts sitting on top. Spikes drenched with blood and covered in bones of past victims. A snaking human head that barfs you out at the beginning of a level. A rain of blood that is quickly replaced by snow, which gives way into menacing-looking tendrils snaking through the background. This place feels like a deathtrap, and it wants to let you know.

The enemy designs are completely nonsensical, but not in the happy sort of way. Bees, floating octopodes, and most disturbing of all, half-naked bleeding demonic women all inhabit this freakish nightmare world. They take little to no fire to kill, however, and rarely pose more of a threat than "if they touch me, I die!" Just try not to be freaked out by the designs and behaviors too much, as they will definitely mess with your head.

The biggest complaint that is to be found with All Of Our Friends Are Dead is the lack of an autosave. There is a delightful quicksave/quickload feature that most PC games have nowadays, but in order to resume your place, you have to quicksave before pressing Escape. If you do not, then the game does not save automatically and you ahve to start all over again. Some other complaints, although more minor, are the lack of variety in the gameplay and the relatively short length. This is a game that could definitely use an expansion of content, as the content that is already there disturbs so profoundly. This is a game that leaves before you feel like you really got to the heart of the matter, and that's unfortunate. However, if you can manage to brave through the whole game without ever leaving your seat and taking a walk, I applaud you.

All Of Our Friends Are Dead is, quite frankly, a game that is not for everybody, and especially not a game for multiple playthroughs. This is not because it is a bad game. It is because it is such a good game that it makes me so terrified and unable to react except on such a base, instinctual level. It pushes the concept of "horror game" forward in ways that no retail developer would ever dare to do. So if you want to play something that with give you nightmares, this is the game for you. You can download the game from Paul Eres' site, and leave feedback in the TIGSource forum thread.

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