Sludge Life

Sludge Life is a unique game, where freedom and rebellion are the key. We feel the controls are not good enough, considering how precise we need to be sometimes, although eventually we can get used to them.

Honestly, there isn’t a whole lot to be said about Sludge Life without giving away its more memorably bizarre bits, of which there are many. It’s a twisted, hellish, yet surprisingly charming playground that you’ll want to spend a good (if small) chunk of time in, soaking in the off-kilter surrounds, humor and visuals. For a game that basically revolves around a filthy hellhole, there’s still a lot of care that was put into making it a unique and fun hellhole and it shows.

Sludge Life is graffiti-themed a first-person 3D platformer that works really well and is fun to play. Its emphasis on climbing high structures and getting to hard-to-reach areas to drop your tags makes the tough gameplay feel worthwhile. The controls can be a bit finicky, but there’s a lot of fun to be had here. There’s also a nice blend of real-world commentary and vulgar humor to keep things interesting.

Devolver often delivers weird games that take familiar ideas or mechanics and deliver cool twists on them. Loop Hero is a very good example of how this approach can succeed. Sludge Life has good tunes and a new presentation style but it needed more in the way of either gameplay or narrative to deliver a truly cool experience.

Sludge Life feels like the video game version of being under the influence, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. While it feels like it might be a little too wrapped up in its own aesthetics at times, it still remembers that it’s a game first and not a video from the weird part of YouTube. Having it available for free for the moment means that there’s little excuse for you to not at least wade in the smoggy muck for a spell.

The world of the game may be small, but it brims with a weird sense of life.

Sludge Life is a first-person, open-world platformer filled with strange sightings, childish humor, and a unique retro windows 3.1 UI. For the right platformer gamer, this divergence from the norm may provide several hours of enjoyment, but with no lasting draw to explore apart from graffiti tags and pictures, and no extenuating interaction with the world or characters, don't expect Sludge Life to grab you for more than a few hours.