As brothers growing up playing video games, the rule of the land was “when you die, you pass the controller to your brother.” In REZ PLZ, we set out to write a love letter to our childhood selves that says “You can both play, but you’ve gotta work together, and you’ve gotta die.” That’s the core concept, a classic puzzle platformer with a twist: sometimes you have to sacrifice one of the brothers to progress. 

In REZ PLZ, you play as two wizard brothers that aren’t particularly good at magic. At the beginning of the game, you only have one spell: the ability to resurrect your brother if he dies. Sometimes you have to throw one brother on a pit of spikes so the other can make it across, sometimes you have to use a decapitated head as a weight for a switch you can’t get to. No matter how you die, whether on accident or on purpose it’s all in morbidly good fun. This isn’t your average hero’s story. There’s no prophecy, no chosen one stuff. It’s an underdog tale, a cutely macabre comedy of errors and making the most of a bad situation.  

Thematically, REZ PLZ is drenched in dark humor, D&D, and 80’s horror and cult classic references. It’s pixel art for a more modern generation. Even the soundtrack is a synthy tongue in cheek homage to everything from B movies to heavy metal. 

We want the game to feel familiar and nostalgic, but also unique. Whether in single player or couch co-op mode, the cooperative element of the game is there, as you coordinate both brothers. Across the game’s 40+ levels REZ PLZ is designed to make players ask the question “what happens when I touch that?” and “what can I do with a corpse split in half down the middle?” - not your average conversations in an adventure game. And in that paradigm shift of death being a necessary part of the adventure, I think REZ PLZ provides a uniquely fun experience, whether you play with or without your brother.