Grab Open Kill

GOK, which stands for Grab Open Kill, is a puzzle game made by calunio as a secret Santa gift for El_WaKa. Each one of the 3 characters can only perform one task: grab items, open locks or kill enemies.

Story
The story is as simple as it can get: You are Arma the chonky rat who comes to Santa Claus, asking for a present. And, in exchange, Santa needs you to collect all rings in each of the 8 levels of the Labyrinth of many faces.

Gameplay
In each level, Arma must collect all rings and reach the exit. She collects rings, hearts and keys but she can't open locked blocs. So a new character joins you: Breeze the birb boyo who can't collect items but he can use keys. Later, some CLO (Chicken-Legged Orcs) block some paths or roam the labyrinths. They hurt you if they come in contact with Arma or Breeze. Luckily, Sanna the angery hyena helps you fight them but she can't collect items or unlock blocs. The keyboard keys 1, 2 and 3, let you choose which of the 3 characters you control and you must combine their skills to succeed. Unfortunately the keys don't match the order the characters join the party to intuitively match the game title: 1 = Grab, 2 = Open, 3 = Kill.

An important factor to consider while solving the maze is the fact that each inactive character acts as a movement obstacle for you and the CLOs. Moreover, the CLO can't hurt an inactive character (this is a wise design decision). The splitting of skills between the 3 characters creates interesting puzzles. Exploring a new maze also leads to a good risk-vs-reward choice: explore slowly but safely with Sanna or explore quickly but at the risk of getting hurt with Arma. The game builds up difficulty as you progress trough the maze and gives you the opportunity to save your progress at the end of each maze.
Be really careful when dealing with a static CLO that blocks a one-bloc-wide dead-end. When the CLO respawn, you could end-up in a situation where finishing the maze becomes impossible.


I'm not dead but it's now impossible to finish this last maze. Quite frustrating !

Aesthetic and sounds
GOK has a nice set of custom tiles for its labyrinth.
All music tracks are great matches for solving puzzles and dealing with the CLOs except for the last one. Tracks with lyrics don't fit the gameplay activities of this game.
A well chosen sound makes collecting rings in each level brings the good old memory of running and catching rings as a blue hedgehog.

Conclusion
GOK is a small good puzzle game. Splitting the skills between 3 characters is a neat idea. This idea could even be extended to create more puzzles. GOK runs smoothly in EasyRPG.