As far as chaotic multiplayer experiences go, the industry has had its share in recent years. Among Us was a backstabbing, head-chomping affair that left bloodied heaps in players’ wakes, even Fall Guys was the equivalent of a bean-full potato sack race.
The one thing they all generally have in common is competition, the individualistic pursuit for victory.
KarmaZoo, the joyous multiplayer platformer out of Devolver and developed by Pastagames, places a focus on cooperation, collaboration, and general togetherness. It isn’t at all about flexing who’s it and a bit, it’s about freedom from individual desire and release from struggle. Reaching nirvana, the ultimate reunion with the Hindu universal god, is at the heart of KarmaZoo’s group toil. Through sacrifice, good deeds, and being a general rad dude, you’ll earn karma—the game’s singular currency and the universe’s most valuable commodity.
You begin life in KarmaZoo as a featureless, talentless blob. It’s a vibe I intensely relate to.
Armed with a double jump and a certain level of cunning, you’ll navigate a loop—a selection from the game’s three-hundred handcrafted levels that actively adapt to the skills and limits of the lobbied players. The aim is to work together to solve the level’s puzzles and ultimately escape the loop. Each and every cooperative move you make within a loop, even if it’s sacrificing yourself to leave a steppable tombstone atop a spike pit, earns you karma to spend on one of the game’s fifty adorable animal avatars, all with unique abilities that’ll be able to help your team throughout.
The developer who guided us through our hands-on cast himself as a cactus, the most cunning of all the animal kingdom, was able to blanket nearby floors and walls with its spines to create a sticky spot for us to climb on. The other available avatars and their powers are on display in the game’s hub sanctuary, the space between loops. I passed an elephant and a mouse—which are mortal enemies if morning cartoons have taught me anything.
It’s hard not to vibe with the spirit of KarmaZoo.
It’s a game about sharing, regardless of whether it’s with friends, loved ones, or complete strangers. The idea behind the game, we’re told, was inspired by those chance exchanges we’ve all had holding a door open for someone. I can be wholesome, it can be awkward, it can be several moods in between, but it’s categorically kind.
It’s pretty hectic working together when you’re in a group of ten (which is the maximum number supported online, couch co-op only supports up to eight) although I do think it’s a manageable amount. Had there been any more it might have been a bit of a crowd, there’s enough intricacy to the challenges that it reminded me a little bit of Destiny’s mechanics-driven raids, which have given me some of my most cherished team-based memories in this medium. There’s a quiet focus that falls over a large group as minds race toward a solution, then follows the excited eruption of cross-chatter and happy yelling.
The game’s other, party-focused multiplayer mode, Totem, is more for those with a bit of a competitive fire in the belly.
Almost like a more basic Mario Party, it serves up a series of quickfire mini-games that are voted on by the players. We got to enjoy a few rounds of Rush which, as you can imagine, are point-to-point races that can be super tense if you’re holding onto a slim lead. It’s been a while since I’ve had a multiplayer party game suck me in and, pending the other offerings, I feel this could be a massive draw outside of the game’s already charming Loop mode.
With love in its heart, KarmaZoo feels like a game trying to unite the world.
It supports cross-platform play, it’s extremely approachable in its mechanics, and it supports over twenty languages around the globe. So, I’m hopeful there’s a karmic chameleon avatar I can adopt to embrace what will no doubt be a multicultural club community behind this once it launches later in the year.
