Spooky Pixel Hero Review – “More Platforming, Less Heebie-Jeebies”

  • A disturbing world
  • 120 levels filled with challenging platforms
  • A gripping story with a dark secret

Spooky Pixel Hero is the latest installment in AppSir Games’ DERE horror series, coming to iOS and Android devices on August 12. The game is also set for a Steam release, but fans will have to wait until September 17.

After finishing DERE Vengeance just days after its release, I was on the hunt for AppSir's next horror platformer and couldn't pass up the opportunity to get an early look at Spooky Pixel Hero.

Please fix this classic for us

In Spooky Pixel Hero, players take on the role of a young and talented game developer who is recruited by a secret organization. This talented developer is asked to fix a classic platform game that is “rotting.” You also get a sidekick, an Advanced Interactive Debug Engine, or AIDE. Yes, that's her. Do with her what you will.

Struggling to make his mark in the video game industry and hoping to improve his skills, the developer takes on the project. However, the game developed in 1976 by Walter Salazar is more than meets the eye. The game is too advanced for a 1970s platformer and the novice developer is way out of his depth. But as he gets deeper into the game, he has no choice but to continue fixing everything that is broken, one level at a time.

screenshot from Spooky Pixel Hero

Things are exactly as they seem

Spooky Pixel Hero is not a gimmick. Everything you see in this 2D platformer does exactly what it looks like it does. Golden keys will open locked doors. File icons are actually icons for files you should collect to fully repair the game. Leave them alone and you might be setting yourself up for failure. Everything that looks like it will kill you does so on touch. So if you're coming from DERE Vengeance like me, where we had to rethink everything, Spooky Pixel Hero will save you the trouble.



True to its tradition, AppSir Games once again adopts a minimal control setup. You have three buttons to go left, right, and jump. However, this time we do not have those mid-air jumps or double jumps. Instead, many levels that require higher jumps use bounce pads.

Aside from the intentional glitchy patches here and there that are supposed to add to the horror, I didn't find any annoying glitches or bugs in the game. The gameplay is as smooth as if it were a real 70's game running on modern hardware.

I do miss the background music though. The sound effects are good and all, but nothing sets the tone for horror like a little macabre in the background for me. Maybe the full version will have the soundtrack used in the announcement trailer.

I am

The difficulty increases as you dive deeper.

Speed, timing, precision, and patience: you’ll have to master just about everything if you want to complete the 120 levels. As I said before, every time you complete a level and go through the gate, you’re falling deeper into the game. And the deeper you go, the more difficult the platforms you’ll have to face.

There’s a huge difficulty spike once you hit level 50. This is where collapsing and moving platforms come into play, as well as deadly obstacles. Fortunately, as with DERE Vengeance, none of the levels feel impossible. Yes, you may need double-digit attempts for some, but it never gets so frustrating that you want to quit.



There is no room for complacency in Spooky Pixel Hero because there are no checkpoints. Get past the toughest obstacle and you might die the stupidest of deaths. It happened to me a couple of times, but an in-game ad helped me shake it off. You can remove them via in-app purchases, though.

You will not compare yourself

The only way to fully enjoy AppSir Games' latest horror platformer is to not compare it to the other games in the DERE series. It's a retro horror platformer, much like the other games, but it's also so much more.

Spooky Pixel Hero is what you would call a conventional platformer where you get what you see. Then there is the story that brings us back to the zero point. Chronologically speaking, Spooky Pixel Hero is the first game you should play in the DERE series. So, if you are new to the AppSir universe, start with Spooky Pixel Hero and play the other games in the following order to fully understand the DERE-verse:

  1. Spectral Pixel Hero
  2. Rites of the brotherhood
  3. The Last Yandere
  4. WHERE TO PERFORM
  5. THE EVIL EXE
  6. Balance jump
  7. Puzzling Peaks EXE
  8. DERE Revenge

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