Of all the things that could inspire a video, one of the least expected would be a subway, but that’s exactly what gave the team at PastaGames the spark needed for KarmaZoo, and a project that Game Designer Nadim Haddad was clearly very passionate about.

To paraphrase Nadim:

“It can be quite rough if you live in a big city, but there’s one place where kindness reaches people – the subway. People will instinctively hold the heavy doors preventing them from swinging back and hitting the person behind them, and the brief two-second exchange that takes place when people thank each other can completely change a mood.”

It’s not really something I ever thought about, but it’s true. A simple “Thank you” can make a world of difference, and this small exchange is what KarmaZoo is all about.

KarmaZoo aims to place players in a Loop with nine strangers, requiring them to work together and communicate through a series of quirky emotes. Players will initially take control of a Blob, working with others to complete the puzzle and hazard-filled levels that adapt to the number of players, all the while earning Karma Hearts through acts of kindness and sacrifice.

Sticking together is also highly encouraged and each player is surrounded by a halo that slowly diminishes when you’re out on your own, and while this may result in your untimely demise, you’ll still be able to assist your newly found friends in completing the level.

Karma Hearts are the in-game currency, earned in a number of different ways. Players can sacrifice themselves on spikes, leaving behind a tombstone for other players to easier navigate a trap, or throw themselves under drips of acid to help players scale a section that’s too tall to jump onto, and each time a player uses this, the player that sacrificed themselves will earn a heart.

Players will earn their own hearts, which are kept regardless of whether the level is successful or not, but the real prize comes from successful completion – each player will be rewarded with the total sum of Karma Hearts that the team earned. The Karma Hearts can then be used to unlock up to fifty different characters with a variety of different abilities, like a Cactus that can fire off spikes to help the team scale a wall.

KarmaZoo features some beautifully detailed pixel-art graphics, paired with equally beautiful backing music that perfectly matches the 2D side-scrolling gameplay. It’s designed with controller play in mind, with a very simple input scheme that uses very few buttons. It will also support cross-play between PC and Consoles, allowing you to play with people regardless of the system they use.

KarmaZoo is a passion project undertaken by a team of ten people, working on and off for the last six years, and inspired by random acts of kindness in a subway of all places.

It pulls players together, encouraging them to work together and share their gratitude with others while completing puzzles and overcoming hazards with a variety of cute pixel-art characters in beautiful environments. With fifty characters to unlock and levels that scale to match how the number of players in a loop, KarmaZoo has a lot to offer.

Written by: Mathew Lindner