About Short Life

Short Life is a darkly comic platform game. A cheerful little man has to cross levels full of saws, spikes, mines and falling crates, and he often reaches the end with a few body parts missing.

It is a dark-humour platform game: the injuries are cartoonish and over the top, and half the fun is seeing what goes wrong. The other half is the satisfaction of finally reaching the exit in one piece.

Short Life is aimed at teens and adults who enjoy dark humour and precise platforming. Its exaggerated injuries are cartoonish, but they make it a better fit for older players than for young children. If you are new to this Short Life game, the guide below covers the controls, the traps and the habits that get you to the exit in one piece.

Short Life gameplay: the hero walking under a ceiling spike trap with crates ahead — The hero walking under a ceiling spike trap with crates ahead.

Table of Contents

Short Life at a glance

Genre: Trap platformer
Players: 1 player
Devices: Desktop (keyboard and mouse recommended)
Best for: fans of tricky platformers with dark humour

How to play Short Life

Each level is a short obstacle course with a clear exit. Walk, jump and crouch past the traps, and watch the pattern of each one before you commit: saws swing on a timer, mines explode after a short delay, crates fall when you step on a trigger. Your character can survive some damage, but every hit makes him slower and clumsier. Checkpoints are frequent, so a failure costs you only a few seconds.

Controls

A / D or arrow keys: move
W / Up: jump
S / Down: crouch
Shift: sprint (risky near traps)
Touch screens: the precise jumps and crouches are designed for a keyboard, so a computer is the best choice

Levels and difficulty

The game is organised as a series of short levels, each ending at a clear exit. Early levels introduce the main traps one by one, such as saws, spikes, mines and falling crates, so you can learn how each behaves. Later levels combine them and demand more careful timing, often placing two traps close together so that dodging one puts you in the path of the next. Your hero can survive some damage, but injuries change how he moves, which adds an extra layer of challenge if you keep going after a hit. Frequent checkpoints keep the frustration low, because a mistake only sends you back a few seconds.

Patience beats speed

Most traps in Short Life are designed to punish rushing. Sprinting looks tempting, but a running jump is longer and harder to control, which often lands you right on the next spike. Walking up to a trap, watching its timing once and then moving through it is almost always faster in the long run than repeated crashes.

Tips and strategies for Short Life

Stop before every new trap and watch one full cycle.
Use crouch to slide under low blades and arrows.
Avoid sprinting on narrow platforms.
If you lose a leg, take shorter jumps: your hero cannot jump as far.
Treat checkpoints as safe zones and reset your rhythm there.
Walk instead of running on unfamiliar sections.
If a section keeps catching you, try a different approach, such as crouching instead of jumping.
Use the moment after a checkpoint to look at the next trap before moving.

Common beginner mistakes

Sprinting into a new section without watching the trap first.
Jumping too far after losing a leg.
Standing still on a trigger that drops a crate.
Ignoring the timing of swinging saws.

Similar games on TotoyaPlay

Looking for more tricky platforms? Vex 7 and Vex 3 are classic obstacle courses, and Dan the Man mixes platforming with action. Browse more in our arcade games.