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Don't Die! You got 1 Life! playtest
by Mackenzie Taylor
A permadeath dark fantasy action roguelike (with a twist) about climbing a tower no one has ever beaten. Choose to study enemies or go in blind, and make choices that impact you in real time.
Anyone with a Steam account can join, and it's free.
- Access
- Instant
- On playtest since
- Sep 18, 2026
- Planned release
- Apr 26, 2027
- Developer
- Mackenzie Taylor
- Platforms
- Windows
- Players
- Single-player
- Languages
- English
How to join the Don't Die! You got 1 Life! playtest
- Open the game's Steam page with the Join playtest button. Sign in to Steam if it asks.
- Use the Don't Die! You got 1 Life! playtest signup there. You're in straight away, with nothing to pay.
- The playtest shows up in your Steam library, ready to install and play.
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How AI is used
This game's art and code are creatively directed by a human developer (me), directing, refining, reviewing, and quality-checking every part across hundreds of hours of iteration. I build it with Claude AI as my tool. The visuals are not pre-made image files or AI-generated images. They are drawn by code at runtime (procedural rendering) using standard 2D canvas drawing commands, and Claude AI writes and brings that code to life. The store page and marketing images come from that same in-game rendering. The game does not include third-party copyrighted material.
The developer's own words, from Steam.
About Don't Die! You got 1 Life!
The tower has never been beaten. You have one life to be the first.
Every adventurer who walked through the gate came for the same reason you did. To climb it. To reach the top. To be the one who finally conquers it. That is what adventurers do. So you take up your blade and you begin.
One life permadeath with a twist!
Losing all your health doesn't mean you're finished. Go down in battle and you can drag yourself back to your feet, up to three times, weaker each time, but still alive. This isn't permadeath that ends you on a single mistake. It's permadeath that makes you earn every recovery. And even after that third fall, you are not as finished as you think. There is one more chance, in a form you won't see coming.
Every floor is a different environment!
Each one has its own characters to uncover. New enemies, new dangers, new things to piece together the higher you climb. Examine the battlefield before you commit. Study your opponents, learn how they move and strike, and prepare. The insight you gather is the difference between surviving the room and falling in it.
But not every choice is made with your blade.
The tower is full of choices, and what you decide has a real impact around you. Fight, flee. Trust or turn away. Your choices genuinely change what happens next, opening some paths and closing others. No two climbs are the same.
Features
- One life, but a fair one: go down in a fight and rise up to three times, weaker each time.
- Even the final fall isn't the end you'd expect. The tower has one more chance waiting…
- Every floor is its own environment: examine each area and study your enemies before you strike, then turn what you learn into your strategy to stay alive.
- Choices that matter: who you help, who you fight, and what you decide genuinely change how your climb unfolds.
From the game's Steam page.
