Probability 0 (PC)

Hi, I'm Ray Hardgrit, I play games, and today I'm taking a brief look at Probability 0, a "downward-scrolling infinite arcade platformer" by Droqen, the maker of a bunch of other indie games I've never heard of: www.droqen.com. Starseed Pilgrim sounds a little familiar though.

I'm playing this one though because I kind of know the composer and I ended up with a copy, so disregard anything nice I have to say about the soundtrack. In fact it's probably safer to just ignore everything I have to say entirely.

Alright there's apparently two modes here, Beginner and Expert, so I'll go with Beginner for a bit and show you what happens next via the medium of screenshots.

I've got a 66% chance of this dude seeing his family again? Hey that doesn't seem so bad! I though it was going to be closer to... well, 0.

I knew this was going to be an indie game, but I didn't expect it was going to look so... streamlined. There's about 11 colours on screen right now and most of them are the shades of grey used for the numbers at the bottom. I'm the tiny pixel guy in the middle with the white eyes by the way.

Crap, I'm going to have to get used to the fact that my usual sideways punch attack transforms into a downwards shuriken throw when I'm even slightly airborne. I keep jumping at enemies trying to smack them, and end up dropping my load of throwing stars into a brick instead. Of course I'm still moving towards the creature while I'm doing this, so I finish off by colliding with them and taking damage.

I can't even break these filled blocks with shurikens... such a senseless waste.

Aww bollocks, I just accidentally shot off all my shurikens at once. Turns out that they're incredibly limited and now I'm entirely attackless in the air. Jumping on enemies doesn't kill me outright, but it doesn't kill them either so I'll try to hold onto my hitpoints instead if possible and stay out of their way.

Man this shuriken thing is really kind of frustrating. It's like collecting a reverse controls powerup in a game and having to relearn how to move: my instincts have become a liability. And that bloody text in the middle of the screen isn't helping!

Oh a 'zoll' is an antiquated Prussian unit of distance about an inch in length in case you were wondering.

Crap, I actually managed to hit something for once and now there's a 'get this' floating up there while I'm stuck down here! I could try to dodge the enemies and jump up the right hand side platforms, but the screen is constantly scrolling downwards and I don't much want to push my luck.

At least I've figured out that the flickering probability count is likely a measurement of my health. My theory is that the number of digits indicates my hit points, but I don't feel like testing that out right now. The music has gotten more menacing as I've taken damage and it's giving me the feeling that I don't have many chances left.

Well... fuck. The path split two ways and I ended up choosing poorly and dropping myself down into a dead end. I can smash those clear blocks with a punch or a shuriken but the black walls are tough enough to give me trouble. So now I can either try escaping my prison by leaping off the top of the screen, run into an enemy to end this now, or wait for the inevitable.

Hey, I scattered a foe at least! Though I could've tripled my score if I'd punched those other two enemies trapped in there with me.

So that was Probability 0 then. It's a piece of crap with unintuitive controls that drain all the fun out of punching bugs. Moving on to the next game...

Okay okay fine, I'll retry the stage and give it a fair shot. Maybe the shuriken thing will grow on me with a bit of practice. Maybe there's hidden depths to it I'm not seeing yet.


30 METERS DOWN.

Oh hang on, this is new. Is this green line some kind of checkpoint?

Crossing the barrier has brought me to level 1, apparently, and this means I get to pick a new ability to bolt onto my little hero. I can either learn how to fire shurikens sidewards, fire them upwards, or punch harder. I think I'm going to have to go with 'punch harder' here, as I'm having enough shuriken troubles already.


60 METERS DOWN.

Huh, another level up so soon? I reached 118 meters without seeing a single one of these last time, and now two come along at once? What have I done different, what am I missing? Is it just because this random regeneration of the level has them spaced out differently perhaps?

Oh, I forgot to mention that the game has falling damage if I drop too far. Like I didn't have enough problems.

Lots of new abilities to choose from here in the level up menu, but I think I've gotta go with stronger punching again. This upgrade will let me punch through the black walls, meaning I can never get trapped in a dead end again!

But I can still accidentally overshoot a platform and send my hero falling off-screen to his death. He may be small, but he's got a lot of oversteer.

Okay let's try this again. I need to keep playing until I reach... something. I don't know what it will be, but I'll know it when I see it, and I can't give in until then.

Well now I know that I lose all of my upgrades when I retry (though on the plus side it's very quick to reset the level for me.) It wouldn't be so bad except the level checkpoint lines aren't appearing this time around so I can't get my abilities back.

Wait... these are literally level ups aren't they? Which means I must have to kill enemies to get them! Turns out that the game was giving me a subtle hint to what I needed to do the whole time, and I'm just an idiot. But I'm bored of Beginner mode now, so let's give Expert a try.

Oh. It's pretty similar except the background's blue and I'm being scored on distance instead of kills.


SEVERAL FAILURES LATER, BACK ON BEGINNER MODE.

I've finally managed to survive long enough to reach the third level, and look what I got for my trouble! I can jump on monsters now, just like a Mario brother!

I don't need to position myself just right and wait for monsters to wander near my fist anymore, or go out of my way to grab white flowers to refill my shurikens; I can just bounce... and crush my foolish enemies underfoot.

Though it doesn't work on all of them, and if an enemy needs two hits to kill then I need to make sure I land before bouncing on them a second time or else I take damage. But it's fine, I'm actually starting to get some momentum going now! I'm 400 meters down and 72 percent of the way towards my next level up.

Can't really jump on this guy with that spike block above our head, so I'll have to use my upgraded punch instead.

Oh come on, he exploded into tiny enemies and took my final hit point! That ain't right man, that ain't right at all.


RESTART!

Hahaha, okay that is legitimately not fair for once. The start of this stage is entirely blocked up with impenetrable walls! The screen doesn't scroll sideways, so this really is it; I've been taken down by an impossible first hurdle.


LATER.

Well I had to waste a level on getting the 'unlock' ability to open up the next ability tier, but now I can choose to acquire a teleport attack, the power to leap into enemies to kill them, or I can... walk safely on spike blocks. I think I gotta go with the spike block power, as I know that if I pick anything else I'll just end up getting killed on the next spike.

Oh shit, the music just took a turn for a menacing and a drill monster has dropped onto the screen! I think he's coming after me, tearing up the blocks between us as he goes. Still, there are still 98 futures where not all is lost!

I panicked and ran into an enemy. Not entirely my fault to be honest, as the hero likes to throw himself into danger if I press anything more than the briefest of button taps, but it's still a game over.

On the plus side, evil drill monsters are definitely something new. They're a milestone that I have reached, so I'm happy enough to turn this off now.

And I even got a new high score!


CONCLUSION

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I really did hate Probability 0 at first, but eventually after the first dozen retries I eventually got to the point where I didn't... hate it so much any more. Actually I have to admit that I've kind of come to like it. As far as retro downward-scrolling arcade procedural death labyrinth platformers go it doesn't come close to replacing Super House of Dead Ninjas in my heart, especially considering how there's apparently nothing to aim for but bigger numbers, but I eventually reached the point where I was eager to try again rather than enduring the replays for the sake of this article. It helps that it has near instant restarts; the same trick that makes Hotline Miami so addictive.

On the other hand, I still don't like that I can't punch when I'm airborne, the probability text in the middle of the screen gets incredibly distracting, and the graphics style means you'll get terrible looking screenshots out of it. Though the music's good; it fits the game very well and adapts dynamically to changes in health/arrival of drill monsters. You should probably buy it on Steam just for the music take my opinions with a grain of salt though, as I'm potentially biased due to being an acquaintance of the composer.

The game gets a gold star by the skin of its teeth, as I think I actually would voluntarily play it again. Yep I can see that happening.

Who knows how a game like this can have a demo, but it apparently does and you can find it by clicking here!

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That's the end of the 'P' games for this year then. Now I have to find a couple of 'Q' games to play, which would've been easier if I hadn't already used up Quake, Quake II, Quad Challenge, Quarantine and Quackshot (twice)...

Anyway, leave a comment if you've got something on your mind, I always appreciate it (doubly so if they're witty and insightful.) Or you could just brag about getting more than 38 kills.