Ex-Master, Zombie

Rise from the grave, one body part at a time

Ex-Master, Zombie is a pixel-art platformer from solo developer HugePixel, casting players as an undead protagonist brought back from the grave as little more than a disembodied head, sent on a journey to recover scattered body parts and reclaim their former power. This review draws on an English review sample of 13 reviews at the time of research, ten of them positive, a small but mostly favourable base.

The game structures its progression around ability-gated exploration in the classic metroidvania mould: starting as just a head capable of a basic jump, players quickly recover a body that unlocks higher jumps and ladder-climbing, with further pieces opening up new routes through previously inaccessible areas. That structure, gaining new movement options and retracing earlier ground with them, is central to both what this review's sample praises and what it criticises.

Praised for a genuinely unique premise and charming presentation

Reviewers consistently credit the game for standing out through its central hook. "You begin as nothing more than an undead head, brought back from the grave by your teacher and sent on a strange journey to recover the rest of your scattered body parts," reads one detailed review, which goes on to praise the game's "charming pixel art and bright, colorful visuals." A separate reviewer independently praises the same underlying idea in blunter terms: "Fun and stylish zombie adventure with engaging mechanics. Unique idea of playing as a zombie makes it fresh and exciting!" while a third reviewer summarises the game as "fast-paced and really engaging," adding that "every run feels different." This review treats that as fair: multiple independent reviewers converging on praise for both the originality of the core premise and the quality of its visual and audio presentation is credible evidence the game's central hook genuinely lands.

A fair, corroborated complaint about loose movement

Set against that praise, this review found a specific, repeated complaint about how the platforming itself feels to control. "Movement/jumping felt off to me," reads one critical review, elaborating that the game is "mostly just avoiding traps and having to platform to execute the jumps at correct timing." A separate, more detailed reviewer who otherwise recommended the game independently raises the same underlying issue in a structured pros-and-cons breakdown: "controls feel a little loose." This review treats that as fair: two independent reviewers, one overall negative and one overall positive, both converging on the same specific complaint about movement precision, is credible, corroborated evidence of a genuine rough edge in the game's core platforming feel, even from reviewers who otherwise landed on opposite overall verdicts.

A fair, corroborated complaint about a smaller-than-expected world

This review also found a specific, corroborated complaint about the game's scale relative to its genre framing. The same critical reviewer describes the world as feeling "small and constrictive, not very exploratory, basically always funneled one way," while the sample's most detailed positive review independently reaches a similar conclusion: the explored world's "overall size feels closer to a single biome from a larger metroidvania once fully uncovered." This review treats that as fair: two reviewers with otherwise opposite overall verdicts converging on the same specific disappointment, that the game's metroidvania framing promises more exploratory scope than the finished world actually delivers, is credible, corroborated evidence of a genuine mismatch between ambition and scale.

A fair complaint about specific technical bugs

This review also found a detailed, single-sourced account of technical problems significant enough to interrupt play. The same structured pros-and-cons reviewer reports that "there were several occasions where I would go down a ladder and the next room wouldn't load, forcing me to close the game," and separately that "when I got the head throw ability my character's legs would fall into the floor forcing me to close the game, this happened at least 5 times." This review treats that as a fair, if not independently corroborated, account of specific, reproducible bugs serious enough to interrupt a playthrough multiple times, distinct in severity from the more heavily corroborated movement and world-scale complaints above. The same reviewer's broader assessment remained mixed rather than wholly negative, also crediting "good music, interesting biomes, fun platforming, meaningful upgrades," which this review reads as evidence the underlying design held up for that player despite the technical issues encountered.

Achievement data is consistent with a short, front-loaded game

This review's own check of Steam's global achievement data shows the two most commonly earned achievements sitting well ahead of the rest, at 84.3 and 77.0 percent, before falling off steeply to a cluster mostly between 25 and 40 percent for the remainder, and down to 13.5 percent for the least common. That pattern is broadly consistent with reviewer accounts of a short, front-loaded game where most players see its opening hours and central hook, but relatively few carry a full completion through to the end.

Final verdict

Ex-Master, Zombie is a short pixel-art platformer that this review found genuinely stands out on the strength of its unique zombie-reassembly premise and charming presentation, credit that held up across a small but mostly positive review sample. That credit is tempered by fair, corroborated complaints about loose movement feel and a world that plays smaller and more linear than its metroidvania framing suggests, alongside a detailed, if single-sourced, account of specific bugs. For fans of short, stylish pixel-art platformers with a genuinely fresh hook who can forgive some rough edges and a modest scope, it's a worthwhile, inexpensive pickup; players wanting a sprawling, polished metroidvania should temper expectations.