Hot Lava: Your Childhood Imagination Come to Life

When it comes to video games, jumping puzzles are something that I’m pretty bad at. So bad, in fact, that it’s become a joke among my friends. For this reason, they think it’s a great idea to send me any game they can find that’s based on them. Mirror’s Edge, Dying Light, and most recently, Hot Lava.

Do you remember playing ‘the floor is lava‘ as a kid? Jumping from furniture to furniture while doing your best to never, ever touch the floor. Well, if you were a fan of that, this is the game for you. Hot Lava takes that premise and cranks it up to the extreme. In it, you play on levels where the floor is literally lava. Touch the ground, and you’re not just out – you die. Luckily, you respawn pretty quickly. Still, in a game where your objective is to get through each level faster than your friends, each death is a massive hit.

Rather than playing as children, you play as toys in Hot Lava. It gives the game an even more whimsical feel, watching toys the size of a child going through deadly obstacle courses. It also avoids the grisly sight of watching someone melt into the lava.

While I absolutely love the premise of Hot Lava, playing it is a whole different matter. I won’t lie and say I don’t enjoy it – I do have a lot of fun playing with my friends. But a lot of my fun comes from all of the horrible ways that I end up dying. Courses that they can complete in just a minute or two take me eight or more times as long. This entire game is one giant jumping puzzle, and they’re usually not just jumping. You may have to climb, slide, or pogo to solve them. Adding those extras on top just makes it impossible for me to ever beat a course in a decent time.

Still, having fun is what matters. And if they ever complain that I’m taking too long, I can just blame them for getting me the game in the first place.

Have you had the chance to play Hot Lava yet? Let me know what you think about it in the comments!