MURI

MURI is a 2d DOS-styled shooter designed by Remar and published by Ludosity. The game is inspired by similar DOS-shooter games like Duke Nukem and Commander Keen. It uses a 320x200 EGA graphics mode, 16 CGA colors for its palette and replicates PC speaker sound.

## Plot

The game begins with text explaining how a person named Kojo was outfitted with a powerful suit of armor known as MURI on a Satellite Laboratory that orbits Mars. Both Earth and Mars feared the power of MURI and sent their armies to dispose of him only for Mars to disappear.

The game then begins with Adwoa, Kojo's mother, breaking into a lab wielding the MURI suit. She goes off to search for her family only to find tragedy awaiting her.

### Characters

Additional info can be found in the character's Pages

* Adwoa: The main character, wife and mother
* Kwaku: Husband and father of Esi and Kojo
* Esi: Daughter and one of the wielders of the MURI
* Kojo: Son of Adwoa and Kwaku and is in a coma at the start of the game.
* Nkiruka: Antagonist.

## Description

The player controls Adwoa who wields the powerful armor known as MURI created by her and her husband. The player can jump and shoot, and collect power ups. They also can hop on top of enemies to inflict damage while avoiding harm. The game plays like a traditional DOS-style game with low resolution and frame rate. Some players may feel nauseated with the choppy scrolling so a smooth 32-frame mode was added during development.

## Controls

The game is relatively simple to control, besides movement, jumping and crouching there are only two buttons needed to play for jumping and shooting. The player can hold down Shoot and run left and right while facing the same direction, something that is typically rare in these kinds of shooters. There are various points and power ups the player can collect by simply touching them. There are also elevators indicated with an arrow facing up the player can control by simply holding Down or Up.

## Gameplay

The game's plot is told over 4 episodes, each episode containing 5 stages with a boss fight typically taking the last stage. The player must traverse the stage looking for the exit while dispatching enemies and collecting power ups. Occasionally the player may come across barriers blocking their path. Glowing power lines can be seen that leads to a spherical generator that must be shot down in order to open the path. The game also has plenty of hidden secrets which mainly consists of invisible surfaces or hidden explosive blocks that must be shot down to collect power ups. Cells can also be detected by the player's HUD. The radar above acts like a beacon, blinking and letting the player know that a Cell is nearby.

The game also has four difficulties, each one affecting score rating and item pick ups. When playing on Hard energy pick ups are disabled leaving the player with no option to replenish health and playing MURI difficulty disables Energy and One-Ups.

## Items

### Cheat Codes

The game also features cheat codes. The player simply needs to type out the cheat code while the game is active on their keyboard. The cheat's name will be seen in the screen below. Most cheats will wipe the score and replace the field with the word **CHEATER**.

## Reception

The game earned Very Positive reviews, averaging a 9/10 on Steam's Reviews.Players praised the game's faithful throwback to retro DOS-Styled games while considering modern level layout and enemy placement that serve to teach the player how to play as they progress.

## Trivia

* The game initially had a weapon select button however Remar stated that most players either forgot about it or opted to only use the base weapon to conserve ammo. Removing it helped enhance the flow of the game
* Enemies and characters from MURI will go on to be featured on cards in the LudoVerse crossover title, Card City Nights.
* The code RGIOSA is a reference to Iosa the invincible from Iji

## References

1. ↑ http://ludosity.com/category/muri/
2. ↑ https://store.steampowered.com/app/267360/MURI/#app\_reviews\_hash