If you took Super Meat Boy and mushed it with a Metroidvania, you’d probably end up with something like Ex-Master, Zombie from HugePixel.

“Rise from the grave and reclaim what was lost. Explore a Metroidvania world, piece yourself back together, and unleash the true power of the Ex-Master. Death is not the end.”

You begin from a rather undignified starting point: reduced to little more than a disembodied zombie head with a personal score to settle. But there is more to this undead adventure than simply putting yourself back together. Every recovered fragment brings forgotten abilities, turning what begins as a desperate crawl towards survival into a darkly amusing journey of rediscovery and revenge. Being dead, after all, is no excuse for abandoning unfinished business.

Let me get this out of the way first: Ex-Master, Zombie can be pretty hard. We are talking one-hit deaths here, and the checkpoints are usually spread far and wide. Progression can feel a tad frustrating at first, especially in the opening moments when you are practically helpless. But if you stick with it, the game starts to ease up. While the punishing difficulty and lack of checkpoints remain, there is a tangible sense of growth as your zombie becomes more complete, a rewarding loop that keeps pushing you forward.

The most distinctive hook here is how progression is tied directly to physical restoration. In typical Metroidvania adventures, new abilities arrive through standard upgrades or mysterious gear. Here, every recovered body part contributes to the return of forgotten skills, giving the process a deeply personal connection to the character. A previously inaccessible route becomes a tempting destination once a lost limb returns, making the world feel less intimidating as your strength creeps back.

Now, Ex-Master, Zombie is not a massive game. If you have played other HugePixel titles, you’ll know they are typically short and sweet affairs. If you’re adept at the genre, you’ll likely see the end credits in around an hour. It’s not a particularly sprawling map, and while there is some variety across its dark, atmospheric locations and enemies, the core gameplay never ventures too far from the traditional Metroidvania path.

There are only two boss fights, and neither is particularly challenging. Plus, while there is an in-game map, it’s only accessible back at your base, which grows genuinely annoying over time. Overall, Ex-Master, Zombie is a fun little Metroidvania with an emphasis on the little. It wraps a clever, cheeky premise and a satisfying body-restoration mechanic around a compact, challenging experience that makes for a thoroughly entertaining (if slightly frustrating) hour or so.