Debtor Review – A Fun SEGA Genesis Puzzle Platformer on Evercade With Indie Heroes Collection 1!

I seriously doubt we are going to have to deal with money after we die. Yet, in this puzzle platformer, that’s exactly what you do! In Debtor, you collect money to pay your debts after you’ve died. While the premise is morbid, the graphical style is surprisingly tame. But what’s the gameplay like?

Gameplay

Although you’re dead, you’re a guy who walks between relatively normal looking rooms to pick up coins and make your way to the exit. You can jump, drop a bomb, and bash your head against blocks. By the way, the latter doesn’t cause a concussion. Instead, it breaks certain objects so you can progress further. Once you get all the coins in a level the exit opens up and you can go to the next stage.

Many of the levels involve moving blocks so you can jump to a higher platform. Just as often, you push boxes off ledges so you can use them to get back up later. Some stages have additional hazards, such as enemies who shoot at you or pits of lava.

The game contains 30 levels, along with a final boss. Although it can be beaten in about 20 minutes if you know what you are doing, it took me approximately 2 hours to complete. I had to look up solutions on YouTube a couple of times.

While playing, I had a fun time and got into the experience pretty quickly. I enjoyed the different puzzles and thought many of them were well designed. Debtor does a good job of easing you into using your different abilities and teaching you how to play the game, too.

Once I finished it, I wished it was longer, which is a good sign! I expect that people who are really good at puzzle platformers will blow right through it and think it is too easy, though.

Graphics

The graphics are not amazing, and I think the art style may be a hit or a miss with some gamers. Your main character is really blocky and weird looking, which is something I don’t see often in retro inspired titles.

The game takes place indoors, so there was no use of parallax scrolling. This makes the game look a bit flat. I thought the graphics were serviceable, which isn’t that exciting. At least I was more focused on the gameplay anyway.

Music and Sound Effects

Similarly, the music and sound effects were all right. Some music tracks were a bit jarring, but not terribly so. In the options menu you’re able to turn off the music and sound effects independently, which is a good touch.

Passwords

Probably the worst thing about the game, other than the fact that it’s too short, is that passwords are only given every 10 levels. This is a pain because you only have a few lives, and to my knowledge, there is no way to earn more. You can’t continue after your die, either.

If you find yourself in an unwinnable position you can hit ABC (or XAB on Evercade) on the controller to blow yourself up and start the level over.

The combined consequences of the small number of lives and passwords has a significant impact on those playing on original hardware. Once you run out of lives you need to restart from the last set of 10 levels. Imagine if you make it to level 18 or 19 a few times, and keep dying before you get the password for level 20! That would be a pain! Having a new password for every level would have been very helpful in alleviating this frustration for players.

Thankfully, I was playing this on an Evercade device so I was able to make a new save state at the start of each stage. I’m sure this had an impact on my enjoyment of the game.

Other Irritations

Another irritation is that even though you can hold up or down on the controller to see around you, a lot of the areas are so tall that you can’t really see what’s below. A consequence of this is that the first couple of times I played a level I often pushed boxes off ledges, just hoping that they were going to the correct places.

Invariably, I was wrong, and would put myself in a situation where I would lose a life. After such mistakes, the only options were to blow myself up, wait for the timer to run out, or as in my case, to load a save state.

Admittedly, the frustration with the limited number of passwords and lives was not a serious problem because I was able to restore my game often. However, those playing on original hardware will find such design choices more irritating I did.

Summary

I thought Debtor was a good game with some quality puzzles and decent graphics and sound. I wish there was more of it, which is actually a good sign. Different passwords for every level would have been appreciated a lot, though.

Note: The links in the Review Overview section are to itch.io because when I try to go to the developer website my antivirus software goes off. Although this game is available on Indie Heroes Collection 1 on Evercade, it is not going to be reprinted starting in December, 2025. The game has been delisted from Steam as well. I don’t know where to buy the physical Genesis/Mega Drive cartridge.

Title: Debtor (Itch.io link to demo)
Genre: Puzzle Platformer
Year Released: 2020
Developer: PSCD Games
Available On: Sega Genesis/Mega Drive and Evercade through Indie Heroes Collection 1. It used to be available on Steam, but has been delisted.
Price Paid: $1.14, or $16.00 for Indie Heroes Collection 1

Remember, we can have different opinions about the games we play. If you like something more (or less) than I do, both of our perspectives are valid.