Don't Die! You got 1 Life!
A permadeath dark-fantasy action roguelike about climbing a tower no one has ever beaten, with every visual drawn by code.
Links go to the official store or developer page. Last verified Nov 8, 2026.
Where to play
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- Coming soon · SteamSteamComing soon · Open playtest on Steam; Early Access listed for 26 Apr 2027Paid
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Desktop · Steam
About Don't Die! You got 1 Life!
A dark-fantasy action roguelike for Windows about climbing a tower that, the store page says, has never been beaten. You have one life, but a forgiving one: lose all your health and you can drag yourself back up to three times, weaker each time, and even after the third fall there is one more chance “in a form you won't see coming”. Each floor is its own environment with its own characters and enemies; you can examine the battlefield and study how opponents move and strike before you commit, and choices outside combat (fight or flee, trust or turn away, whom to help) open some paths and close others. The planned Early Access version has two floors of the story, the core one-life combat loop, enemies including bosses, and weapons, armour and titles to earn; the developer plans 10 to 12 months of Early Access, ending when the story is complete. All visuals, store images included, are drawn by code at runtime with 2D canvas drawing commands rather than image files. The developer, Mackenzie Taylor, describes the role as creative director and says Claude writes that code: the developer's tool list names Claude Code for the coding and the procedural artwork, and the developer has published a video series on making the game with Claude Code. A free public playtest is open on Steam; Early Access is listed for 26 Apr 2027. In English.
Content note: Fantasy combat. Steam shows generated age ratings of 6 in Germany and Brazil (fantasy violence) and 13 in Indonesia (violence). (Steam)
Screenshots and art
Don't Die! You got 1 Life! key art · Steam store artwork
How it was built
Partially verifiedThe developer's tool list on meetmackenzie.com names Claude Code, “Used for coding and rendering 2D procedural artwork”. The Steam AI disclosure says the art and code are creatively directed by the developer, “directing, refining, reviewing, and quality-checking every part across hundreds of hours of iteration”, that the visuals “are drawn by code at runtime (procedural rendering) using standard 2D canvas drawing commands, and Claude AI writes and brings that code to life”. In a blog post (25 Aug 2026) the developer compares the split to a film director and an editor: the developer has “very little knowledge in coding” and acts as creative director and overseer, while Claude is the coder, across hundreds of hours and “between eighty and a hundred different chats”.
- DeveloperSteam AI Generated Content Disclosure: “I build it with Claude AI as my tool. … Claude AI writes and brings that code to life.” — Steam
- DeveloperThe developer's YouTube video “Making a Game with Claude Code (Part 4): The Whole Session” (24 Oct 2026), a recorded development session. — YouTube (Meet Mackenzie)
A custom 2D game whose characters, environments and effects are drawn at runtime with standard 2D canvas drawing commands (procedural rendering) instead of image files; the store and marketing images come from the same in-game rendering. The developer's tool list also names Pinterest for reference images and Pixabay Music, OpenGameArt, Free Music Archive and ccMixter for free and openly licensed music, sound and art; the Steam disclosure says the game includes no third-party copyrighted material. The developer describes many iterations of playtesting, notes and fixes with Claude over hundreds of hours and has run a public playtest before Early Access. Steam lists Windows 10 with an Intel UHD Graphics 620 laptop as both minimum and recommended specs, the only machine the developer has tested on.
- Engine / framework
- Custom (2D canvas)
- Languages
- Not disclosed
- Team size
- Not disclosed
- Initial build time
- Not disclosed
- Development time
- Not disclosed
- Development cost
- Not disclosed
- AI-written code
- Not disclosed
“I'm the creative director, Claude's on the team, and I hope to reduce the stigma around AI game development.”- The tools I build Don't Die! You Got 1 Life! with (meetmackenzie.com)
- What making a game with AI actually looks like (dev-blog)
- Making a Game with Claude Code (Part 4): The Whole Session (YouTube)
Verification notes: AI use from the Steam store page's AI Generated Content Disclosure, the developer's tool list and home page on meetmackenzie.com (the site the Steam page links) and the dev-blog post of 25 Aug 2026, all re-checked on 8 Nov 2026. The YouTube video's title, channel (Meet Mackenzie) and the link to it were confirmed through YouTube's oEmbed data; the video page itself could not be opened from our environment, so its description (which, per our researcher's copy, says “Claude does the code, animations and visuals through 2D procedural rendering”) is not quoted as checked. The Steam disclosure says “Claude AI” while the tool list and video name Claude Code; we record Claude Code. Store data from the Steam page and store API (cc=us) on 8 Nov 2026: developer and publisher Mackenzie Taylor; coming soon, release date “Apr 26, 2027”, listed as Early Access; Windows; English; no price; single-player, Steam Achievements, stats; an associated playtest (app 5228780) marked open; no user reviews. The developer's site says “The playtest demo is playable now.” Location: the site gives Saxmundham and the surrounding areas (in the United Kingdom); type is solo because the store and site present one person, but no team size is stated. Contact details on the site are not recorded. We did not play the playtest.
Development history
The developer's blog describes making the game with Claude as a partner over hundreds of hours and 80 to 100 chats.
DeveloperMeet Mackenzie (Mackenzie Taylor)Part 4 of the developer's YouTube series “Making a Game with Claude Code” shows a full development session.
DeveloperYouTube (Meet Mackenzie)- By 8 Nov 2026
A public playtest is open on Steam.
Planned Early Access release, per the Steam page.
OfficialSteam
Game performance
Each figure measures something different — concurrent players, owners, downloads and sales are never interchangeable and are never added together. Labels show where each number comes from.
Steam
No price on the Steam store API on 8 Nov 2026 (cc=us); the developer says the price will rise modestly as floors are added. The playtest is free to join. Windows only.
Not publicly available: All-time peak concurrent players, Concurrent players, Steam reviews, Positive Steam reviews, Estimated owners, Gross revenue.
Reviews & rankings
Not yet reviewed by our editors.
Not currently ranked.
Sources
| Source | Type | Published | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Don't Die! You got 1 Life! on Steam Steam | Store page | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
| The tools I build Don't Die! You Got 1 Life! with Meet Mackenzie (Mackenzie Taylor) | Official site | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Meet Mackenzie Meet Mackenzie (Mackenzie Taylor) | Official site | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
| What making a game with AI actually looks like (from someone who's actually doing it) Meet Mackenzie (Mackenzie Taylor) | Devlog | Aug 25, 2026 | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Making a Game with Claude Code (Part 4): The Whole Session YouTube (Meet Mackenzie) | Devlog | Oct 24, 2026 | Nov 3, 2026 |
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