One Life is a post-apocalyptic first-person shooter with survival features released on PC. The title is a MMO game developed by independent Russian studio Kefir! The developers plan to create a revolution in the video game industry. In their game the player has only a single life. Losing it means complete end of the game – without the possibility to start again.

### Mechanics

At first glance the mechanics of One Life for PC are similar to ones used in other MMO survival games. Together with other players the user goes to a large, post-apocalyptic world filled with dangers and threats like AI-controlled mutants with various abilities. The main objective is to survive with a wise strategy, seeking water and food and using crafting system to create needed items. The game world is explored mostly by using a special truck that serves as a mobile base. The truck can be upgraded and improved with new features (alone or together with other players).

What makes the game different from similar titles is the unique system of permanent death. In One Life death doesn’t mean that the player can create a new character and start playing from the beginning. If player dies, his adventure with the game ends definitely. In such case One Life will not allow him to play again.

This feature isn’t as terrifying as one could assume. It’s not that easy to die in the game. If a player actually dies, in most cases it happens because of his choice. If player loses a confrontation with other player, his fate is entirely up to the other. The winner can forgive the opponent or simply kill him, but it will be much more profitable to rob the opponent or make him a slave. This introduces an unusual level of control over other players and the fear of permanent death leads to a very careful planning of each move or to psychologically complicated situations in which player is ready to do almost everything to avoid losing his life.

### Game modes

One Life for PC is a title made mostly for multiplayer mode. However, players afraid of irreversible death from the hands of other players can also play the game alone. Due to the specifics of the title, the best way to play it is together with friends who won’t be trying to kill the user.

### Misc.

The unusual feature offered by One Life for PC caused many discussions, petitions and suggestions – the players were excited by this gameplay mechanic, but they also feared that it might cause abuses and cheats to be used. To prevent that, the developers decided to leave a possibility to resurrect a character in special situations, for example when its death was caused by a cheater or hardware malfunction.

One Life