Developer Appsir Games have been putting out genre-defying titles on mobile (and other platforms) for a number of years now, and this week marks the release of their magnum opus DERE Vengeance which has been many years in the making. In fact, if the title sounds kind of familiar, that’s because this is the third entry in the “DERE" series and the, oh shoot I lost count, sixth? seventh? entry in their overall “Appsirverse" of interconnected titles.

So what does any of this mean? Well, it doesn’t have to mean anything, if you don’t want it to. DERE Vengeance is at its core a precision platformer with well-designed but brutal levels to run and jump through and it’s all set to a very fourth wall-breaking storyline that leans into horror territory. Or maybe not exactly horror, but more like internet horror, like creepypasta type stuff. Think Backrooms, Slender Man, those sorts of things.

You can play through DERE Vengeance like a regular platformer with a weird story and that’s a fine thing for a person to do. However, if you’re a fan of Appsir’s other releases then there’s a little bit more juice to squeeze from this orange because they’re all interconnected in subtle but meaningful ways. It’s very similar to the Rusty Lake games where they’ve created their own interconnected little universe where they can point out small details for the benefit of their longtime fans, but none of it is actually necessary to enjoy any of their games as a standalone experience.

That’s where DERE Vengeance sits as well. It’s a fun platformer (is fun the right word? You will die and curse A LOT, so…) all on its own, but that extra stuff is there and should you feel compelled to learn more about this strange interconnected universe it’s very easy to do as all the Appsir games are free with ads and each have an ad-disabling IAP. So, check out DERE Vengeance by itself, enjoy it as a hardcore platformer experience, and move on. Or… go hit up the app store and binge all the other games first. The choice is yours and there’s no wrong answer.