Though this dream might cost him his life, he sets out to make it a fact, and ventures down to the bowels of hell to romance whatever demonesses may come his way.
It is a wildly original tale, one which has the gameplay to match. Players must make it from 1 side of a point to another in a fixed amount of moves, dubbed will. Run from will, and you are banished…or back to the beginning of the level. But they don’t make things easy — spike traps that take twin will, locked gates, heaps of stone, and skeleton warriors all stand in the way of your cuties. Additionally, it plays a element in certain areas of the title, with traps closing and opening at select times.
There’s no promise that these girls will like what they hear.
After all, with names like”the sour demon,””that the bitch demon,” and even”the CEO of hell,” it can be complicated to figure out exactly what to say. In these cases, players are given a conversation choice — however, choosing the wrong one may get you killed in no time flat. Thankfully, the humorous and witty writing makes failure (somewhat) tolerable. There is a way to get some”Life Advice” out of your demon girl posse while in its own mystery mode, but these deals are more ridiculous than tactical.
Most of the game follows this puzzle format, but (spoiler alert) there is a section of the game which needs fast reflexes. Some may decry this kind of speed, but we found it a really refreshing approach to split things up. Just be warned that those who generally like to take their time with their puzzle games will need to be on their A game and pick up the speed a considerable amount if they are looking to beat the game by using their ability set.
There arAresome alternate ways to solve puzzles, Ancient Inscriptions to collect, and a couple of achievements to be collected, but we could complete our initial go-around in around 40 minutes with a great deal of trial and error (and deaths). More information would have been fine, but what is here was created with zero fat to speak of.
Helltaker features great mystery mechanisms, fantastic aesthetics, and amazing storytelling. Even though it’s a little on the brief side, this partnership into hell is worth a go for anyone searching for a little love.
