Helltaker

Helltaker is a game about starting a harem of sharply-dressed demon girls. Yes, I actually just wrote that sentence. And the oddest part, is that it's not even a bad game, though a very short one. This review shouldn't be too long.

Helltaker is an odd blend of puzzle game and visual novel. Each level is a Sokoban-esque puzzle where you have to push blocks, punch skeletons, and dodge spikes to get to where its demon girl is residing. Then, you have to pick the right option to convince the girl to join your group. There's also a bullet hell final boss (cause every indie game's gotta have a bullet hell final boss these days), which is easily the highlight of the game. I'm not a big fan of Sokoban, so I didn't love the puzzle sections. They get really hard later on with insanely intricate solutions to the goal, but thankfully, you can always skip the puzzle if you want (or look them up). The visual novel sections were much more interesting, as it was a lot of fun to try and reason the correct thing to say based on each girl's personality. Speaking of which, the characters and dialogue were surprisingly good given the game's fairly superficial goal. Each demon girl has their own personality and I can totally see why the cast resonated with the internet so much (aside from one other factor). Even if Helltaker is just trying to get a harem, you can tell there's something going on behind the scenes in hell. I'd also recommend pressing the L button during every level since you can get some entertaining banter between the characters.

Presentation-wise, Helltaker is super polished. The artstyle is clean and the characters are incredibly expressive. I love the cute Chibi versions of the characters during gameplay, along with the more detailed art used during the VN segments. The character designs also do a good job of aligning with each of their personalities. And then there's the music which is just so good, Vitality in particular. Helltaker is a free game, which means that it's pretty short. It should only take about twenty-minutes-or-so to fully beat, which is a bit of a shame. However, there are a lot of fun little secrets, with multiple bad endings, achievements, and even a secret ending. It still shouldn't take too long, half an hour at the most, but I like games that include a whole bunch of little Easter eggs like this. 

The creator of Helltaker is quite open about the fact that he just made the game because there aren't enough female demon girls in suits, which makes it somewhat impressive that he managed to put this much work into the game anyway. It may be short and its gameplay may not be the most fun, but it's also boasts likable characters, an interesting world, and a stellar presentation with a buttload of charm.

Update: The game just got a pretty big and free update with some tough new levels and some neat new lore. Helltaker still shouldn't take more than a hour to beat even with the update, but the fact that it's still entirely free even after the DLC makes it even more worth getting than before.

3/5 Stars