Go! Go! GOTY! 2020: Game 8: Helltaker
By Mento 0 Comments
There was a small stir on the gaming zones of the social media a few months back where everyone was suddenly getting thirsty for demon girls. It soon became apparent that the culprit at the center of it all was a freeware Steam game named Helltaker, following a similar set of circumstances that put a newly added feature in a relatively anodyne New Super Mario Bros. U Switch remake at the heart of an equally horny fanart catastrophe. Helltaker's a brief puzzle game that's perhaps best suited for mobile devices (it has that kind of style to it), but notable enough beyond its central conceit of obtaining a "demon girl harem" to be worth reviewing for this feature.
Helltaker is a specific sort of puzzle game I've referred to in the past (actually never) as the "perfect path deducer". That is, you're given a limited number of moves to complete a map, working your way from one point to another, and going over this limit will instantly end the attempt and start you over. These maps are invariably a grid of obstacles to overcome, from rocks to skeletal goons to spike traps. Rocks need to be pushed out the way (and regularly form inconvenient barriers), skeletal goons are also pushed out of the way but can be eliminated if shoved against a wall, and spike traps simply remove two steps from your limit rather than one though can be safely walked upon during their "off" state (they alternate every step). This is the basis of the first eight levels of the game, with the ninth and final switching the format to a more reflex-intensive real-time boss battle.
However, there is one more obstacle to overcome before a level is complete: you have to convince the comely demon girl at the end to join your harem, via a very dating-sim-like multiple choice prompt. Failure to convince them usually has them clawing your head off, which naturally proves as fatal as failing to reach them in the first place. The developers made sure to give each of these infernal paramours enough of a distinct personality, sharp "business casual" fashion sense, and distinct role in Hell's operation, which may have spawned the whole demon waifu business that spread out over the internet for a brief but prurient moment in time. Honestly, this all thematically dovetails with the allure of the immortal genocidal cult leaders of Paradise Killer also, which proves if nothing else that the internet can stan anything, even pure evil, if it's sexy enough.
Beyond all that, the game's about an hour long and I'm not going to spoil the puzzles or the encounters, and the game's still free on Steam if you're curious yourselves. I believe there's an option to skip puzzles if they turn out to be too tough (I'll admit to spending close to 15 minutes on the eighth stage, and the ninth sure wasn't easy either) so it's fairly accessible. A pleasant freebie surprise, much like Doki Doki Literature Club was for 2017. Just, uh, maybe put SafeSearch on if you decide to go Googling for more information (or don't; no yucking anyone's yums here).
GOTY Verdict: It's cute so it's in the running, but I don't fancy its chances in the long-term.