Hexcraft: Harlequin Fair is a game that, for most, will probably feel entirely unapproachable, with its total disregard for linearity, lack of player guidance, and esoteric objectives. These are all by design and those willing to delve deeper into Oleander Garden's lonely, isolated vision of Toronto will be rewarded with a game as complex as it is short and sweet.

Harlequin Fair consists of traveling to different areas of Toronto, discovering hidden dungeons and esoteric items, and figuring out where to use them. That sounds all good until you realize you're not the only person gunning for these items. The NPCs you'll find throughout the game have their own agencies and objectives, including the items you need. Oftentimes, you'll have to interact with NPCs to discover where certain other NPCs have traveled to, or any rumors they've heard. This is your only hint as to their whereabouts and discovering how to progress. Uncovering this veritable puzzle box you've found yourself in is often confusing and requires a lot of player experimentation and guesswork, not only in terms of its mechanics but also in terms of exploration and NPC interaction. This can make Harlequin Fair often confusing and frustrating, but there's nothing more satisfying than unraveling one of its many mysteries. It's all surprisingly complex and nuanced, and while there's only a handful of hub worlds, you'll certainly be searching for a long time, trying to make meaning of everything. Finding new spells, weapons, and combat abilities to increase your power means that you can get riskier as the game goes on, and going from meekly creeping around Toronto to being able to disintegrate other characters into red mist is immensely enjoyable. One of the most memorable moments was when I was exploring a dungeon and an NPC who wanted one of my items got the drop on me. I didn't expect it at all and it opened my eyes to just how autonomous the neutral characters truly are.

There are only three real complaints I have, being the combat, lack of quality-of-life features, and to a lesser degree, NPC interaction. Combat is certainly not the main draw of Harlequin Fair and by all means it's perfectly competent, but most of the time it feels like a "numbers go up" kind of experience which, while not inherently a bad thing does mean that enemy encounters frankly rely less on your skillset and more on whatever you're wearing. Guns have bad feedback, the shotgun is practically a useless weapon (I found better weapons far before I ever found the shotgun), and enemies don't have much AI other than charging at you. It's fine as is but I would have appreciated something more engaging. As for quality of life, it could use some polish. Saving kicks the player back to the main menu, there are no adjustable options other than key rebinding, and swapping spells on the fly takes too long to be viable in an active combat scenario. Finally, for all the emphasis the game puts on characters, the ways you can actually interact with them one-on-one are sort of limited to asking them a few questions. I'm not asking to glean anything from them, considering the dialog is often as esoteric as the game itself, but rather I wish I could learn more of their eccentricities. All of these are ultimately minor issues, but they were notable to me.

Harlequin Fair's presentation is also notable. The version of Toronto you explore is dingy, brown, and oddly medieval. The game has a low-fi aesthetic with low polygon counts, sprite-based characters, and a soundscape that largely focuses on natural ambiance with minimal music. Random stores will have grainy number stations playing over the radio, environments have downright bizarre decorations at points and the audio design is often hauntingly effective. The game feels lonely and isolating despite featuring towns populated by people. It's consistently unnerving and during my first play session, I was fairly spooked, though that did subside once I discovered how simplistically the enemies behave. Vivian is a player-insert silent protagonist and therefore you can choose whether she mostly guns down zombies and evil warlocks or turns a shopkeeper into a gory mess with a well-timed spell just to steal 50 bucks from a cash register. Playing her as a weird goblin hermit adds to this sense of isolation, and when few of the other characters are right in the head, it makes the world of Harlequin Fair a downright bizarre one, and perhaps the game's second-best asset.

Hexcraft: Harlequin Fair is an absolutely bizarre find that I would never have discovered had it not been recommended to me. Its unique approach to non-linear gameplay is going to alienate if not enrage some, but I found it engrossing in a way I've never seen before. Is it perfect? No, combat could feel better and the game is a bit rough around the edges, but nothing quite feels like Harlequin Fair. If you have the stomach to figure out its unique design and engross yourself in its uncomfortable world, you'll be rewarded with a great game. We need more developers willing to take risks like this.

The following is a transcript of a video review which can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/HW9f8KnzTUU

Scrupulous developers will reuse assets and concepts between games in order to build on previous success and avoid having to build a new project from scratch every time. Some things don’t have to be changed, and players often won’t notice an asset that has been reused or they will associate a repeated concept as being integral to the series or genre. Knowing which ideas can and cannot be reused between projects is one of the greatest skills an indie developer can learn and Oleander Garden’s Hexcraft: Harlequin Fair is a shining example of reusing ideas correctly. Garden’s games have all been built upon their previous incarnation, increasing the scope of mechanical function as well as breadth of content. Pagan: Autogeny featured the same first person movement and combat mechanics that Eventide Sigil and Harlequin Fair contain, as well as a rampant disregard for linear structure that would carry forward. Eventide Sigil would introduce more players into the scavenger hunt; requiring the player to determine who had been where at what time and then chasing that person down. Harlequin Fair takes all of these systems and adds a few new ones to build even further. My issues with Garden’s games prior to Harlequin Fair was the quantity of content within. Autogeny took fewer than 2 hours to finish and I spent less than an hour more with Eventide Sigil. Total gameplay time is not at all reflective of gameplay quality, but these short lengths left me dissatisfied, wishing for more because what I had played was so unique. Has Garden remedied these complaints within Harlequin Fair, and if the game is more substantial, has the additional substance been detrimental to the game’s overall quality?

Much like Pagan: Autogeny and Eventide Sigil before it, Hexcraft: Harlequin Fair tasks the player with searching the world for a number of items to trigger further changes in that world. This time, however, the quest isn’t to form a singular collection in order to trigger an ending. Most objects that must be collected require previous collections to be completed before they can be obtained. For example, in order to acquire the Rheostat Hermetic the player must offer four aces to an altar. Those aces are the equivalent of Eventide Sigil’s relics and must be collected via conversing, sleuthing, and combating the other characters in the game. The Rheostat is also a key to another event further along, so while the Eventide Sigil format has been co opted for this game, it only functions as a single link within the treasure hunting chain. Each stage tasks the player with tackling a different set of obstacles so the player needs to determine what they are, and then the best way to overcome them. Some tasks require the player to prepare for gruelling battles against an army of enemies, while others act as a series of boss encounters, or require the player to investigate every corner of every area and maybe even figure out a puzzle. There are weapons and armour to gather in order to increase the likelihood of surviving those enemy encounters, there’s a magic system although I never encountered useful offensive magic, and there’s an alchemy system to brew buffing potions composed of a single liquid and a single herb. The world is filled with dungeons that contain some form of key to reach the next tier of locations and items.

In order to dive into the deepest corners of Toronto the player is given a handful of tools to use. Vivian has a different stat sheet within the real world and most of these stats are influenceable via a few equipment slots as well as the potions the player can brew. Faith, Armour, Strength, Pierce, and Speed are the equipment stats, while Wealth, Hungry, and Grace can be altered via other methods. Faith is a required stat in order to deal damage to enemies, without Faith Vivian will not deal damage and the player should really reconsider their equipment loadout. Faith may have other functions but I wasn’t able to determine any. Armour reduces incoming damage; by how much I’m unsure since there is no numbered health bar visible. Strength increases outgoing damage. With the lack of melee weapons in this game I think this stat is handled more naturally this way, both Ashley and I made the misconception that Strength in Autogeny would only increase damage from the sword when it also powered up the guns. Pierce reduces the enemy’s armour value on hit; pretty handy when dealing with the crusaders but not so much when fighting werewolves and vampires. Speed is obvious, as is Wealth. If Vivian is Hungry then their health regeneration will be deactivated. The player must exchange Wealth for food and bring food with them to locations they anticipate engaging in combat. And Grace can be gained by casting the Benediction, although I’m also unsure of the function. While these stats are interesting to play with - stacking pierce to kill crusaders easily, and then switching over to speed when the enemy doesn’t have a ranged weapon to run around them indefinitely - the player has very little storage capability and since the game primarily revolves around collecting items that storage capacity will be reached quickly. So what I ended up doing was finding a couple of items I liked and never taking them off. There is another group of stat changing collectibles that I had presumed would be something more than that, but unfortunately the Persona discs the player can find are simply another equipment slot that can only be accessed from Vivian’s home. These discs are valuable, though, so fighting through a catacomb that ends with a podium and a Persona disc isn’t too bad. There’s no way to know whether the fighting is for an upgrade or an objective anyway so I can’t imagine many feeling dissatisfied by this result.

Initially, the player is dumped into the city without guidance. The player will need to discern their goals as they explore and learn how to achieve them in the same way. Toronto is first split into five locations, but eventually the player will be able to explore two more once they are revealed on the map. Vivian’s house, Chinatown, The Path System, Saint Clair, and the Ravine are the first handful of locations and the Railyard and the Midway are discovered later on. I was drawn to explore the Path System first and discovered that it was a mall with a dark underground section. Without weapons or a light source, I chose to try another location. Chinatown contains a Triad base, some housing and more shops, and a tunnel occupied by the undead. Luring a zombie out into the street caused the NPC’s to begin fighting, and Triad members were getting involved too. In the end, a bunch of NPCs had died and I was able to scoop up their equipment, cash, and any cards they may have had. I took these items to the Ravine next, where the altar that dispenses the first major collectible is located. My mission was now to collect the 4 aces and bring them to this location. I basically went on a murderous rampage since I was unsure if the aces would have spawning locations somewhere in the world. In this rampage I took down the Triad house, as well as the White Knights in Saint Clair, rewarding me with more objects toward completing the various rituals and keys to continue deeper into the darkness. The more I completed, the closer I came to meeting Ada.

Narrative might be a strong word in this case, but Harlequin Fair has some things that could be considered plot points. Vivian’s computer is on in their house and the player can read the last email Vivian received to learn of a general set of goals within the game as well as a hint for getting the “good” ending. Meanwhile, there appears to be a growing conflict between the forces of heaven and hell occurring within Toronto. There are a few hideouts filled with necromancers and vampires, and even a demonic presence in some of the deeper dungeons. A church hosts a group of holy warriors and there are a couple of instances where the player must battle an angel. More and more powerful creatures are summoned onto the mortal plane and somehow Vivian is the only one capable of destroying them. Ada seems to be an angel and awaits within the Slaughterfield, a separate dimension that can only be accessed if the player possesses the Abbadon Waystone and the Ancient Astrolabe. Most changes in the world come as a result of the player’s actions, but the forces of evil will eventually take over the Path System and resist the player’s ventures into the underground. Violence will occur, NPCs will die, and the player will be instrumental in the fate of the afterlife.

Utilitarian. Hexcraft: Harlequin Fair’s presentation has even been cultivated from Eventide Sigil’s, with many of the sounds and UI pieces being translated into Harlequin Fair’s new world. That world is much darker and significantly less blocky this time, with an expertly implemented lighting system and the removal of those culling filters to make the environments moody and contiguous. I really enjoy this new grimy, nocturnal look, it plays to the strengths of the game’s art style and makes all of the violence and monsters fit into the world. NPC’s are again the 2D sprites although distinguishing between characters is far easier now that they aren’t all knights with different shields. Some of the sprites are weaker than others, but overall the quality is appropriate. The imps are fun and I liked the zombies a lot. The item sprites are very familiar, another example of recycling excellent pieces. It’s still great to see that this whole project can exist with minimal animation to keep the development focus on the necessities, and to give more space for any other ideas Garden may have wanted to include.

Autogeny’s themes are very up-front with the player while I wasn’t fully sure if Eventide Sigil had any overarching themes, and Harlequin Fair hasn’t hidden too much beyond the Christian elements, which aren’t exactly subtle. I feel that it’s natural for a player to read into the content of Garden’s games to try and discern something deeper because Autogeny was so blatant, but this time around I would liken that exercise to some first year university student trying to explain how Dr Frankestein was secretly gay and the colour of his furniture was somehow evidence to that statement. That being said, the persona discs are pretty conspicuous, right? Trying out new character traits by loading them into one’s home computer and seeing how they fit. Is Vivian building new character traits by stumbling upon them in the wild, or by tearing them from their previous owner? I can think of less destructive ways to find oneself.

Satisfaction is a strange emotion to feel when playing games, at least for me it is. Most puzzles in games are pathetic unless the game is built around them, so Harlequin Fair’s resistance to the player’s progression is deeply refreshing. The player needs to figure out their goal, and figure out a way to complete that task, and to not be told what and how shows Garden’s trust in their player’s capability. It is the definitive Oleander Garden experience thus far, and if anyone were to be interested in engaging with their work I think this is the best candidate, even with the repurposed assets and ideas. If you haven’t played Harlequin Fair yet, I urge you to. My perspective is much narrower than I anticipated and your reading will undoubtedly be different to mine.

The game is definitively longer, and the expanded content is just as good, if not better than Pagan: Autogeny and Eventide Sigil, although it doesn’t cover all of the same bases. What the player experiences is a complex web of scavenger hunts that all coalesce into a final battle in a higher plane of existence. Harlequin Fair isn’t as emotionally distressing as Autogeny, nor is it as unsettling as Eventide Sigil, instead it seeks to implant a curiosity within the player. Every stone could be hiding something fascinating, every person might have great wisdom to share, and every doorway leads to new obstacles.

Next time, the redemption of a legend will come.

When I finished Pagan: Autogeny my first thought was "wow, that was good, but I wish that the endgame wasn't so repetitive- I wish it was greater in scope, and that it didn't reveal its whole hand so quickly. I wish it was more mechanically dense. Oh well."

Now that I've played it, I can say without a doubt that Hexcraft: Harlequin Fair is exactly what I wanted out of Autogeny. It's a mechanically dense puzzle box of an open-world RPG, a scavenger hunt that consistently surprised me. Progression relies just as much on finding out where to go as it does on learning the game's systems through experimentation. It presents you with a city governed by forces you don't understand and rivals who understand them far better than you do, and invites you to scour every nook and cranny, learn from failure, and find ways to survive in spite of the world often feeling totally indifferent to whether you fail or not. Getting into a fight in the early game is a death sentence; it took me an hour to even find a weapon, and another hour or so to learn how to not immediately die in combat. Progress is hard fought, but immensely satisfying when you finally do break through. I'm like begging you right now- if some stroke of luck makes Harlequin Fair blow up in popularity two years after its release- and God, I hope it does- play it blind. I realize it's totally possible that this is just so squarely my shit that it'll seem like I'm being hyperbolic here, but I loved every second of this.