Helltaker is a short 2/3 puzzle game 1/3 visual novel where you navigate obstacles to reach demon girls and invite them to your harem.
The puzzles center around getting from one side of a room to the other in a specified number of steps while avoiding obstacles including pushable rocks enemy skeletons and traps that take away two of your movements.
The primary form of puzzles is satisfying and the difficulty ramps up in a manageable way, adding and mixing mechanics in a way that is challenging but not overly frustrating.
During the "final boss" section the gameplay switches to a more rhythm based structure where you have to dodge chains seconds after being shown where they will appear. This was a highlight for me, as learning the patterns and getting a clean run was extremely satisfying.
It also helps to mitigate some of the tedium of being stuck on a particular level with an absolute banger of a soundtrack and well-written hints on each level that flesh out the characters and the background of the world.
Each level also ends with a visual novel/dating sim section that forces you to restart the level if you fail, which can help you internalize the level design rather than brute forcing your way through, but you can also just skip through all the levels if you just want the story.
Ultimately the narrative is pretty light but a lot of the writing is witty and made me chuckle while dancing up to the line of being too horny but keeping things tongue in cheek.
The puzzles center around getting from one side of a room to the other in a specified number of steps while avoiding obstacles including pushable rocks enemy skeletons and traps that take away two of your movements.
The primary form of puzzles is satisfying and the difficulty ramps up in a manageable way, adding and mixing mechanics in a way that is challenging but not overly frustrating.
During the "final boss" section the gameplay switches to a more rhythm based structure where you have to dodge chains seconds after being shown where they will appear. This was a highlight for me, as learning the patterns and getting a clean run was extremely satisfying.
It also helps to mitigate some of the tedium of being stuck on a particular level with an absolute banger of a soundtrack and well-written hints on each level that flesh out the characters and the background of the world.
Each level also ends with a visual novel/dating sim section that forces you to restart the level if you fail, which can help you internalize the level design rather than brute forcing your way through, but you can also just skip through all the levels if you just want the story.
Ultimately the narrative is pretty light but a lot of the writing is witty and made me chuckle while dancing up to the line of being too horny but keeping things tongue in cheek.