Helltaker - review

Helltaker is a game that was released on 11th May 2020 and it was created by an indie game developer vanripper.
It's a small game where you solve puzzles so that you can build your dream demon harem but you can skip the puzzles if you're that kind of person.
The game shows us many types of personalities that the women in the game have, there's a Sadist, Masochist, Triplets, and many more.

Gameplay

It is a simple yet well-made puzzle game that gives a cute design to a place where many people are sent to be tortured for the sins which they have committed.
But regarding that fact, the game features cute skeletons and obstacles that the player must go through with Will
What is Will you ask?
Will is just used as the numeric system in the game to count how many steps you can take before you die

The amount of Will will be shown on the bottom left corner of your screen.
So make sure that you properly count how many steps you would need to take to complete the level.
But you can skip the levels if you don't like to waste 5-10 minutes of your time trying to figure out the puzzle or if you just don't like maths.

The game has an interesting hint feature because I'm sure that in most puzzle games you would eventually be stuck in a level so to make the puzzle easier for you, you would ask for hints, right?
But in this game, they will give you small hints but after 1-3 levels you don't get any hints, you only get to interact with the demon girls which had joined your harem. It's a smart and clever way of telling a story while keeping the presence of a puzzle game genre.

Characters

The first character is the narrator which goes by the name Beelzebub The Great Fly

• She is the first one that you will meet
• She is the Narrator of the story of Helltaker
• She is the one which allows you to select and skip levels (some levels may not be able to be skipped though)

The second character which you would meet is Pandemonica, The Tired Demon

• She's just a tired devil which will join your harem after you give her some coffee
• She's the most intelligent demon in the harem because she is the only one which has given somewhat helpful hints
• She would also try to help you in not making any bad life choices in the game (basically she will tell you not to skip levels)
• She has a great personality but I forgot to mention than she turns into a completely different person when she gets her hands on some good coffee

She will become Pandemonica, The Sadistic Demon

• She has a dual personality which makes it feel like you're would be dating 2 people at the same time.
• She becomes a Sadistic to the point where she would make you have a bad time if you made a slight mistake in making her coffee properly

But other than that I don't know much about her as she has only been introduced at the end of the game where she finally gets some coffee


Modeus, The Lustful Demon

• Her personality is kinda ironic which is sometimes a good thing 
• She may be the demon with overwhelming lust but the truth is that she is very shy when it comes to romance
• She is the one which introduces the idea of you skipping all the levels and getting all the girls without even doing the puzzles 
• She is the first one to feel jealous in the harem

Cerberus, The Triple Demon

• Their just a bunch of demon dogs which wants to corrupt the mortal realm but they're cute so it's okay
• They bring the hype and excitement to the story more than any other character
• They're a Triplet

Malina, The Sour Demon

• She's a very relatable person because she is a gamer like us
• She's introverted but she will only open herself up to people who like games (turn-based RPG games especially)
• She hates her sister Zdrada 
• She's an Alcoholic

Zdrada, The Masochistic Demon  

• She's a Masochist but not in a bad way 
• She likes her sister Malina
• She's a smoker
• She has a cross necklace (so that she can be hated by the demons more because she's a true masochist)

Azazel, The Curious Angel

• She's a different uniform which is refreshing to see
• She's just a curious angel which wants to know more about demon culture
• She gives you the choice of going to Heaven but that would result in you having no demon harem
• She doesn't count as a demon but she still gets to be in the harem

Justice, The Awesome Demon

• She is nicer than any other demons because she will not kill you even if you give her a bad response
• She may be blind but she has more positivity than any other demons in this game
• She's more humorous than the other girls in the game
• She's extroverted and loves parties 

Lucifer, The CEO of Hell

• She's a Tsundere and a Himedere (royalty complex)
• She likes Pancakes
• Her presence as the superior is ignored in the game
• She's the first woman who cared about your safety when you're stuck in the boss level
• Her level is the easiest and cannot be skipped

Judgment, The High Prosecutor

• She takes her job seriously, and when I mean seriously it means that you will have a bad time
• She is the only demon which acted as a proper demon
• She is the definition of "She PROTECC, She ATTACC"
• Her level is the Boss level and cannot be skipped

Story

Everything started when the Protagonist woke up from a dream about him having a harem full of demon girls.

So after he woke up, he decided to go to hell and fulfill his dream like a true man of culture.

Then he would eventually get his dream demon harem, and when he did, he was later known as the Helltaker.
He knew it wouldn't be an easy life, he knew it would be a short life, but life is full of suffering no matter how you live it, so he spent his remaining time with his demon harem.

Secret ending

I'm not going to show you the steps you must take to get to the secret ending because this is a review, not a game guide so

To reach the secret ending of the game you just need to find 3 of these Ancient inscriptions

After that, you just need to do the secret ritual at your home then

BAM, the portal is now open

If you approach the portal then you will be greeted by Beelzebub on the other side of which tries to manipulate you by asking you to become the demon king by entering the portal but luckily Lucifer was there to inform you that Beelzebub was lying and she said that the portal is nothing but a one-way banishment portal. 
But if you still decide to go in the portal then you will be immediately greeted by many shades of darkness and you would soon have every illness known to man, but luckily death is not a concept in the Abyss (but you would still suffer)
Then, later on, you are surrounded by thousands of flies and you smell a weird yet unpleasant sweet scent that you would get used to.

You will meet Beelzebub once again, but this time she changed herself into her waifu appearance, and then she makes a proper introduction of herself.

She then talks about how it's not so bad here in the Abyss (as she discusses how the fabric of darkness can visualize your weirdest hobbies)

And then, later on, she noticed that you brought something before you entered the portal, so you gave her the chocolate Pancakes which you intended to give to your harem but now that the situation has changed, you had no reason to hold on to them.

Then eventually she invites you to her castle, so now you live with The Queen of the Flies in the Abyss.

Conclusion

I rate this game a 9/10 and the reason why is because;

1. The characters are interesting, the gameplay is fun, the storytelling is great, (it's like one of those foods which you never wanna stop eating)
2. Helltaker requires around 300 MB to download, which means that you can run this game on an old low-end pc from 2010 and you will still be able to play the game.
3. It's a game that has multiple endings and the secret ending gave rise to more questions and confusion to the story so it all depends on the viewer's interpretation of the story.
4. The game is simple to play and unlike many other boring dating simulation games, this game is more direct and straight to the point.
5. The game mixes the genre of Puzzles, Adventure, Dating sim where the balance of these genres is rock solid.
6. The gameplay felt like the Puzzle genre, the Journey of the protagonist's dream demon harem felt like the Adventure genre and the Hints and reward after each level felt like the Dating sim genre, everything is perfectly balanced like how all things should be.
7. The game's artwork and music quality are very well done.
8. My only downside to this game was that it was a bit too short and it's still not a perfect game as there are certain bugs and misspellings but I'm sure that the developer will fix this issue sooner or later.