I don't usually consider writing reviews for games, most of the time I don't care that much to say what tons of others have already said (but better, usually). I've been agonizing how to best sing the praise I have for this game since early this morning, and I'm writing this review immediately after ragequitting after my probably 7th attempt at an All Crystals run. So without further ado:
[b]This is a good game. This is an extremely good and fun game. Please, honestly, don't even read this review, just buy the game and play it, and feel free to come back later. If you [i]desperately need[/i] a stranger's second opinion before buying Heartseeker, scroll down for the TL;DR towards the bottom.[/b]
I did my first story run at about 2 am last night, not completely sober, and I immediately fell in love. Heartseeker oozes both a certain simplicity in that 'easy to learn, hard to master' sort of way, and a complex charm in its presentation.
The title screen immediately hits you with the game's 3-color palette of empty black space, splashed with white tiled scenery and a singular sword, and dripping with red accents from a bloody, disembodied heart, all presented in a somewhat minimalist pixel art-style, and a thumping, somewhat muted lo-fi-ish track (timed with the beating of the aforementioned heart and the game's title) belies what's to come from the moment you first click in the direction of your target.
The menu pops in, and to the left you're given some short prose, accompanied by the game's main and singular music theme. These two things are the only motivation you should need to really just dive into the experience. And the experience is simple, but incredibly satisfying and addicting. You are a sword. You click in a direction and you fly in a straight line, embedding yourself in the opposing wall. You see a heart. You click towards it. You cleave it clean in two. The left side of the screen counts your time, your clicks, and your deaths thus far. Each level features a collectible crystal, spiny-urchin-esque walls that will destroy your sword (resetting the crystal you collected), and after a couple levels in, hearts will be protected by barriers and need to be cleared by dispatching red orbs placed throughout. You'll die a couple of times, but these aren't hard concepts to grasp, and serve the game's incredibly clean, tight presentation.
(My one singular criticism about the gameplay (and of the game as a whole) is that it's not clearer that, in some levels, you can still technically die and lose the crystal you've collected [i]after[/i] destroying a heart, even though this still progresses you to the next level, with no option other than to restart your run if you're going for All Crystals. I do believe this is a wholly intentional function of the game, but your only early indication of this is a level in which you're able to collect a crystal [i]after[/i] cutting through a heart, indicating that the sword is technically still active until it has embedded in a wall (or the slice of the sword? It's a little fuzzy to explain, as a post on the game's twitter reveals the neat trick that the sword appears instantaneously on the surface you're aiming at, but the 'cutting line' is animated in such a way to suggest incredibly fast movement) This is a very small complaint and it definitely does not detract from how good this game is as a whole whatsoever)
Upon beginning your first story mode run, you'll see that more prose is delivered on the left side at the beginning of each level, but if you're like me you might not even notice it at first, as to the right you'll almost immediately be aware of the timer that has started before you even have a chance to take everything in. The timer, combined with the music, conveys a sense of urgency to your singular goal, and before you know it, you're clicking away to dive deeper into the viscera and sinew of the Living Dungeon, plunging through each level's heart with a fury.
While the story text of each level definitely adds to the overall experience, I [i][u]*highly*[/u][/i] recommend putting it out of your mind on your first run, as you'll have plenty of time and opportunities to soak it in after, and just getting absorbed into finishing the run with almost reckless abandon makes it all hit just a little bit sweeter given some of the themes presented.
On that note, I have [i]got[/i] to talk about the story a little, or at least the writing of it, and how much I adore the type of prose used to deliver it. After finishing my first run, I began a time trial run, where the timer wouldn't begin on each level until I made my first move, and I was able to read through each segment, which barely run a paragraph long, but packed so much on to what was already a really fantastic experience. Combined with that singular music track (which literally Never gets old) and all of the visuals you've experienced by the end of your first run, it all oozes and drips some fantastic imagery, with a lot of themes that I myself am particularly fond of, and I loved taking in as I sort of came down from the rush of my first run.
[b]TL;DR[/b]
All-in-all, Heartseeker is, as mentioned earlier, an incredibly clean and tight package. My first (easy) story run ran just over 10 minutes, and there are already phenomenally shorter times on the leaderboards (Did I mention there are leaderboards? Great for you competitive types ;) ), so you might finish it faster or slower, but I highly recommend that others take their first run at their own pace and soak it in, as you'll always have the option to whittle your time, clicks, and deaths down later. For $2, Heartseeker is an excellent game with lots of replayability, and such a fun overall experience that I've already suggested it to a bunch of my friends, and plan on gifting it to more of them in the future. Thank you so much to Chris, Michael, and Nick for coming together to deliver what I would honestly describe as one of my favorite indie gaming experiences of the year, and I'm excited to see what the three of you might do in the future! :)
[i][b]TL;DR AGAIN[/b][/i]
Heartseeker is a good game. Please play Heartseeker, just play the game, just do it, right now, it's literally $2. It's literally less than that. Don't think about it too much, just play it. Buy it and play it and then buy it for your friends it's That good, you have no reason not to I Promise.
Play Heartseeker
