Dang, this is pretty fun, man. It's got a nice art style with greatly textured surfaces. Mostly rock. Fits the Norse setting quite good.
Music and animation are absolutely on the lower end of quality however but I quickly forgot about it. The gameplay is just that captivating.
By that I mean, it's fast, so fast and there's almost never downtime. The fixed camera makes it easier to only focus on movement and combat.
Here two short WebMs showing the game in motion. Dunno if they get embedded here.
https://my.mixtape.moe/mbtsra.webm
https://my.mixtape.moe/whkxfx.webm
Helheim's story is basic stuff and window decoration for the gameplay. You're the lord of Ragnarok I think but ♥♥♥♥ goes downhill and you get captured. That's where the game starts and anything from here on is about brutally mincing everything on your path back to your rightful throne. Think I'm about halfway through and I was in a rocky dungeon, snowy cliffs, flaming hellscapes and electrifying sort-of high-tech places. The journey is quite varied.
Enough with the story though, it's really only a backdrop. It's all about gameplay. As I said it's fast. That's because your main moving mechanic dodging is so well done. First of all, it's infinite. That makes blazing like miniature lightning on the battlefield the most satisfying thing to do. Also, you invulnerable while dodging, making it the defacto state to be in during combat. The only time I walk normally was to admire the sweet environments after the slaughter ends. Combat here is in form of closed arenas which trap you until the last enemy is slain. Afterward, you move on a linear path without combat until the next arena. This could be jarring but Helheim implements the arenas naturally into its map which ends up favorably.
The only weapon you have is a sword with whom you can repel enemy projectiles. There's a generous timing window but button mashing will end up with you getting hit. Coupled with the second big pillar of combat Runes, combat gets surprisingly deep. These skills vary from projectile-reflection, health absorption to aggressive projectile-type magic attacks. In my roughly 2 hours of playing, I managed to collect all runes I think. Two of these can be equipped before every battle via rune selectors. Runes are like special skills which you have to use tactically as their bar fills up by killing enemies. For masses of mediocre enemies, it's fun unleash runes while quickly filling up the gauge. But once you reach a certain point, you'll be sparingly using them for the tougher enemies.
Speaking about enemies, there's the projectile shooting weak ones which usually aren't problematic. Unless you don't make quick business and let enough of them spawn which can make the game look like a true bullet hell shmup. No joke, there'll be plenty times where dodging waves of bullets is the only way to not get hit. Walking on the battlefield is almost a no-go.
Still, more difficult enemies get slowly introduced and those can really mess up your day. Rocket-launching giants, teleporting sharpshooters and witches whose screams throws waves that punch you can become a serious issue. Prioritizing the order of enemies to tackle coupled with thoughtful usage of runes is critical. Any other tactic will be your doom.
That's a good thing as it makes combat something to look forward. Trying out rune combinations and finding the perfect tactic to achieve victoriously is really satisfying. There are thinking and depth to the gameplay here, which makes Helheim a winner.
It's not an easy game, I died plenty of times even on "Easy" and at times you might think it's cheap and consider giving up. But after several tries, even the most difficult arena can be swept dominantly. It's all about finding the right approach and perfecting the mechanics. Very satisfying.
