The year is 1959, you just got a job as a postman in a brand new town called Little Vale. Although the sun is shining and the birds are chirping, this town is shrouded in mystery. Something… unnatural is afoot here.
In Helltown, you play as a postman who has to deliver packages to the residents of a brand-new residential development called Little Vale. However, when all hell breaks loose, you'll have to run away and hide from insidious monsters while trying to unravel the truth behind it all. In order to do so, talk to the townspeople and explore the game's many locations. Will you be able to escape, or will you just be another lost soul trapped in... Helltown?
Mostly Positive
108 Steam reviews
| LANGUAGE | AUDIO | SUBTITLES | INTERFACE |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Y | Y | Y |
O cachorrão é um gostoso
You can bang the villain in one of the endings 10/10
cool freaky little horror game
just not worth its price. better as a free-ware game on itch.io.
Short, but there are multiple endings and its super eery and creepy.
Cool monster designs.
I enjoyed my time in Little Vale.
Начали за здравие, закончили как обычно. Как понять что у автора закончилось воображение? Очень просто - после классного вступления начинается душнина, где тебе надо бегать от мобов по огромной локации и уничтожать какие-то кристальчики на протяжении часа. К покупке не рекомендую. Вы забудете этот продукт через 10 минут после прохождения
A bit disappointing, but solid short horror experience. Starts interesting, but falls apart midway through pretty quickly. Felt like a lot of ideas were introduced but none of them didn't get explored deep enough for them to hook me up. At one point i just stopped caring about this mishmash of unexplored ideas.
The gameplay is fine. Walk, look for stuff and npc, interact, run and hide. It can be confusing, but not it's not that bad. The worst part about multiple endings is that you have to replay the game from the start or load the most recent save, which means if you didn't find all the necessary collectibles or went the wrong way, you're locked out of the ending you wanted oops, better start all over again. The enemies are very easy to outrun, the stamina is plenty and regenerates fairly fast, which is, like, okay, i guess.
The game is very short. which is unfortunate, but at least it's not a slog.
LOVED IT I WISH IT HAD A WIKIA THOUGH THE LORE IS SO COOL
Helltown: I`m Charon Хорошо ого ого ого ого ого ХЗ
Just made it to town then stole a homeless man with a bone then delivered him to the church, awesome!
Update: I've stolen half the town but I lost my bone :( I think they took it
May She continue to guide us
Nah, great game actually. Good style, cool audio. Quite big amount of interesting places to eplore.
Re walked whole game ten times on all endings and achivements, that's was really funny and chill for me.
But game is not scary at all, some jumpscares that seem to appear with some chance, a few minor bugs, outer world not loading for the first time for me, i reruned. And the dog... that always blocking you.
In terms, game's short, but leaves memories for sure:)
[h1]Helltown[/h1]
Helltown é um jogo de terror curtinho e bacana. Você assume o papel de um carteiro encarregado de entregar correspondências numa cidadezinha... peculiar. Mas o que começa como uma simples missão postal rapidamente se transforma em algo muito mais estranho.
[h1]Jogabilidade[/h1]
A gameplay é simples, mas varia ao longo do jogo, o que mantém as coisas interessantes.
Você começa apenas andando e entregando cartas, mas logo está fugindo de criaturas demoníacas que parecem saídas de outra dimensão (ou de um pesadelo alimentado por VHS). Destaque para o inimigo que só avança quando você desvia o olhar um clássico truque de terror que aqui funciona muito bem. Sim, me deu cagaço.
[h1]Gráficos e Estética[/h1]
O visual estilo PS1 é o grande charme de Helltown. Para quem tem um fraco por esse tipo de estética (como eu), o jogo é um prato cheio: modelos poligonais, texturas granuladas e aquele clima de VHS amaldiçoado que parece saído direto de um console dos anos 90.
Esse visual não é apenas nostálgico ele amplifica o terror, porque o que não se vê claramente é muitas vezes mais assustador do que o que se vê.
[h1]Ambientação e Narrativa[/h1]
A cidade de Helltown é o verdadeiro destaque. Sinistra, silenciosa e cheia de personagens estranhos, ela te deixa o tempo todo desconfortável e curioso. A sensação de que algo está fora do lugar é constante e você quer descobrir o que está acontecendo... mesmo que isso signifique encontrar demônios, alienígenas ou algo ainda pior.
A história tem mais de um final. Eu só vi o final ruim até agora, mas com certeza quero voltar e explorar os outros desfechos.
[h1]Conclusão[/h1]
Helltown é um ótimo exemplo de como jogos curtos e simples podem ser extremamente eficazes. Com uma estética retrô matadora, atmosfera sinistra e surpresas no gameplay, ele te fisga rápido e te deixa com aquele arrepio gostoso (e uma pulga atrás da orelha).
Recomendado para quem curte terror indie, visual PS1 e cidades onde absolutamente nada é normal.
Vale seu dinherinho naquela promoção marota e sua horinha valiosa!
Really enjoyed the style of this game. It's a blend of soothing nostalgia and unsettling horror. The soundtrack is great, the mechanics and exploration are simple but satisfying, and the world left me wanting more. You can play it in an afternoon, but there's multiple endings worth pursuing. The game doesn't hold you by the hand, which I appreciated. My only hang up is the inability to save the game. It operates on an auto-save system, so if you to explore a different choice or ending, you have to start the whole game over, but it doesn't take too long to catch back up once you know what you're doing. I did prefer the original design of the Giant, though. All in all, I enjoyed it and would really like to see more games in this vein and style.
screw you for adding achievements after I already finished the game. Mate noticed and forced me to play so he could watch me scream my head off
10/10
great horror game but i feel some things was missing from the itch.io like something about some dog ending
I do really like this game, you can see I got 100% in it. It is a VERY short game and as much as I like it, I wouldn't say it is worth $10. I would wait for this game to go on sale.
The changes are just enough to still get me
it's just ok I guess
bonsoir alors avant tous j adore le jeux l ambiance la DA le gameplay l histoire et mystérieuse on comprend facilement mais on es intriguer et on avance c est super par contre le jeux es CASSER les chapitre 4 ne ce lance pas impossible d avancer dans le jeux :/ on va dans le tunnel chapitre de chargement ( l autre monde ) Ecran noir et plus rien .... :/ je suis dégoûter de pas pouvoir continuer :/
le probleme et resolue
Great game with one hot Nun.
Helltown masterfully captures the eeriness of Twin Peaks, and the horror of Silent Hill, into a concise, albeit sometimes confusing premise.
The graphics resemble the PS1 era of gaming and the gameplay is divided between exploring the town and surviving a hell dimension.
Absolutely recommend and you get to try both versions of the game in one package.
It runs perfectly well on Steam Deck.
If you want to check it for yourself, press the link below:
https://youtu.be/GEumZGeK1xI
Sexy demon nun
really cool story and awesome atmosphere. i was able to launch a man into the stratosphere with a garbage can in the first part of the game. 10/10
Впервые увидел данную игру у Куплинова в видосе, и черт подери она меня зацепила. Прошло время, я нашел её и прошел 1 раз на стандартную концовку (ещё старую версию). Спустя время хотел вернуться и добить её на все концовки, но тут увидел что разработчики готовят большое обновление. Так называемый ревайвл. Дождавшись его, я уже полностью окунулся в историю этого маленького городка.
И что я могу сказать... Мне понравилось. Классная атмосфера и интересная история. По сравнению со старой версией, история стала гораздо яснее. Однако после концовок не хватает послесловия какого-то [spoiler](за исключением побега во второй главе)[/spoiler], как было в старой версии после первой концовки, [spoiler]где из разговора полицейского и детектива узнается что случилось с городком и его жителями.[/spoiler] В любом случае любителям инди хорроров и всякой оккультной всячины рекомендую!
그래도 인디 게임이니까 환불은 안했습니다만은...좀 더 뭘 보여줄지에 대해 고민하셨으면 좋겠어요. 퀄리티는 그럭저럭 나쁘지 않아요. 엔딩 직전까지도 볼만은 했습니다만은...
그래도 기본은 되었다 생각이 들면 추천하려 했습니다. 하지만 스토리가 중요한 게임에서 엔딩이 그 전에 깔아둔 분위기를 다 죽여버리니까 작품의 의미가 없어요.
엔딩 하나만 보면 내용을 알기 힘든, 다회차를 권하는 작품입니다. 그런데 똑같은 퍼즐, 똑같은 행동을 해야 하는 건 곤욕입니다. 스킵을 하거나 챕터별로 나눴으면 좋았을 거 같아요. 거기다가 수집 요소라니...욕심이 너무 많았어요.
추천이냐, 비추천이냐 한참 고민하다가 비추천을 눌렀습니다. 단점을 가릴만한 참신함이나 재미가 있다고 말하기 어려워요. 생각보다 많은 중요한 부분이 대사로 퉁 치고 넘어갔습니다. 다음작품은 연출에 좀 더 공이 들어갔으면 좋겠고, 작품 분위기에 일관성이 있으면 좋겠습니다.
Man, I was really conflicted with this one. I feel bad thumbing it down to, especially with how responsive the devs are in the discussion threads and reviews.
Props to you, and I respect your effort.
The below will sound very nit-picky but is meant for the devs since they seem they care
----
Summary of my Experience that led to the thumbs down:
I beat the Revival and got ending 1, if I hadn't got this ending, I probably would have been a happy camper, thumbed up the game and moved on. Instead I got extremely annoyed for 2 major reasons.
- At no point did it feel like I was entering the "Final Area", which checkpoint locks you, meaning i would have to go through 70% of the game again to get back to the non-linear part to get other endings. (I didn't look them up afterwards but I did look up the one I was going for which was ending 5, and the game kinda misdirected me, saying go into the cabin when the ritual starts, the only that started was stairs extended to a new area, which I thought would lead back out, hence annoyance)
- I'm really over this whole alternate ending thing some games have. Because if you get the subpar ending, your whole experience feels immediately cheapened and wasted. Ending 1 is that ending. It's abrupt, left field, short, zero satisfaction. I like Endings that play into the actions you make, but are all fairly similar, not based around oh I got checkpoint locked, because I went through one wrong loading screen at the wrong time, or I didn't find 3 random items hidden in some corner far from the player starting point at some random instance out of a few instances. The only time I want this, is when I mega love a game, which has happened like 3 times. Easter Eggs, hidden secrets are fine, but when it covers up the juicy good bits of a story, it's in the wrong direction.
So with my satisfaction left empty and bitter, I turned to trying to look up the endings but couldnt find a straight to the point video with the Revival update. I found one of the old version of the game, and skipped through it to see what the experience was like and how it differed.
I read a review talking about how they preferred the previous version, which surprised the developer, they claimed the pacing and structure didn't change much. I was more inclined to believe the dev. Until I watched this youtube video which showed all the endings and a rough gameplay/story break down.
[h1] The 2 versions are dramatically different experiential and story wise.[/h1]
This led me to indecision, do I waste time replaying the game when I really dont want to, to get a different ending. Or do I play the old version.
I decided to play the old Version.
To Summarize: The old version did need a big update. It suffered from a lack of audio, pretty much across the board, and some weird pacing decisions which I'm assuming is based around Student project and Time. I got about 70% of the way through the old version before I stopped, I felt like I saw enough to give my review at this point.
----
I will breakdown here a comparison of the 2 versions of what is better and worse in both versions
Revival: ====
Pros:
- Visual updates & visuals overall are really good
- Dialogue system improvements are across the board better
- Gameplay improvements
- Levels and some areas you can explore more of
- Cutting to the next chapter is less abrupt (This was really bad in the Original)
- Soundtrack is incredible in setting the tone
- Talking about the black roses and the people in the woods going missing mentioned by Neil, was really cool
Cons:
- Story is not subtle, it literally ruins the plot in like 5 secs of the game if you talk to every NPC, if you have watched a lot of horror, it's not hard to surmise who/what lilth is. To the point this isn't a spoiler.
- AI doesn't get better
- The game is too short to have such a dramatical shift in visuals and tone. It goes from feeling like you are in a 1960s version of the Nun Movie, to Silent Hill meets Hellraiser. This contrast doesn't feel good at all, and feels weird. The Original's hell looks much more natural for what you would expect in the game.
- Lilth is not scary. Not in the slightest. It's not subjective. The Nun is more of an interesting movie with horror elements, not a scary movie. But in the original where it feels like a demonic entity and Lilth are working together to haunt this town and the player, actually feels very eerie, and since the story in the original isn't direct you are asking questions like what is going on, who is that, what the hell is that.... In this one when you see lilth since they show you her in the first 5 secs and then you learn her name in the first 5 mins you are like Oh lilth. Oh Hi Lilth.
- Charon is a furry now
Neutrals:
- Level Design: The level design in hell, gets better, but it also is 3 times bigger, confusing because the visual change is so stark different. I didn't realize i was in a mirror world till I explored a lot more.
Original: ====
Pros:
- Actually has some horror and eeriness to it. Actual Horror.
- Intro: The horror it starts at the beginning in your dream. You are being followed by a cloaked figure that disappears, but gets closer as you get closer to the exit. (The knocking in the Revival was a great touch but everything else wasn't as good) Then you wake up at NIGHT, not in the morning on a bright sunny day, you then have to go back to sleep and this sense of Will I go back to that nightmare?
- When you escape the park, you are surrounded by ghostly figures that have a really cool visual effect if you get close to them. This was really cool and more effective player of putting the player in a eerie situation and guiding them where you want but still allowing for a little exploration. (This was too short but this was an overall issue of the original.)
- This one is big. The NPC Dialogue and placement is much more logically placed to guide the player to places of intrigue. And to ask questions about what is going on. The old lady mentions something went wrong in the past, and is facing towards a cabin. Neil is being questioned and warned, then disappears the next day and no one claims to know a neil.
- Postman Job. The game stuck better to doing your job instead of a random delivery job in the second day of revival.
- Finding the homeless guy dead on the slab, this is just empty in Revival, but having that connection because i found the homeless guy and a bit of his story and then seeing that conclusion was great.
Cons:
- Chapters are very abrupt and short
- The game is just much shorter inbetween each segment and overall, there isn't enough time to let things sink in
- Soundtrack is just missing and is painstakingly felt
- sfx are just not as good in most cases, but in some are still good and subtle. I think I actually prefer a lot of the SFX in the horror scenarios, like in the park, there were a lot less random sounds that were just confusing me, and actually drawing me to the horror spots. But in other cases there were some spots just missing sounds or not properly tuned or as strong
- Lighting wasn't as good
- Some people you couldn't talk to
- Gameplay and animation issues
- Checkpoints were even further apart causing you to start over really far back
----
My unsolicited Recommendations of how this should have been handled. Would have been to take some of the changes of Revival (Soundtrack, sfx improvements, some visual improvements (Better Animations, Lighting, meshes and textures, extend the levels to let the player explore more and not have as abrupt ends to each chapter). Release this as a patch, aka Remaster.
But the changes to the story, lilth, and the silent hill aspects, is such a different game, that it should have been a spin off/spiritual successor, this would have allowed for basically new sales/marketing/first day release.
(Hit Char limit, I really do hope this helps, Best Regards)
Amazing atmosphere.
Needs a bit more polish:
- Enemies can get stuck in the environment and each other blocking your path to progress.
- Enemies can follow you into a hideout place and will just stand, without attacking, trapping you there.
- Dog can block you from exiting certain areas.
- UI elements get stuck.
- Missing music and sfx (except for footsteps).
NPC들이 저를 쳐다볼때마다 너무 기괴하고 무서웠어요..
그리고 주제가 되게 사일런트힐 느낌도 나고
재밌었던거같아요
모든 엔딩을 보려면 처음부터 다시하는 판도 있어야하더라구요
그건 좀 힘들거같아서 저는 엔딩 1개만 봤는데
중간에 길치들이 조금 하기 힘든 부분만 아니라면 다 좋았던거같습니다
I really love the setting, atmosphere, and story of Helltown. The town itself is beautiful and the retro graphics give the game a really unique look. I have played both the original and the revival, and both have pros and cons. For instance, in the original version, the danger seems to be a little less immediate and story details are more ambiguous. In the revival, one of the first people I talked to on day 1 mentioned Lillith, which makes it more evident that there is a cult/something weird happening in Little Vale. I liked the improvements in the revival and how certain sections and enemies were made easier to deal with (ex.: the part where you find the keys in the graveyard). There were some changes that left me a little confused. Where did the homeless man's dog go on the 2nd day? Also, the original version's dog ending was one of my favorite video game endings ever, so I was sad that it was not in the revival. I'm not sure which version of Helltown I like more, but I definitely had a good time playing and recommend both versions. I can see there is something special about this game, and would love to see more stuff like it. I actually think that Helltown would make a very good horror movie too!
Never got to play the original due to it not working on my PC, but seeing as the remake was given to everyone who owned the original I gave this a shot last night. I can confidently say that this was pretty fun, I did wind up using a guide to get a few of the other endings, and it took me around 4hrs to actually get all of them. The presentation is really really nice looking and the actual story is really fun even if you see everything coming a mile away.
It was definitely worth a good evening sharing some spooky content with my community, I'm not sure how it holds up to the original but I do think this remake here was a lot of fun.
Fun little horror game. Run around, get spooked. Great atmosphere and even greater artstyle.
I'll keep playing and will update my review after, but i'm having fun right now!
Edit: i have played the game more. I am always correct in everything this is fun as hell
Love the atmosphere and the setting. Will try to get all endings for sure!
I really liked the PS1 style graphics as well as the Silent Hill vibe going on
The revival update of this game is very good! I usualy do not play horror game, put I love this one! Not too scary but very spooky univers and well placed jump scared. The game play is very fun! I haven't play much but I will play more for sure!
Revival version provides a significant graphics improvement while keeping the original feel of the game. Great replayability with multiple endings and has new mechanics and interesting gameplay. Comes with some interactive physics which is always a win. Would recommend.
Im not the biggest horror game player but this game really hit the spot. Interesting puzzles, doesn’t rely solely on jumpscares to get the heart going, and multiple endings just ups the replay value. I definitely recommend!
You're a postman, and you're delivering mail in a delightful little town. And then things get weird. The game does rely quite a bit on hiding from things, which isn't one of my favorite gameplay mechanics. But, I think the game does a good job of it. It's somewhat necessary I suppose, as you're just a postman with no real skills. Kind've like Kevin Costner in The Postman.
The NPCs are interesting, there's an eerie vibe to everything going on, and the design of the town is top-notch. There are a few jump scares, but it's mostly just a creepy environment kind of vibe. The game has it's horror elements, but it's pretty low on the scary scale. Maybe a 2 scare factor. That's ok though, because the creepiness of everything is very cool. It reminds me ever so slightly of Hellraiser's depiction of Hell.
In my short time as a postman I interacted with NPCs. I delivered packages and flowers. And, I ran from some monsters. I also helped a particular character out of a precarious position. Ultimately I went after the potential villain, and that gave me Ending IV out of V. It was a fun experience. There's plenty of replay value for those of you that can't get enough the first time around.
About two years ago, I stumbled upon Helltown's Steam Page and was instantly amazed by the visuals and horror. I bought it and completed the entire thing in one session. Now, another two years later, I believe about 7 years after the original release, the devs have blessed this game with the Revival Update. I had no clue they were working on it but was pleasantly surprised when I found out, a reason to dive back into this game, and it really doesn't disappoint.
The game still looks as charming as when I first played it, even better now, with the redesign of the levels, creatures and storyline. Overall, the Revival Update breathes new life into Helltown, elevating and refining the experience for both new and returning players.
Plus, you can still play the original 2017 version of the game if you go into the game's properties!
If you have a chance to get the original game, you better go for it. The new version lacks a lot of the original's charm and its eerie atmosphere. The new version may have been more consistent and direct in its storytelling, but it was the vagueness what actually made this game so good back then.
The story's structure and pacing were better before the update too.
All and all, it's quite difficult to understand why the developers decided to fix what actually worked perfectly fine and thus didn't need any kind of updating. If they wanted to continue working on the same universe, they should have just made a sequel. A very welcomed sequel.
mmm bueno, no se como explicar esto, pero la actualizacion me ha jodido el juego, al iniciar el juego no me permite eligir ninguna opcion del menu principal, es una pantalla estatica, la unica animacion es las letras de revival, esto es temporal en lo que, lo arreglan...o al menos eso esperare
This game was an absolute blast to play! Great character and monster design, fantastic art an d music, and a wonderfully spooky atmosphere!
HOLY MOLY! I just finished this and got one of the ending (The bad one ;3;) and I'm Hooked! I NEED TO KNOW THE OTHER PATHS!!!!! Keep cooking! This game is so dang awesome!
great game, didnt realize most content was behind different endings
Yeah this is kinda trash, I picked it up on sale for next to nothing and i'm still gonna refund. I got hit by a demon in a forest and it stuck me into a tree and i couldn't move. I reloaded and lost progress and couldn't be bothered to do the slow ass letter delivering again.
No da miedo no hay ni sustos y el gameplay es puro "sigilo" repetitivo q se bugea mazo y te dan ganas extremas de golpearte el cráneo contra la esquina de la mesa triste pq la historia pintaba interesante
I immediately liked this game... Right until i realized that it crashes on forest section EVERY SINGLE TIME, i've tried everything: disabling antivirus, running as administrator, running in windows 8/7 compatability mode, tampering with settings. Just for the record, i'm using Windows 11, FIX YOUR ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ GAME PLEASE...
Esta bueno
Was engaged with Helltown until the first actual threats, but I couldn't be bothered dying repeatedly to figure out how to make it through the forest intact. I'm sure it stays a pretty neat experience from that point on, but getting cheesed and consumed by hot pursuit floor goblins several times in a row wasn't beneficial to the rather unnerving Twin Peaks vibe the story had been cultivating. It kinda just halted what had been a well paced horror intrigue up to that point. Exploring the weird little town was a delight, though.
I'm not usually some bone-idle audiobook gamer who needs the developer to push my wheelchair when the gameplay comes up, those first enemies just seemed lazy and turned me off continuing, for whatever subjective reason. Most mainstream indie horror enthusiasts will adore this, honestly.
Very sad that this game crashes a lot, other wise it is very scary and kinda fun, kinda gets boring trying to find the right people.
it's so sad, this game could be a 9/10, a masterpiece, but it destroys it self with so many things, Graphics/and Artstyle is what i love at the game a true 9/10, and it started quite nice, but this game destrooys it self with the enemys AI, first terrible encounter are, where you get captured with around 10 skin walker, in a little place, and needs to find 3 keys, their always, and everywhere running at you, you don't have 2 sec to wait, till you can run again, no you just can't run anymore, and there still running at you, but this was managable, but after that, when this ghost girl runs at you, u can't do ♥♥♥♥, she runs at u, till she got you, the onliest thing you can do is, hope that you can run, till your at a place can go over a plank, cuz she can't go over there, but nlet's say you managed it, then there another enemys who killyou instantly, and let's say you manage to wait there (even get the red sign you need) and get back out, the ghost will instantly after 10 sek chasing you again, you can't do anything against it, she just always be at you, it sucks, cuz i loved the art style, and the game started so well, if it had maybe more scares, instead of enemys who too OP, this game would be a complete 9/10, but this complettely destroyed the whole game, and the whole expirience, it wasn't even scary anymore, after the first the, it was just a big stress, and very very annoying
art style: 9.5/10
the start of the game (everything till you get to the first encounters) 8/10
the game from the start of the encounters: 2/10
enemys: 0.5/10
story: 5/10 (it didn't had a big story)
overall: 3.5/10
it had could get a masterpiece, a 9/10, it just destroyed itself with that i'm sorry, and i really tried to enjoy and love it, cuz i saw the trailer and tought, damn i need to play that, it looked awesome, but it's just so sad that this had to be like that.
A strange game with a lot more depth to it than first expected. I thoroughly enjoyed this experience, except getting the achievement for defeating death. The game is atmospheric, fun, and absolutely not what I expected. I do recommend it, despite having multiple endings!
Great atmosphere , tottaly worth the price , amazing game .
Small town, big secrets.
Story:
You play as John Roe. It's 1959 and you're going to work as a postman in the small and seemingly picture perfect town of Little Vale. Once you arrive there, everyone is super friendly and eager to meet you and for you to join their community, however with each passing day you find that the townsfolk are hiding a very dark secret.
The story of Helltown is pretty interesting and is definitely gripping enough for you to keep playing and it's bite size nature where one run is less than an hour definitely helps you find every bit of story you can find. There's also multiple endings to see and with how interesting the story it's definitely worth trying to see them all.
Graphics:
Helltown goes for that PSX retro throwback style and it's probably my favorite aesthetic (almost as much as the Lo-Fi VHS style, probably a tie) so I was immediately intrigued once I saw the screenshots of the game and once I saw the game in motion it definitely lived up to my expectations.
It doesn't have any grainy filter and it looks much cleaner than an actual PS1 game, but the town and it's people really do look the part of a 1950's small town community and once everything turns dark it's also really cool, but I don't really want to spoil anything here so I'll just leave it at that.
Audio:
The audio design is probably my least favorite aspect of Helltown. I love the ambience, but overall there's not much any audio whatsoever. There's some cool ambience like crickets chirping, birds singing while your walking during daytime and at night it turns sinister to match the really creepy atmosphere, It's not amazing, but it does help unsettle you just a tiny bit more.
The music is probably the weakest part of the whole ordeal. I don't recall much music throughout the entire game, what's here is basically creepy droning noises and a few jingles here and there, but not much. There's just nothing good about the soundtrack and it's about the biggest department Helltown is lacking in.
Gameplay:
Helltown is basically a walking simulator where each so called "day" of the game you do a few errands and explore your environments, but there's also some stealth mechanics, so basically it's like a typical horror game. There's not much here mechanically, but what's here works fine enough.
The thing I really like about Helltown that as soon as the game begins there's a sense of freedom, there's not much here to explore and see, but at least it makes the exploring worth your while. You can find some secrets that can help you achieve different endings and of course add more to the story.
Gameplay wise the biggest problem is the enemy AI. It's incredibly annoying to deal with and it's not even because they're smart, because they're sort of designed to just book it straight to you once they see you, but sometimes their pathing glitches out as soon as tight corridors are involved and trying to predict where they will go can sometimes get you killed.
Verdict:
It's quite depressing Helltown hasn't gotten the attention it deserves cause this game is truly great. It's a nice little horror experience that has an eerie atmosphere, some cool visuals and an interesting story. It does have it's shortcomings, but for horror fans this is a must.
Final Rating:
8/10
Pros:
+ Great atmosphere
+ Interesting story
+ Visual style is really cool
+ Fun to explore the town
Cons:
- Dealing with enemies is often more annoying than scary
- Soundtrack is forgettable
If you liked this review please consider joining https://steamcommunity.com/groups/completingthebacklog and https://steamcommunity.com/groups/ImperialReviews
Helltown is a pretty short game (a little over an hour to get through it the first time, and maybe another hour or so to unlock all the secret endings). That said, it's a pretty entertaining little game. It has the theme of a Silent Hill game and Graphics kind of like Minecraft (stylistically).
It's pretty cheap as it is, but if you can get it on sale then you really have very little to lose and will likely find the game enjoyable. I'd recommend taking your time and talking to everyone and exploring, there are more than a few secrets to uncover and the progressing dialog each night helps build put the world/story.
If you want to get a quick sense of what the gameplay looks like, or if you'd rather just watch someone playthrough the game, check out the link below to part 1 of my playthrough on it:
https://youtu.be/uQGeHkQt8_4
I will be adding part 2, which contains all the alternate endings, to the following playlist once I have finished producing it:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfCTcyJ57ToFgZFXycqP4pJUp9fNWN7Rl
This game has an amazing story and gameplay! It has given me memories I will never forget!
I've revisited this game after leaving a negative review, it's crazy that the devs actually listened to feedback and improved a bunch of things about the game. My main bone was with level design which was improved.
The graphics and environment is what I like most about the game.
I love the central conceit here. You’re a new postman in a quaint community where something is off. You deliver weird objects around town. You’re catching citizens in the middle of odd conversations. Everyone’s smiling. Something just doesn’t feel right.
It’s an uncanny valley that I wish the developer cultivated a bit more. I don’t mind a slow burn. And it’s overtly eerie and discomforting to play through.
Instead, Helltown rushes onward and abandons this buildup for a payoff that never really works. The game just gets more obscure and mechanical. Monsters appear. Checkpoints become an issue. Game overs. The pacing sort of halts. It completely loses me by the end, in a series of mazes that just leave me with a bitter aftertaste.
It’s a pass for me.
There's a fine line between clever and stupid, it has been said. Equally, it seems as though there's a fine line between panicked horror and bored irritation.
After a couple of very enjoyable introductory chapters, Helltown cheerfully skips over that line and drops the player into a maze populated by demonic wretches that hunt the player in a Satanic parody of a good stealth game. These relentless ankle-biters will, on their third successful attack, teleport the player to a different maze!
...also populated with demonic wretches that hunt the player in an infernal mockery of good stealth games. Three strikes again? Prepare to be teleported back to the first maze! With all your progress wiped! Get used to it, this is your life now.
After a number of mind-numbing repetitions, the player will find some sort of escape, and probably make their way to one of four mildly satisfying conclusions. Don't expect any memorable plot twists, and expect to engage in particularly random scavenger hunts to access some of these endings (I could not be bothered, YouTube is your friend). I'd much prefer to branch my way to different endings through conscious choices rather than luck out in a collectathon or by stumbling across an obscure, if not wholly opaque, sequence of actions.
All of which sounds particularly negative. But... man, that start. The beginning is *strong*. I have a love for narrative games that present a living community, be it truly systemic or scripted. Lure of the Temptress, Majora's Mask, Deadly Premonition... Helltown's sits alongside these, with it's 'Little Vale' reminding me strongly of a town called Harvest, with its daily routines and implacably winding tensions.
As such, it's a visually attractive, carefully constructed diversion - streets ahead of the standard itinerary-following indie horror, full of content and menace... only to stutter to a meander half-way in. There's enough content and craft to justify the asking price, but with a frustrating and slightly dull second half, it seems destined for obscurity.
the game has a bug at the beginning how to remove the bug
Little hidden gem watched a youtuber play it and decided to try it myself
good
看了苏神的视频以后买了这款游戏。
别看体量不大，但是内容非常有趣。
游戏会根据你的探索、选择与收集品数量进入不同的结局——好结局、坏结局、隐藏结局、狗狗结局。每一个结局都会进一步展开与丰富游戏的背景故事。
进入教堂和死后世界的地图次次都是随机生成的，怪物和物品的位置也不一样，这对路痴不太友好，同时也大大增加了游戏难度与挑战性。
解锁全部4个结局大约需要2.5-3小时左右。
Length <2hr A lot longer if you keep dying. Like Double it longer.
Welcome to Little Vale, you have been hired as the new postman for this expanding town, everyday you will be in charge of delivering post to all residents of our little hamlet and soon you will be a big part of the towns daily life.
Helltown is a cross between a simulation game and an action game, starting out the player will be exploring the town and delivering parcels. You can listen in on the conversations of the people as they talk about the community, and hear worrying words of things not being as cheery as they seem. The later half of the game watches as the town goes to hell (literally) and the player must survive against the monsters, avoiding them at all costs and getting to the seals to stop them.
The action side of the game is reminiscent of older ps1 / pc games in which the player will have limited checkpoints, monsters will directly pursue the player and should they die, they will have to start the sequence again. This can be a bit tedious as it is really easy to lose track of a charging enemy and unfamiliarity with the map can lead you into corners. The player cannot fight back, and their only actions are to run or hide. Hiding is a bit spotty in the game, sometimes it works a lot of the time it does not, I finished the game by dying a lot memorising the map and just running for it.
Helltown is challenging and at times can become tedious with the lack of checkpoints. Repeatedly you will be doing the same parts over and over again, there is no way around that until you learn the map the game is a challenge.
There are multiple endings the player can unlock, each will require a full playthrough of the game. It is definitely rewarding with one of the playthroughs being as a dog. Yes, being a dog is as fun as it sounds.
The visuals of Helltown really stand out, the models are reminiscent of PSX games with sharp polygons, and really make a natural creepiness to the residents of the town. While the high quality textures make all of the characters clear and stand out, the world looks vibrant and colourful, which only makes the change into Hell that much more distinct. The monsters look good, and it is especially shown on the clarity on the weeping angel esque statues.
Overall I did enjoy Helltown, it takes me back to some of the harder PC games I played and how unforgiving they can be. The multiple endings really created a way to make it more fun as I scoured the map for everything, with the dog playthrough being a welcome difference to how I could go through the game. The graphics look PSX but the textures really make all of the people and monsters stand out. Definitely worth the play, just be prepared for the challenge and aggravation of dying resetting progress.
If you want to have a look at the gameplay my video is below, and had been labelled for each playthrough, being a dog was fun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9K9RWIWuxw
There are a lot of cool horror games out there, check out my curator page, you may have missed one:
https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41770172/
This game doesn't work on my system. It crashes to desktop after running for about 30 seconds. I'm running on Windows 11 with an Alder Lake CPU. I've tried running the game as admin, in compatibility modes, vsync on/off, and window/fullscreen. Nothing fixes it. The only thing I have not tried is disabling my cpu's e-cores. I will update review if I find a fix.
great game, would recommend to anyone who likes the ps1 style horror. only fault i came across is where the game seems to "keep" your items from the last play-through so your unable to get a certain ending (can be fixed by closing and reopening game) anyway really enjoyed this one.
Frustrierend, ein ENORM starkes Opening, welches schon im Menü durch Musik, Visuals und Konzept mit wunderschöner seltsamer Atmosphäre und perfektem Setup für eine interessante Midsommar-artige Horrorstory überzeugen könnte, verfällt sich leider recht schnell in einem verworrenen Silent Hill "Abklatsch" ohne genau zu verstehen was es eben genau ausmacht
Trotzdem grundsolide, nur leider ein etwas trauriger Beigeschmack wenn man innerhalb der ersten 15 Minuten gedanklich auf eine andere, wundervolle Spur gelenkt wird und dann ein sehr.. normales Horrorgame für die letzten 40 Minuten erlebt, dennoch ist es die Zeitinvestition alle Male wert, alleine um zu sehen was hier möglicherweise schiefgegangen ist.
Etwas grobes Pacing, seltsame Checkpoints, in meinem Video bezeichnete ich die Spielerfahrung "Als würde jemand von Silent Hill träumen, es fehlt jeglicher Sinn und richtige Übergänge von einem Event zum Nächsten fehlen" - und das trifft es eigentlich ganz gut, es fühlt sich teilweise eher wie eine Mischung aus Ideen und Konzepten an, die leider nicht ganz zum Start des Spiels passen
solide 6/10, nur leider frustrierend verfehlte Ideen - hier ist ein Meisterwerk verlorengegangen
Game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB6Ss8csWb4&
Sehr nette Idee,
Grafik Style überaus ansprechend, für die, die auf einen PS1 look stehen,
gepaart mit einer überaus coolen Anfangssequenz.
Die Kritik, die auch ein paar andere schon gäußert haben, fängt an dem Punkt an wenn man etwas weiter im Spiel gekommen ist und die "Try and Error" Gegner dazu kommen und man gezwungen ist die 3 gleichen Items immer wieder zu suchen.
Dennoch, ist zu viel Liebe in dem ganzen Projekt geflossen um es negativ zu bewerten.
Kuss.
This game contains: dog, cat, ps1 graphics[spoiler], eldritch horrors beyond your comprehension[/spoiler]. Please buy.
El juego no te da ninguna indicación de lo que hacer y todo se basa en el ensayo y error, eso en juego donde los enemigos te persiguen hasta el infinito en mapas laberínticos, terminas por hacer una y otra vez lo mismo sin poder avanzar en la historia. Es una pena, el juego prometía pero el sopor de repetir siempre lo mismo con una mecánicas que no ayudan, destroza el juego y la diversión.
Great underrated gem!
It takes the dated late-90's retro 3D graphics and uses them very effectively to establish a horrific atmospheric. The game is very unsettling right from the off. It starts with a nightmare which gave me goosebumps, and then swiftly establishes the setup - with you waking up early, ahead of your first day as a postman, assigned to the wholesome-on-the-surface tiny rural town of Little Vale. Once there you go about your job, delivering parcels to the cheerful inhabitants. But as you go about you realise there is something dark going on underneath the surface. The conversations you stumble upon, the environmental details, things are definitely not 100% okay. Then without spoiling much, things rapidly go downhill and you're left scrambling for your life. The game doesn't handhold you, and deaths will come swift and often. But every time you learn a little bit more so your next life can go just that little bit further.
It took just over an hour to complete which is the perfect length for this. Apparently there's other endings you can get going on the achievements, but I get the impression they involve scouring the landscape to collect all of the runes I kept stumbling upon. But I don't really enjoy enough those type of collectible hunts so I think the single experience is enough.
Absolutely recommended, more people need to play this!
Really liked this game! Played a ton of horror games and this one stood out to me as one of the better ones. The atmosphere is really good, the sound design is good, the build up from normal to abnormal is pretty cool and not too slow. The gameplay isn't much but I enjoyed it, some people complained about the monster chases but I think they were pretty intense and it wouldn't be as scary without them and I never really found them frustrating either.
Overall, pretty cool!
https://youtu.be/tZD3y1BNldQ
Unclear objectives and goals will result in players spending far too long looking for specific characters early on or repeating tasks due to lost progress later in the game.
really cool game. i wish there was more.
some puzzles are a bit obscure, and even harder to get mroe different endings. also wish the 'combat' was a bit better and surviving more balanced. its cool and all, i want mroe of their games
yes
Очень красиво и стильно но душный гемплей все убивает.
Еще и дорого за свою продолжительность
Pretty good, just short
Hell town... is it worth it?
This is just a weird lowpoligon game, where you just run around picking up stuff in order to unlock doors while running away from these weird enemies? like... what the ****
2/10, wouldn't play again. Ever.
good game
I LOVE low-poly style horror games, so this instantly checked the box for me after a glance at the screenshots. I actually had a lot of fun playing through this countless times, but it does sort of bother me having to wait a few seconds on the subtitles. I also think the storyline could have taken it's time at the beginning because I barely knew any of the characters so it didn't convince me to trust any of them as the peaceful people that were meant to be. This is the closest it'll get to a first person Harvester, so I most certainly recommend it.
A fantastically lo-fi horror experience, with a really interesting premise and genuinely creepy moments throughout!
There's a lot to see in such a small package, highly recommended for horror fans!
One of my favorites from the "PS1/Late 90s 3D graphical style and gameplay" genre. Helltown certainly gets the aesthetic across, I just love how this game looks! From the environments to the character and creature models, everything has this air of unsettling coyness to it. I especially love the designs of some of the "Dark Ones" that appear during the halfway point, they remind me of Silent Hill monsters whilst having their own otherworldly charm.
Story wise there's a lot going on that doesn't get resolved in-game, though I think having some mysteries left unsolved makes the plot more intriguing, players that prefer a full fledged story that neatly ties itself up may find themselves disappointed after acquiring all of the endings.
Helltown relies very little on loud jumpscares, which I commend the developers for. The scares that got under my skin were definitely the quiet ones. The loudest scares come from chase sequences that appear throughout the game, of which I feel tend to become tedious after your first run-in with them. There's a gameplay mechanic in which you can hide behind certain objects to lose the monsters chasing you, but it's not pointed out in game and many players will most likely never know such a mechanic exists, and if they do they may find themselves still succumbing to the monster as hiding doesn't work well most of the time.
Regardless, I feel that anyone who enjoys PS1 style horror games should definitely give Helltown a try, it's certainly an interesting game and a very neat game from first time developers!
(P.S. There's a dog in-game, you should look around the woods during the day for a bone to give them, trust me it's worth it.)
Helltown is an indie gem. It's not without faults, but it keeps the spirit of creative indie games alive, and delivers a really unexpected experience. Sadly, Helltown is very very short.
It starts out great, you are introduced to a town, which just seems a little too nice. There are people chatting about some shady guy, there is a mysterious cabin, some runes, a weird posts. This builds tension really well. It's clear something bad is about to happen, and well... that's exactly what happens.
Unfortunately, the game promises too much and doesn't deliver.
Spoilers below.
Monsters appear, creepy stuff is everywhere, the town becomes a terrifying nightmare.
The atmosphere and sound design is amazing. The surreal feeling of the town is quite terrifying, Sadly, the enemies are just too goofy, and since you can see them in light, they simply aren't scary. The same goes for their terrible animations, which feel like someone's first time animating with Blender.
Unfortunately, while horror does happen, the story deflates. The mystery is shattered, because the story is too simple. There is no interesting element or surprising revelations or twisted realisations. There is no theme or message, or at least not one I could find. However the word "unexpected" is warranted, because the apparent joke ending is surprisingly the most important ending, that actually explains the plot, sucking even more mystery out of the already shallow narrative.
I wish there was a little more effort put into the story, because the game started so strong and interesting. I though, we would get to know the people or uncover their mystery, like in some Lovecraftian tale. I was expecting something like Pathologic, but the game ended too soon.
At the start of this, there was no way this would be a negative review. This game has a very interesting story and mood going for it. Unfortunately all the enjoyment you get out of it is really ruined by the very very poorly tuned enemies that are over-aggressive and not balanced right. Combine that with procedural generation in places, and you have yourself 30+ minutes of trying to get through the damn church labyrnth (which is not big mind you) and becoming endlessly frustrated. What does turning off the light even do?? We wouldn't have figured out the 'hiding' mechanic if it wasn't for the walkthrough.
Anyways, this is worth a glance if you're interested in this vibe, but go in anticipating some bad gameplay choices.
It's a very good horror and enjoyable game.
But those enemies really need some fixes.
They are too fast and it makes it very hard.
Other than that: I don't see anything wrong.
I love the atmosphere and even the design.
This game even manages to feel nostalgic.
It's a simply huge positive review from me.
(Einen detaillierten Eindruck vom Spiel kann man hier bekommen: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2WkQ_6w55I&index=32&list=PLNcEOocQhKzh7G2-Q0YnoZABzWhGO3zYo] Taugt das was? - Helltown[/url])
Ein kleines Horrorspiel, das zwar billig gemacht, aber trotzdem gar nicht mal so übel ist. Als neuer Postbote kommt man in eine Kleinstadt, in der alles schön bunt und harmonisch aussieht und die Menschen ein breites Grinsen auf den Lippen tragen. Sehr bald schon merkt man, dass hier etwas ganz und gar nicht stimmt...
Das Spiel bringt die bedrohliche Kleinstadtatmosphäre zunächst ziemlich gut rüber, hat aber leider ein paar Probleme:
1. Das Spiel zerfällt in zwei Teile. Im ersten, ruhigen Teil lernt man die Stadt kenne, der zweite Teil ist dann Survivalhorror und besteht aus einer Abfolge von Gebieten, in denen man von verschiedenen Monstern gejagt wird, gegen die man sich nicht wehren kann. Es wäre für das Spiel sehr viel besser gewesen, wenn ruhige Passagen sich mit Survival Horror abwechseln würden. Stattdessen hält der Horror, sobald er mal beginnt, ohne Unterbrechung bis zum Ende an und wirkt dadurch mit der Zeit eher ermüdend.
2. Das Spiel ist leider reichlich kurz, in etwa anderthalb Stunden sollte man durch sein. Es gibt verschiedene Enden, sodass man einen Grund hat, es nochmal durchzuspielen, aber ich persönlich konnte mich nicht dazu motivieren, dieselben Horrorabschnitte nochmal zu spielen.
3. Einige der Monster, die einen jagen, sehen reichlich lächerlich aus. Dafür aber bietet das Spiel ungewöhnlich viele verschiedene Monster. Die meisten anderen Horrorspiele dieser Preisklasse haben nur ein einziges, bei Helltown sind es so viele, dass ich gar nicht mehr mitgezählt habe. Dass ein paar davon nicht so gut gelungen sind, fällt daher meiner Meinung nach nicht so schwer ins Gewicht.
Helltown ist also alles andere als perfekt, bietet aber trotzdem eine größtenteils gute Atmosphäre und vor allem eine Menge schräger Einfälle, die mich immer wieder überrascht und mein Interesse wach gehalten haben, sodass ich letztendlich über die Schwächen hinwegsehen konnte. Für den geringen Preis kann man als Genrefan durchaus mal reinschauen.
a good little horror game
a bit short, but it does scary AF...
plus side:
- you can play as a non human and i think it's the best so far
- multiple ending
- cheap (i got it from bundle)
minus side:
- one of the achievement is way hard too hard and, bad for 100%
- nothing much is revealed in story department since it's way too short
- no map, the game itself kinda small but once you get killed you need to replay it again and again. quite frustating
rather hard to do without map, it's dark and monster lurking around. way harder when you're dead (limbo)
neutral side
- graphic like PS1 era, honestly that's what i like, who knows with new kid today...
- short, it's a good thing in horror games lol. keep your heart safe!!!
慈善包喜加一默认好评系列
i am using 1920*1200 monitor,there are something wrong with subtitle,the first letter won't show on my screen,ichael for michael no M.
Gameplay starts wonderful, progresses into something I can only say "MEH" to it and ended up with a solid "DE-INSTALLATION"
I love the graphics, the trees, the grass, the houses, the people, that dog that just keeps sniffing my crotch which gave me a HUGE jumpscare when I was wondering where that noise came from. Weird story but okay, small town, yet HUGE hotel. Came over me as a CULT VILLAGE with brainwashed people.
So the first part, you deliver mail, talk to people, finding out things, gossips, exploring the little of the map locations. That was actually nice.
Second part, where the "horror" was taking place. Had a lot of WTF moments, but okay. The entities were funny and weird and annoying. Collectable things, lots of running away and finding out that I even had STAMINA which was quite annoying when you are getting chased by something that has unlimited stamina (so unfair in most games actually, you get out of breath while the enemy is just chasing you in the same speed)
Third part? I uninstalled the game. It did not saved my progress when I died. Maybe I assume things too much. Like I assumed that once I collected all the things that I needed to collect, that the game would do a checkpoint, which it didn't. I will install the game again though, when I get dissappointed in such a manner, I ussually de-install it impulsively. Well maybe...
So I came in this dungeon where it was very dark and heard silly noises. I would expect a save game there, nope... I died, had to relive the entire thing of the second part... Well not entirely, from the moment when I escaped that area where I had to find three keys to open the gate.
STILL I do recommend it, there are people who actually like this kind of stuff. I like it too, but as long it's not completely unforgiven.
Not going to say more then a YES for this point forward. I am glad the developer did not put BABIES in the game, then I would have said NO... The game was not scary for me, it was annoying, but it is playable. I think I rushed a little bit too fast through the game and that uninstall was too impulsive, I might give it a shot again in a later stadium.
Great devs, interesting setting, visual ideas emulating a much better version of PS1-era graphics and some really fantastic sound design are unfortunately let way, way down by some unforgiving and annoying difficulty spikes.
Prepare to repeat whole item seeking sections because checkpointing is not a thing here. If an enemy sees you, you are dead. Baddies move much faster than you and don't have to deal with obstacles like you do. They beeline for your face, fences be damned. If you don't memorize the layout (Which doesn't make any sense in a story context), you die. Even if you know the layout, you die. Often you won't even see the monster that kills you, or you'll find that it rushes you from well over what would be the draw distance of the PS1 or even PS2. Even so, you may gather the three keys after about 6 tries and think "That Steam reviewer guy must just suck at games." Then you get to The Aftermath.
Now do each section dozens of times because you have to collect things in tight quarters with the perfect pathfinding enemies for the entire second half of the game. Then become frustrated that you'll never see the end and leave a review.
Technical oddidies:
- 3 resolutions, and one isn't 4k. I realize that old games had lower resolutions, but this isn't low by choice. They have a rough 2k resolution; just go all the way with it and put in the high res people use (And will use more in the future).
- Graphical options don't stay and need to be set every time you launch the software. Maybe they just don't stay set in the menu? Not sure.
- No controller support. Not a dealbreaker, just something to note.
- You can't reverse your mouselook. This makes it very awkward to control for those that reverse.
If they fix the last chunk of the game (Either through checkpointing, A.I. corrections, or both) to be less infuriating and correct the mouselook issue, I'd change my review. For now, save yourself the anger.
SPOILER ALERT!
Helltown is a really solid horror game with some problems.
Pros:
- subtlety
- nice retro graphics
- has a weird but unsettling atmosphere
- multiple endings
But despite these good things there are some problems with this game.
The biggest Problem in my opinion is that the shift in the game happens much too fast.
The timespan you have to get to know the people and the town itself is much too short.
Also the game gets really repetitive after the shift happens, as pretty much the entire game consists of being chased by monsters that can kill you far to easily since you have nowhere to hide (when compared to games like Amnesia or SOMA where this isn't that much of a problem since there are plenty of places to hide from monsters, which by the way adds some extra tension since you aren't sure if you are safe in your hiding place).
I think the beginning of the game has this really unsettling Blue Velvet like atmosphere, since the town and it's inhabitants seem too perfect to be true. The nightmare sequence that happens during the first night is pretty much the scariest thing in the entire game (it really reminds me of the dream sequences in Twin Peaks), and I think there should be some more of those. Also the key chase that happens midway during the game should be less frustrating since it's pretty much trial and error until you find the keys and actually make it to the exit. This is a shame since the scene afterwards where you want to leave town is one of the most atmospheric moments of the game. The sequence where you are in the town which seems to be in hell is good as it is. The church sequence on the contrary is probably the most frustrating part of the game. This just isn't fun or scary at all. The church is just a maze full of enemies that chase you down to no end.
I think what you could do to make the game better is:
- Make the beginning longer with more days where you just explore the town as it gradually gets weirder and weirder.
- Add some more dream sequences as they are really great.
- Make the key hunt less frustrating (maybe by adding some hiding spots)
- Let the sequence where you have to search the seals as it is since the chases fit perfectly for this part of the game
- Give the church part an overhaul to make it less frustrating and more interesting (less chases, more puzzles)
But all in all this is a solid game, aside the mentioned cons I really liked the game.
Llevaba tiempo con ganas de comprar este juego, así que al jugarlo un rato y descubrir que deja mucho que desear, mi disgusto ha sido mayúsculo.
Visualmente es muy interesante, intentando emular gráficos de consolas y PC noventeros. Por desgracia, animaciones, cutscenes y demás funcionan con la fluidez de UE4, así que se pierde gran parte del encanto. El postprocesado de cámara con puntitos no añade nada al juego. Se agradece la variedad de modelos de enemigo, cuyos diseños no están nada mal.
El sonido es notable en algunos puntos y dolorosamente amateur en otros. Algunos momentos del juego hacen gala de ambientes y sonidos muy logrados, mientras que otros en cambio tienen ambients que no loopean bien o loops excesivamente cortos que se vuelven repetitivos.
Donde muere el juego es en la jugabilidad. Las mecánicas de sigilo son tan obtusas que creo que son inexistentes y los enemigos sólo funcionan por line of sight. Parece que esconderse en algunos sitios aplica un viñeteado y estás oculto, pero no he conseguido encontrar una sola situación en la que pueda usarse.
¿Un enemigo te ve? Más vale que puedas doblar un par de esquinas rápidamente o no tendrás manera de quitártelo de encima. La ausencia de checkpoints en los sub-objetivos de los segmentos hace que tenga un componente ensayo-error que hace que el miedo se convierta en frustración y la frustración rápidamente se vuelva hastío. La variedad de enemigos es sólo visual, todos hacen lo mismo: perseguirte y pegarte, dos golpes, estás out y toca volver a empezar el segmento.
En resumen, un apartado visual llamativo y un apartado sonoro algo disperso brutalmente lastrado por una jugabilidad simple hasta lo aborrecible.
Short, neat game. Not a masterpiece, but it has some nice aesthetics and cool setpieces. You can get your first ending in less than two hours, but to find the others you'll probably need to use a guide (or some random bad LPer like I did since there AREN'T any guides).
Playstation 1 Horror (nur mit zu hoher Weitsicht) mit mehreren Enden. Atmosphärisch, nicht nur für Retro-Begeisterte.
First Impression Video: https://youtu.be/PAU95sBH9IQ
Pro:
- Grafikstil nicht "billig" sondern sehr gut umgesetzt
- beklemmendes Gefühl ab der 1. Sekunde
- mehrere Enden
Contra:
- "Fetchquests" verbinden die Horrorpassagen miteinander
- Trial & Error Abschnitte nehmen Spannung aus einigen Szenen
- Speichersystem nicht ganz klar / Checkpoints zu weit weg
Every bit of its wonderful uniqueness is best experienced through a youtube let's play.
Unless uniqueness is truly of paramount importnance to your enjoyment of a game, don't buy this. I desperatately tried to enjoy it and despite a very intriguing and promising tone and intro, I was left with nothing but an extremely frustrating trial-and-error.
I have an immense enjoyment of old-fashioned difficulty. This is not that,
I spent an hour trying to navigate samey labrynths only to be two-shot staggered and killed by enemies whose level design. stealth, and immense agro range made them nigh-unknowable.
This is a wonderful game that refuses to be played. If you have money, time, and a lot of patience to spare, by all means play this: it really is a breath of fresh air. And if that's for you then great! You might actually really like this game!
Unfortunately for the rest of us it's more of a breath of fresh fart.
Good game. Add Russian language please.
This game really surprised me, and I'm a bit saddened it hasn't been getting much attention at the time of writing. It's a first-person horror game with a PS1-style aesthetic to it which does some very unusual but interesting things.
You play as a postman in the 1950s who's just been hired to deliver mail to the residents of a recently built small town known as Little Vale. As you deliver mail to the residents of the town, you begin to find there's something seriously off about this place, and the strange nightmares that are plaguing you might be trying to show you something.
The game is cast over the series of a few days, and I think a big part of why it works is it just does so many unusual things... So there's some obvious Silent Hill inspiration, and I don't think any horror fan will think anything other than a game with a weird cult-like town with a big church in a game called Helltown has anything other than a cult within it, but the game definitely plays with these expectations and has far stranger things going on within it than I really expected, and goes in some really extreme and unusual directions that actually both managed to unnerve me and surprise me. The game has a lot of quirkiness to it in how it's designed which threw me off my game on several occasions, I don't really want to spoil any of it as I think it's best experienced blind but it's got some weird-edge going on and does several interesting and varied mechanical things you really might not see coming.
In the end it's just the quirkiness of this game which made me come to kind of love it. The aesthetics are pleasingly polygonal and low-quality enough to make you not always certain what you're looking at, but had some nice art direction. The town of Little Vale is interesting enough to explore itself and all these little secrets to find. The story is predictable enough, but not what happens strictly especially in gameplay which caught me off-guard on several occasions. The game has four different endings, I got all four and frankly all four were worth getting with some surprises on each of their pathways, though each ending requires you to do some hidden things in the game to obtain.
I will say there might be some frustration to be had with a couple scenarios within the game itself. one bit in particular is more trial and error than not, but this honestly ends up being nothing a minor quibble due to a few things the game does end up doing with this. It didn't ruin or damper my experience that much. There's some things I think could've been done better or things that could've been expanded on, but what here was still engaging in its own right.
This is a hard one to talk about without spoiling some of the neater stuff this game is doing beneath the surface, but just know if the idea of being a postman in a small explorable creepy community that goes deeper and stranger than you may expect interests you, I'd recommend this highly. I feel this one will stick with me, and I'm happy to have played it. I feel it might grow a cult audience (fittingly enough) if it manages to get any traction, and I dearly hope it does.
[b]A new town, a new job, what can go wrong?[/b]
Moving is stressful. Going from a town you lived in and know to one that is totally new. Where you know the residents were alright people, how will the new town be? Or perhaps you are put to work in a different town and just need to travel there. Better situation and don’t necessarily need to know the town well. If the town is great or if it has a dark secret, the new guy will never know unless something happens.
And oh boy, does Little Vale have a little secret of their own. A sweet town on the outside but a sinister plan brewing underneath. You come to the small town of Little Vale as their new postman. Friendly faces creating you as you first meet the residents and start delivering their mail. And once the day ends, spend the night at the nice hotel. Hopefully your dreams are pleasant and not nightmarish. Or so real that it is questionable whether they really are dreams.
A good amount of games purposely have their story vague, and whether or not it helps the game is up to how it is executed. While Helltown does feel like it could use more, it does work with what it uses. Trending the line between being confused and knowing what exactly is happening is this game’s specialty. There’s enough information given to make you intrigued throughout while keeping what really is going on hidden even when everything is being thrown at you. The multiple endings even go in deeper into the story if you manage to figure out how to trigger them.
On the horror part, this title will be refreshing. With jumpscares being a common staple in both horror games and movies, we almost expect them now. With Helltown, no matter what it looks like, I am happy to say that jumpscares are not relied on to scare players. The atmosphere takes a huge part in it as Little Vale gets creepier everyday. The ambient music screams horror as it crawls into your mind when you get to specific areas. The enemies hunting you down have their own sounds while music will play if they spot you to tell you are being chased. Almost all of them do act the same, but evading them is simple: learn their pattern and go around it. While there are some that do look like they should do something different, on the other hand I’m glad as you only have to worry about remembering their patrol. Making it your fault of being killed as you didn’t pay attention and stayed safe rather than the enemy. However, there was one that I'm not sure is a bug or not, but the lady in red did not stop chasing me no matter how far I went. The others will stop after going out of their area, but the lady in red did not. Either way, these enemies did cause tension with close calls. There will inevitably be moments where they will get annoying, but for the most part they are good.
There is a decent amount of replayability here. What is mostly the case for the first playthrough is the basic runthrough to know what is where, mysterious items becoming understood to at least what they are used for. Or perhaps a something that you thought you need to do for. The other two endings play on that. One having you collect papers you might have came across in your original playthrough and one having you touch a stone to fall down a well. With the latter can be found out by going for an achievement that has the same mechanic to unlock and by being curious. With only one achievement being rage inducing as the progress is reset upon death and there is no obvious progress bar for it.
The one thing that could have made Helltown a better game would be more in the beginning before it ramped up. To build it up more gradually, making it more tense as you realize that if someone that has been in the town mysteriously disappeared, than you could. Or showcasing how the town is just getting creepier and the nightmares getting more suspicious as well as scarier. It certainly does do this, but in a more condensed way that it can happen faster. I do get why, as delivering mail can be seen as filler, as well as the replayability having another hurdle with you having to replay more days to get to the part you need to be. It could have also been detrimental to the story as it does focusing on being vague more than detailed, and adding more days will walk the line more than they are.
I really love the aesthetic this game goes for as it looks like it could have come from the Playstation 1 era. This style is used to their advantage rather than acting like it hindered the game. It took me getting to the ending to even realize the subtle hint in one of the enemy type gives to the story, with more evidence to back it up in one of the alternate routes. Small details become interesting to how they played them up. The visuals could not have been done any better than it was already.
[h1]Verdict[/h1]
Helltown is a breath of fresh air in the era of jumpscare horror. This would have easily been a contender for jumpscares, but luckily it does not. While it does have a few rough spots, such as possibly making the town part longer to make the change more gradual, it does have a lot to love. Don't let the looks dictate whether or not this is a keeper, if you like the story premise or just want to play a good horror game try it out. I hope you like it as much as I did.
On this note, don't worry about not being able to pet the cute dog, there is an even more satisfying outcome if you care to look for the hidden secret.
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