Helvetii mini-review

Journeying through the crevices of Hell looks nice, but lacks balance.

What is the game’s concept?

While attractively animated, Helvetii’s introduction is rooted in flowery prose (“corruption spread from him like ichor from a wound”), making the context rather difficult to grasp. But it’s a familiar tale, telling of a belligerent war chief so determined that he makes an unholy deal. This pact helps him win the battle but introduces a cataclysmic rot into the region of Gaul. Not only is his mind corrupted, but corrupted beasts are materializing, threatening the land.

After completing the tutorials for the game’s three playable characters, Helvetii mostly disregards its premise for an action that is undoubtedly inspired by 2009’s Muramasa: The Demon Blade. Much like Vanillaware’s Wii and PlayStation Vita titles, confronting the rot means executing some flashy combos, as you juggle foes about. There’s a bit of roguelike influence as well, with randomized areas, temporary upgrades, and the possibility of acquiring permanent perks.

What are the game’s strengths?

Helvetii shines on the OLED Switch. The game’s backdrops are rendered in wonderfully inky tones, while the framerate provides solid sixty frame-per-second output. The game’s trio of protagonists and enemies are brought to life with paper doll-like animations rather than hand-drawn fluidity. But the game delivers a distinct visual style, where the player, enemies, and the environment all exhibit razor-sharp edges. Even the damage figures that emerge with every hit look prickly enoughtodraw blood.

Agreeably, Helvetii provides three protagonists who each sport a different proficiency. Divico is a warrior with hard-hitting melees and some potent specials, while Renart is a nimble half-fox who can issue a succession of rapid-fire strikes not unlike Chun-Li’s Hyakuretsukyaku or E. Honda’s Hundred Hand Slap. Finally, Nammeios, a wizard with a bat companion, who’s apt at ranged spells. Beyond each combatant’s distinctive light, heavy, charged, and mana-controlled ranged attacks, the trio shares an ability to jump, parry, and dash, which assist in hitting the game’s ground- and aerial-based antagonists as well as the end-of-stage bosses.

What are the game’s weaknesses?

Helvetii favors button mashing, with even a simple hammering of the “X” button dispensing a ravaging combo. Add in the ability to easily toss opponents skyward and for an injurious juggle, and newcomers will like seasoned pros. But before long, the thrill of fighting wanes, given the lack of cancels and an overly generous parry window. Enemy resilience needs rebalancing. At present, subordinate foes take quite a few hits to eliminate, while bosses can be quickly overwhelmed.

On normal mode, Helvetii isn’t very challenging and it’s easy to mow down a few bosses across a 20-minute run. Success across these showdown awards points that can be used to purchase Sigils that grant permanent buffs. But the economy needs some retuning since you’ll have to beat a half-dozen elevated for even a minor health increase. Sure, Helvetii isn’t the only roguelike to goad players into grinding, but the return on investment feels devised to pad playtime.

Another issue with Helvetii is that exploration doesn’t always reap proper dividends. Sure, you can opt to not tackle the boss at your first opportunity, but any possible rewards come with the possibility of eroding your health supply. Sure, you might be able to purchase rejuvenation or earn enough loot to buy treasure-chest keys. But after 25+ runs, I persevered the longest when I didn’t explore a stage.

Is the game worth the money?

Walled gardens and licensing-based obsolescence continue to plague the industry. As such, if you want to legitimately play Muramasa, you need a copy of a long out-of-print game. Helvetii is probably the next closest thing. But in execution, it’s relatively removed from the quality of Vanillaware’s hit

Helvetii was played on Switch with review code provided by the publisher.