Henry Halfhead was offered by popagenda for evaluate. Thanks!
I like some good ol’ sandbox video games, and I might inform I might be in for a superb one with Henry Halfhead. I solely noticed just a little little bit of a trailer for the sport, however I might inform it will be one thing I might discover myself having fun with. I like physics-based video games, and it seemed like the proper match for me. Nevertheless, what I discovered transcended that. It is a brief recreation, a really brief recreation, however the affect of the story revolving round our titular protagonist resonated with me in a method I might not have anticipated, making this a worthwhile expertise.
In Henry Halfhead, you play as…effectively, Henry, a half-headed man that we watch develop up and stay his life. We’ll begin as a child and work our method up via previous age, seeing as he experiences the world. It is an especially brief story, and I completed the sport in about two hours, however the story was deep and significant. It mirrors what a majority of individuals could really feel at this time, with the push to evolve to societal expectations and be “regular.” Henry is confronted with this as a toddler, and grows up accordingly, however watching him regain the curiosity and pleasure in his life was so candy to behold.
It feels very acquainted to what we’ve seen quite a bit. Individuals put apart their passions and hobbies as a result of they should verify and be accepted by society for monetary, social, and relationship targets. Ultimately, we’ve a cushty life, however not a satisfying or joyful one. So, watching Henry break from the norm to regain his childlike curiosity and creativity hit house. Earlier than creating SteamDeckHQ, I used to be managing film theatres and pharmacies, making ends meet to simply have the ability to afford hire and meals, however I acquired fortunate and labored exhausting to interrupt free and create a enterprise the place I’m working with what I’m most enthusiastic about. With the ability to work with what I really love was so liberating, so seeing Henry’s life be injected with brilliant colours and optimism introduced again the reminiscences of how I felt after I made the choice to go full-time right here.
I additionally loved the narrator. The way in which he spoke with such magnificence, coupled along with his humorous nature that acts as each somebody wanting outwards at Henry and as his internal voice, helped make this expertise a memorable one.
It was fulfilling to expertise his life utilizing the distinctive energy granted to him by being solely half a head. As I discussed, the sport goes via totally different phases of Henry’s life, throughout which we will likely be taking up and controlling objects to meet targets. This may vary from utilizing a pen to attract in every single place and flying ourselves round as a paper airplane, to changing into a battery that may be slotted right into a recreation console. Every goal feels distinctive as effectively, going from having to prepare dinner and make our personal meals to sorting packages at our dead-end job.
On high of simply doing the targets, there are different objects to work together with and use collectively. It appears like a sandbox, having the ability to choose no matter objects you wish to and use them as you want. Wish to turn out to be a seed and develop it? Wish to use a conveyor belt to maneuver packages round? Wish to reduce up some bread, put it in a toaster, and make toast? You may! The sport has a superb chunk of round 300 objects to work together with, hats to put on, and even little puzzles to finish.
There is a good chunk of puzzles to search out and objects to take management of, however outdoors of these, it is principally discovering little methods for the world to work together with one another. We will transfer issues round, stack them to get the very best doable tower, however there is not a lot to do outdoors of that. I might take a look at this as a top quality 2 hours stuffed with fulfilling sandbox gameplay, ridiculous narration to get pleasure from, and a deeply felt story. It positively would have been good to have extra to do. I principally completed the sport in a single sitting, however I used to be so moved by the story that I nonetheless felt fulfilled ultimately.
The one foremost situation I’ve with precise gameplay is leaping. Leaping was tough to calculate, with a few of the digicam angles and bounce heights simply making it really feel off. Paired with the objects being physics-based and movable, I commonly discovered myself having to regulate and readjust chairs to stand up onto tables after constantly pushing them away. It wasn’t fully debilitating, however it was irritating if I wanted to get a particular merchandise, like a knife, up onto a desk to chop right into a cake.
Henry Halfhead – Steam Deck Efficiency
Henry Halfhead is a good recreation to play on the Steam Deck, although it does require a compromise. The sport has some bother working at 90 FPS, with excessive battery drain and a few drops when there are lots of objects on the display screen. To repair this, simply convey down the framerate to 60 FPS restrict, and it’ll assistance on all fronts. Typically, it’s going to convey battery drain down from a mean of 15W to 10.5W, giving us an additional hour or extra of battery life, however it is going to be fully steady.
There is not way more to say about Henry Halfhead. It simply works effectively, runs like a attraction, and feels nice to play on the go.
Accessibility
There are alternatives to vary language, digicam velocity, subtitles, inverted controls, automated digicam recentering, and audio sliders, however that is it.
The sport does help 16:10 resolutions, cloud saves, and controllers. There are not any HDR settings.
Conclusion
Henry Halfhead is a straightforward but fulfilling sandbox recreation that has a brief however impactful story. Watching Henry develop up and out of his monotonous life into the fantastic one which he used to like as a toddler hit house with me, and I like the physics-based sandbox gameplay. It may be just a little tough to manage every so often, and I do want there have been a bit extra to the sport, like non-compulsory in-game targets, since it’s only round 2 hours lengthy to finish, however it does not change how fulfilling the expertise was.
There are nearly no points enjoying the sport on the Steam Deck. I do advocate a 60 FPS lock as a result of some instability and better battery drain, however it’s very playable in any other case. It will likely be an ideal recreation to get pleasure from on the go.
Our evaluate is predicated on the PC model of this recreation.
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