Heartworm

Heartworm is a game with loads of cool ideas, but it doesn't build on any of them. Exploring the opening house feels incredibly tense. The beautiful evening atmosphere leaking through the creaking ruins. The evocative notes. The camera flash mechanic to light your way through the dark is genius and the moment you see it in action your brain is abuzz thinking of the tricks the game could pull using it. Will monsters react to the flash and chase you? Will there be hallways filled with creatures that you can silently tiptoe around in the dark so long as you keep the light off? Will certain areas look safe, but the instant you flash your camera creepy silhouettes and figures will slink along the wall? Maybe. The game never does any of those things. Or anything else with the idea of the camera. You get "camera mods" instead of weapons. So instead of a shotgun replacing your pistol, you get a burst shot: Three blasts instead of one. Cool idea! What other mods are there? I have no idea. I...

It sucks to say, as this game was one i've been looking forward to for a while, but this is barely a positive review. The issue boils down to the difficulty, I can understand and even appreciate devs wanting their games to be on the easier side of things, nothing wrong there. It's another thing to make it so easy that enemies don't feel in any way threatening, missing feels meaningless as the amount of ammo you get is probably about twice what you need to kill everything in the game and you just get way way way way too many health items, especially considering that avoiding attacks is really easy. The issue here is that this easy, this lack of tension, of threat, of needing to put in any effort whatsoever kills the atmosphere and immersion, combat as is feels tedious, you're basically immortal and enemies take a while to kill, as is the game would be better off without combat. I do still want to congratulate the team on creating what could be the basis for an incredible game but...

Take the camera combat mode from Fatal Frame series, Add the atmosphere of the Silent Hill series, (with some neon lights and purple haze instead of rusty fog) Throw in some puzzles like the early Resident Evil games, (keys, clocks, piano puzzles, emblems) Mix it all up and VOILA! you have Heartworm. Heartworm is a love letter to retro PS1 survival horror games. Even though it borrows heavily from the greats as mentioned above, it manages to carve out its own niche due to the fact that the art style and story are 100% original. The developers are adamant they do not use AI in any of their assets, music, or spoken dialog, which is a huge bonus. Heartworm took me 5.5 hours to complete my first playthrough. + First off, the music in this game is incredible. Each area has its own original unique beautiful music. Most of the tracks are hauntingly melancholic, which suits the story perfectly. + The sound effects are also amazing. I especially loved shooting the statues in the second chapt...

huge fan or the silent hill, fatal frame, and resident evil classics and the moment i saw the trailer i new this was it. a beautiful creation. and all the little flavor text i could want, thank you for this piece of digital art

The only strengths I could commend this game having are its atmosphere and music. Beyond that it feels very flawed and a majority of gameplay is spent walking. It says I have 4 hours in-game, but my first run was about 2.8 hours and about only 30 minutes was spent doing anything other than walking. It was an unenjoyable game that I would have preferred having no combat or puzzles to begin with. The combat does fortunately have two controls- either over the shoulder (OTS) or tank- but the issue is that if you use OTS then you will be actively fighting the nauseating camera's movements to figure out where you are and where you're moving. The benefit though is that you get a red circle showing when an enemy can be injured by your photos. Tank has no benefits except it's easy to control and you don't fight the camera to know where you are. Bosses are a joke, enemies can all be outrun or you can walk through/around, and there aren't really any "puzzles" that involve the camera either. Th...

this game is an absolute gem. if you enjoy retro survival horror, i would highly recommend giving it a shot - it truly feels like a love letter to the early resident evil and silent hill eras of gaming. the atmosphere and environments you traverse through are complimented by the soothing, and at times haunting, score that plays throughout. finding new areas was exciting, as there was multiple unique camera pathing choices and fixed angles that always added to the world around it without being distracting. the voice acting felt reminiscent of the aforementioned series, and while some people might find it uncanny, i found it fit the vibes of the game perfectly. speaking of camera angles, don't fret if you're not a tank control gamer! they very graciously offer a modern control options for movement and for use of your camera (your main weapon in this game), and tank controls for the more classic enjoyers. they also offer an arachnophobia mode, which i find to be very considerate, even...

I really wanted to like this game. I was looking forward to it, and even enjoyed playing it PAX (if I recall correctly). My biggest issues with game are not the game itself. The game is well done technically, and visually. Let's not forget that soundtrack, it's wild, and well done. The callbacks to other games in the genre, and the puzzles are clever enough to keep you interested. Firstly, my issues are with the map. It's not easy to understand, and convoluted. There are large regions, and the map is not always 1:1 in scale to what's visually there. Combine that with the camera constantly whipping around due to perspective changes, and the default over the shoulder aiming. What this needs is an icon on the map that shows where the player is, and bonus points if it also shows where they're facing. That would go a LONG way to making this far more playable. Second, the second act is massive in scale. This portion of the game severely slowed down the pace of the game, and genuinely made...

A weak narrative, uninteresting character development, overly simple puzzles, and offensively easy gameplay. The framework was there for a Resident Evil experience, but it never manifested into anything. I had almost 200 film stocked up and almost 20 full heals in my storage and no reason to use them with how lethargic the enemies were. The one [i]singular[/i] upgrade I found was plenty to blast through the way-too-easy enemies. The inventory space was never an issue with how few key items you need at any given time and how linear the progression is. The handful of puzzles were so straightforward that I felt like I was missing something with how obvious the solutions always were. The only thing this game has going for it is its incredible visual design and crunchiness. Playing it with the filters on and at 480p looked gorgeous, but the rest of the game fell so flat that I had to keep crutching on the thought of "at least it looks good" the entire time. No tension. No brain busting pu...

The greatest love letter to classic survival horror I've played in a long time. Wow. Where do I even start with this? Heartworm has struck that sweet spot of 90s nostalgia that so many new games either don't bother with or struggle to fully capture. From pre-rendered backgrounds, to static cameras, the blocky inventory screen, and nauseating angles for dangerous and unnerving areas, they've managed to consider everything. This is like a super mashup of Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Fatal Frame, Clock Tower, and all the other greats without feeling gimmicky. The original story is a beautiful exploration of grief. Some of the journal entries were sadly relatable and captured raw emotions in such an authentic way. The puzzles are well-balanced, some were very easy but others were just tough enough that I definitely couldn't figure them out without help and then I'd find a piece of paper that made everything satisfyingly click into place. For the combat, the only thing you're armed with...

This game is pure gold !! Best 20$ you'll ever spend !! Nothing but fun...hell I didn't even sleep because of it !! Over 20 hours: I did one full playthru & one speedrun (1h32:47 no save Rank B)... that's how fun it is !! Next step? Rank A for an A Rank game !! Edit: PS: Also I hate that Chess "AI" lol... but I did it !!