Heidelberg 1693 Review

*Contains Spoilers* A Fun Platformer with a Dose of Nostalgia

Heidelberg 1693 is an incredibly fun and challenging platformer that maintains energy and new surprises throughout. You play as a Musketeer in 1693 (Surprise!) who has been tasked with slaying monsters and settling a score. Your weapons starting out include a rapier, a pistol, and a rifle. The guns, true to the time period, require you to load individual shots, which takes a few seconds, making timing very important when you find yourself in a chaotic situation.

Enemies come in various shapes and sizes, and each type has a different attack pattern. Some enemies simply lumber around and will occasionally attack each other. Others throw or shoot projectiles, leap wildly, or fly faster than your character can run. Boss battles are also sure to keep players on their toes with a combination of attacks that really test your ability to time jumps and reloads appropriately.

The art style harkens back to the likes of Castlevania and Metroid, so it captures a bit of nostalgia for fans of those classic titles. The environment, creatures, and characters are colorful and detailed, and I enjoyed exploring and finding little hidden nooks throughout the game. The cutscenes are also hand-drawn, which I appreciated. My only quarrel here is that I didn’t see more scenes like that throughout the game. It would have helped solidify the story, which was intriguing, but hard to follow at times.

Heidelberg’s use of sound is well done. The soundtrack is full of bright tones and dark vibes, and the sound effects are really fun. The otherworldly voice that alerts players to health pickups and ammo powerups is my favorite.

The game isn’t a terribly lengthy experience, but for those worried about replayability, there is an unlockable difficulty that will make your next playthrough even more challenging.

If you enjoy classic platformers and games with a bit of pixelated gore, Heidelberg 1693 might just be the game for you. It has a lot to love and offers that classic feel and tense moments many of us crave.

[Lady played Heidelberg 1693 on PC with a mouse and keyboard]

Developer: Andrade Games
Publisher: Andrade Games