Heidelberg 1693 Review: Horrible Histories

I’m a firm believer that games that emphasize difficulty also need to ensure that there’s an element of fairness present, especially when it comes to action platformers. Level design, enemy placement, and attack patterns need to be honed to perfection to prove challenging, while also ensuring that things never feel cheap. See Super Ghouls’N Ghosts as a prime example, which, Heidelberg 1693, often echoes with its frenetic pace and imposing difficulty.  It was a title that often felt overwhelming, yet, a thorough review of each level showed that there was a way through the chaos, it was just on the player to decipher the best approach.

There are plenty of moments when Heidelberg 1693 manages to provide these immense moments of satisfaction. Those eureka moments when you finally crack a level’s pattern and find the optimal route through feel great and just as rewarding as the classics that inspired the developers. Unfortunately, though, Heidelberg 1693 often loses the laser-sharp focus and attention to detail which ultimately results in an experience that I’m afraid to say frustrates almost as often as it delights.

Alternate History

The premise for Heidelberg 1693 is pretty neat and one of the things that caught my attention. Set in 17th-century Germany, players pick up the musket and blade of a nameless protagonist hired by King Louis XIV to take down his cousin, referred to here as the Moon King. The Moon King has raised an army of undead monstrosities in an attempt to conquer the lands before him, and so begins this anonymous musketeer’s quest to put an end to the Moon King’s crusade.

As you progress through the story, you’ll soon come to realize that the occult narrative is interwoven with a surprising amount of historical accuracy, with historical figures and events from that time period often referenced. If you’re a history buff, you’ll find a lot to love here. However, even if you’re not, chances are that a couple of the references will catch your eye and inspire you to do a bit of extracurricular research, something I always appreciate with games that put a historical spin on their setting and world.

Old School Gameplay, New Frustrations

Jumping into Heidelberg 1693, I knew relatively little about it. Based on the screenshots and the trailers, however, I was pretty sure that I was about to jump into yet another Metroidvania. Given the sheer amount of Metroidvanias I’ve played over the past couple of years, it’s becoming harder and harder for me to feel truly excited for the genre, so I was pleasantly surprised to find out that while Heidelberg 1693 is much more of a straightforward action platformer with linear level based progression. While there is the opportunity to replay levels in search of secrets, this is entirely optional, and in actual fact, this is a title that has much more in common with Super Ghouls n’ Ghosts, as referenced above.

What that means in practice is that you better buckle up for an absolutely hellish level of difficulty as you progress through the game’s twenty or so levels. Precision platforming, overwhelming amounts of enemies, and a somewhat limited arsenal of offensive capabilities with which to dispatch your foes are the name of the game here. Your avatar has access to two standard attacks with his rapier; one that stabs, with the other being a more sweeping attack. There’s also a spinning slash double jump that becomes instrumental in dealing with aerial foes and enemies placed on ledges, and complimenting your blade is, of course, the musket.

The musket is what differentiates Heidelberg 1693’s combat from that of its competition. Acting as your main ranged attack, it’s capable of dispatching most of the standard enemies with relative ease, and in the early levels, it can be an absolute blessing. Those early stages also lead to it feeling well balanced, with the limited ammo (which can be replenished via pick-ups) offsetting the ease with which you can dispatch the relatively low volume of enemies the opening level throws at you. Progress beyond those opening moments, though, and it becomes clear that ranged combat, is, unfortunately, completely useless.

Being a musket, the gun needs to be reloaded after every shot, and, as I mentioned already, you are limited in how often you can use it due to the finite ammo supply. The mechanics surrounding the musket simply do not mesh well with how hectic Heidelberg 1693 gets. You’ll soon have all manner of enemies being thrown at you, from ranged attackers to mindless zombies trudging across the ground, to enemies that spam screen-filling area-of-effect attacks. To give the developers credit here, the enemy variety and range of attacks on display are impressive, it’s just that it often throws too much at you at once for the musket to become anything more than a gimmick you quickly forget about, as it simply isn’t equipped to deal with the mayhem on screen. Remove that musket from the combat equation as you often have to do, and Heidelberg 1693 becomes a pretty standard action platformer.

Fun To Be Had

That isn’t to say that Heidelberg 1693 is a disaster. In fact, it’s far from it, and there are moments when it all comes together and reminds you of the glory days of the genre.

Certain levels are a blast to playthrough, with these typically containing level design and enemy placement that feels challenging yet fair. Furthermore, even the impact of the frustrating levels is mitigated somewhat by a pretty generous checkpoint system from which you will always restart upon death as long as you don’t quit the level. The issue is, though, that the checkpoint system almost feels as though it’s the developers acknowledging that certain elements of the level design and enemy variety feel cheap when combined together. It comes across as a bone thrown to the player to alleviate frustration, and a mechanic that I’m not sure would have even been necessary had some more thoughtful tuning of certain levels taken place, given how short the levels themselves tend to be.

Despite my gripes, I did feel compelled to push through Heidelberg 1693, as there is something great lurking under the questionable design choices. The art direction, enemy design, and soundtrack are all on point, leaning magnificently into the occult horror setting. The enemy design alone was enough to keep me invested, as I became obsessed with uncovering what hideous creations lay in wait for me the further into the game I got. This praise can be extended to boss battles also, which all look fantastic and are frequently based on historical characters; albeit a grotesque and macabre take on said characters. The boss battles also give the combat mechanics room to breathe, and it was within these tense, difficult yet balanced, encounters that I had the most fun, free from the frustrations that pepper the rest of the experience.

Horror That’s Worth Experiencing

If this review came across as negative, it’s not because Heidelberg 1693 is a total bust. Any negativity largely comes from a place of frustration at how close it gets to greatness at times. It is absolutely still worth playing for fans of action platformers and all things macabre, who will delight in the stellar enemy variety and terrifically disgusting art direction. When it’s firing on all cylinders, the weird and wonderful world of Heidelberg 1693 provides an exhilarating challenge that evokes the glory days of the genre, all punctuated by fantastic and imaginative boss design. If you’re willing to look past the frustrations that present themselves at times in the form of uneven balancing, then Heidelberg 1693 will provide a few hours of horrendous fun that genre fans will lap up.

Final Verdict: 3.5/5

Available On: PS5 (reviewed), PS4, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, Switch, PC; Publisher: Andrade Games; Developer: Andrade Games; Released: November 18, 2022; Players: 1; MSRP: $14.99

Full Disclosure: A review code was provided to Hey Poor Player.