In Henry Halfhead, you play via the lifetime of an individual named Henry. However there are a pair twists. Henry is barely half of a head — simply eyes, ears, nostril, and the highest of their head — that means they transfer round by sliding on the ground and leaping up and down. Additionally, Henry can possess on a regular basis objects. It’s a wierd idea, however the builders at Lululu Leisure use the goofy concepts to inform a poignant story and have a lot of enjoyable alongside the way in which.
The sport begins with Henry as a child of their nursery, bouncing across the room to wreak havoc. As you play, you’ll progress to totally different rooms and age up via totally different phases of Henry’s life, and the flexibility to own principally each object you may see allows you to get into all kinds of hassle at all ages. I significantly appreciated a sequence the place I needed to try and set candles on a birthday cake to have fun my very own third birthday. As a school-aged child, I helped Henry make a multitude within the classroom.
The objects are all positioned in such a strategy to invite you to tinker with them and deal with every thing like a giant digital playroom. Regardless of my tendency to interrupt plates or scatter gadgets round haphazardly, I by no means bumped into any strategy to “lose,” which actually inspired me to experiment with issues and never fear about something “unhealthy” taking place.
The intense graphics, goofy sounds (particularly Henry’s “yips” when hopping from place to position), and an omniscient British narrator all added to the charming and alluring atmosphere. If the managed whimsy all sounds somewhat bit like Katamari Damacy, it’s a transparent inspiration; at one level, I discovered a radio on a shelf that appears simply Katamari’s iconic inexperienced protagonist, and one part of Henry Halfhead had Henry rolling round as a laundry-collecting ball.
As you might need guessed a couple of sport chronicling any individual’s complete life, Henry Halfhead can get somewhat actual. With out moving into the small print, a superb chunk of the sport takes place throughout Henry’s soul-crushing grownup job, and the ultimate chapter of the sport stars an aged Henry. You may in all probability guess what occurs earlier than the credit roll.
However the broader message of the entire sport is all about being artistic, making an attempt new issues, and celebrating pleasure the place you may. On the finish of my two-hour playthrough, I used to be somewhat emotional that my journey with Henry was over, however I’m impressed to channel Henry’s silliness into my very own life.
Henry Halfhead is on the market now on PC, PS5, and Nintendo Swap.