Review: Vertical Drop Heroes HD - Enemy Slime

Review: Vertical Drop Heroes HD

Drop to be a hero. Drop to your doom.

PC

Vertical Drop Heroes HD is an interesting little diddy from developer Nerdook Productions. The game is a remake of sorts of their flash game released back in 2010 titled Vertical Drop Heroes. While the two share a lot in common both aesthetically and in gameplay, HD does enough differently to make it feel like more of a fleshed out experience.

The story to the game opens quite simply enough, told in a quick preface without much fanfare. A prophecy foretells of a great hero who will be granted the knowledge of all existence should they survive several trials. The problem with this prophecy is every adventurer believes it applies to them. Vertical Drop Heroes HD then is the story of each adventurer that attempted to complete the prophecy, the one who makes it, and the many that failed in the process.

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The game reflects the deeply expendable nature of these young adventurers out to make a name for themselves. The character select screen completely randomizes three heroes for you to take control of, from their appearance, stats, abilities and even class names like “Serpentvine” and “Ashdusk.” This is fine because as you’ll find out, you shouldn’t expect your first couple of heroes to last long. As you drop them down through the first and second level enemies will tear through them like tissue paper, and your chances of making it to even the second boss aren’t very high.

This may sound frustrating, even annoying, but this is where the charm of Vertical Drop Heroes HD comes in. It’s not so much about improving your current hero, as it is using forward thinking, planning for the next generation so to speak. As you progress through the game you’ll level up, collect coins, complete quests and perhaps most importantly, be given the chance to unlock abilities and stat upgrades with your collected gold. Said abilities and stats will never apply to the current hero, but they will begin to show up after you die and are bounced back to the character select screen. For example the Oakslayer you’re currently controlling will amass a ton of gold, find a traveling vendor, and purchase the ability, Necromancer, which allows you a chance to raise skeletons from slain enemies. Once your Oakslayer meets her unfortunate and imminent death, you’ll get to roll a Bloodguard who has the Necromancer ability, and continue him on to collect upgrades until he too dies.

The graphics are appropriately cartoon-ish, and I have a certain affinity for hand drawn styles, they’re also much improved from the flash version of the game. The music is all one simple tune remixed every couple of levels into something familiar yet different. The sound effects work quite well for the title, with each weapon have a clear swish or swoosh or swash to define it. In short it all works for what it is, and while it’s not mind blowing it’s very Saturday Morning Cartoon which I feel works great for the game.

So let’s talk a little about progression beyond death and rebirth. The name, Vertical Drop Heroes, describes exactly what you’re in for. You’ll be guiding your hero downwards through several themed levels littered with classic fantasy enemies that have varying attack patterns to try and drop your health as fast as possible. You will be able to gain experience and level up (which replenishes your health bar), as well as collect potions to refill health and mana. As I mentioned earlier heroes will also have randomized spells and skills, some of which have a select number of charges that require you to use the ability strategically. Omnislash comes to mind, a skill that rapidly attacks every enemy on screen, but only has two charges.

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At the bottom of every level you’ll encounter a boss who you’ll have to defeat to access the portal to the next one, or optionally you can bypass the boss with the use of keys. You can also use teleportation shrines to skip stages entirely but at the start of the game they’re a little pricey, and you’re better off using the gold you’ve earned to improve future heroes rather than just see what’s coming next. Especially because while the heroes and classes are inventive, stages often feel same-y with a slightly different veneer or set of traps.

Gold is worth saving up as it carries over across heroes and upgrades get more expensive. Keys should be used as soon as possible to unlock chests and rescue other heroes that will help you fight enemies (or in the case of thieves give you gold, or paladins stomp apart a level) since all keys will be lost the second a hero dies. You can find shrines that will present some challenge with a reward attached, or offer up damage if you spend currency.

There are also quests scattered through out the levels for gold, experience and temporary stat increases, but in frank honesty these were their presence in the game was not very worthwhile. The rewards for questing felt too minor, and sometimes it felt like too much of a hassle to return to the quest NPC to turn them in. Each stage is randomized, every monster, every chest, every layout. While the game was very good at making sure there was almost always a way to progress through a level, very rarely I’d encounter a way to get impossibly stuck and be unable to continue on the current hero, leaving me with no choice but to start again.

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My other major issue with the game is how slow progression is. It’s a fun idea, but when you have to drop through the first couple of levels at a snails pace, or just resign yourself to dying over and over on the early levels just for the sake of upgrades, it gets a little tiring. While I’m all for difficulty it would have been nice if enemies were just a little weaker, or there were a few less of them, or you leveled up just a little faster so you could rocket down through the levels faster. I understand wanting to lengthen the experience of the game, but a faster progression pace would have served this game wonders.

Progression is also slightly random. Sometimes you’ll get a hero who’s just too good to pass up, with just the right set of spells to really rip through enemies and earning a decent amount of experience to keep pace with the game, flying through those levels. Other times you’ll get a set of heroes that, even if you advanced 6 or 7 levels in your last run, can barely handle the first two or three areas because their abilities aren’t up to snuff, they have an inefficient weapon or you’re finding yourself at a deficit of experience points. This all also means you only really want to deal with the game in short bursts. It’s good for maybe coming back to and doing a half hour or so session, especially if you’re having a good run, but several poor runs will make things get old fast.

That being said Nerdook Productions does do a lot to keep the ride going. It’s always cute seeing that new slot of heroes come up. There’s a new game + for successfully completing the game with much harder enemies and new attack patterns, there’s also two multiplayer modes, split screen and network, to invite another adventurer in on your ill fated quest.

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Vertical Drop Heroes HD is by no means a bad game. It’s in fact a very intriguing title in an age where so many indie 2D platformers advertise “a unique approach” and few rarely deliver, Vertical Drop Heroes HD manages to feel functionally different from the bulk of them which is a major feat. Once you get used to how the game is meant to be played you’ll find it’s secretly addictive, the second you’re ready to flip over a table the game will offer you up a new hero you just have to try your luck with. You’ll be hooked in for the ride, but it does take a lot of getting used to. It’s truly a game that realizes the age old adage “It’s about the journey, not the destination.”

Interested parties can find the game today on GOG or you can go vote for it on Steam Greenlight.

This game was reviewed using preview code provided by the game’s publisher.