This review is for the IGMC 2014 version.

Straight after the opening screens you've got a choice option presented with three difficulty levels to choose from, with a graphical indication of what that means in game terms in regard to healing, item profusion and enemy strength.


Not sure about the gender bias, but I like the options.

Once the game itself starts up the first thing that strikes you about Our Hero Origins, is the custom graphics that have been interspersed with the standard RTP, they are simplistic but rendered with a great naïve style, and by that I mean in the naïve art style such as works by Henri Rousseau or Maud Lewis. The colours are heavily saturated giving a real impact to the visuals. It's evocative and stylistic and really grabs your attention.

You start the game inside the dream of our hero as he fights his nemesis, Mister Sock and all his minions, (who I really hope are called sockets). The combat is ABS so a bit of fast movement and button mashing is in order. I'm not a huge fan of the ABS combat system as a rule as I prefer strategy in my fights, but I'm already intrigued enough by the visuals to continue and see what else is on offer.

Once our hero fights off the evil Mr Sock and his sockets, (sorry I just have to call them that), he wakes to the real world and we get another treat in this game, the music. This first piece is very reminiscent of Andean pan pipes with a tin can drum in the back ground and it is immediately infectious, I'm finding myself moving to the beat as I play. The later music pieces don't disappoint either, I don't think I heard a single RTP track during the whole game, and all of them were chosen to reflect the situation our hero finds himself embroiled in.

The useful HUD lets me know I've made it out of my dream fight with a couple of points of health missing, but no problem as there is a handy barrel close by with a bottle in it and the instructions that I can fill the bottle with water from the nearby river. Since water is the universal healer I can use it to replenish my health, so I do, and that brings up one of the games features, the checkpoint.


Autosave enabled, well almost...and at a price

As you can tell from the checkpoint instructions, there are a few grammatical errors in the game, but they do not detract from comprehension, and as it has been made clear in the intro and on the RMN profile the developer is Italian, I'm forgiving of a few minor errors, and that is indeed all that appear in the game.

Once past the opening map I run across a set of traps and it is 'S' to jump. The so over the spikes and ditches I go and collect a series of glowing baubles that add +1 ESP for each one I walk through though no explanation for them has been supplied as yet. Still given the relatively clear and sensibly spaced instructions supplied so far I think I'm content to wait. Sure enough in the next section I get a helpful set of instructions provided.


Right so ESP is a cross between EXP and SP then. Cool

On to the next screen and now I have menu access so I can save my game myself, have a look at the control instructions again to make sure I haven't missed anything, see my in game statistics with kills, cards and swords collected etc and check out a fine picture of myself.

As the game progresses you are given a set of objectives, the completion of each leads you to the next and the next and so on until you reach the finale where you as the hero must save the world. Each objective builds on the next and you are faced with more complex systems to master as you go. None of them are difficult and the gradual learning curve means you never feel like too much too soon at any point.

Our hero soon finds himself embroiled in the affairs of the kingdom, after doing the right thing as any good citizen of the realm will do he returns a fallen crystal he discovered to the King, not knowing it is the crystal of Teorhemas, whose arrival precedes the coming of world destroying cataclysm and foretells the rise of the hero to fight it. Soon after returning this legendary crystal to the King it is stolen, and as all of the king's guards are embarrassingly absent the King dubs our poor peaceful farmer a knight and proclaims him 'ourhero' saviour of the world. Not wishing to let anyone down, ourhero accepts the challenge and the kick ass sword that goes with it and sallies forth to slay the evil doers, solve puzzles, retrieve the crystal and save the world.


Sure thing, crazy guy, uh, Conyan

There are a few glitches in the game, none that stop you playing but they can be a bit of surprise the first time you run into them, in the castle for example, the first battle you have is in the room with the werewolves, this battle re-spawns if you leave and re-enter from the East, but not if you do so from the West. You can use the room to grind and get more ESP and gold, but I don't believe it was designed that way since the werewolves are a narrative specific event.

In addition if you level up and learn a new skill at the same time as you kill the last of a particular bunch of enemies, the graphic for the upgrade stays on the screen until you transition to a new map.



For a 1000 angry beavers just became my latest curse phrase.

The humour in this game is charming, I really have no idea how much of it is intentional and how much is due to translation mismatch that can occur when one language is rendered into another but it just works beautifully. If these people are the ones that are going to save the world from impending destruction, I'm not sure the world is safe but it's going to die laughing. There were quite a few moments when I just had to stop playing to take in a comment or information because it was delivered in such an amusing and in most cases completely deadpan manner.

Our hero never takes itself too seriously, it's a fun game designed to be a humorous and face-paced romp to slake the wannabe hero in all of us, and it does that admirably. It does require a bit of fancy finger work to achieve all its goals and by the end of it my hands were feeling a little over worked, but I had such a fun time I don't mind at all.

If you like fast paced, humorous and delightful games that don't require too much deep thought but pretty good reflexes, then I urge you to give Our Hero Origins a go (and a vote in the contest). You'll be roundly entertained and isn't that what games are all about?