Half-Off Hero was one of the entries for the IGMC (Indie Game Making Contest) for 2015. As one of the judges of the competition it is my pleasure to share my thoughts on the game. This review will basically just be the notes I took cleaned up. It will be based on the competition version of the game, so certain aspects of the game may have been changed, and thus I won't be giving an official star score (though I will be including an unofficial score).


Presentation
Graphically the game is very well done. The custom art is interestingly stylised and the characters are all very visually appealing. The background images are neat and as a whole the eye-candy side is just that - eye-candy. That said, there's not much in the way of mapping, as most areas consist of drawn backgrounds, but the few maps that do exist are a bit on the bare side in some parts, though it's usually for good effect.

The music and sound is quite well done, though it didn't stand out too much to me.

What did stand out was the writing, which is polished and full of character. Each character is charming in their own way, whether you're talking about the Hero himself, the crazy nurse, your lovely wife or the rest of the cast - each of them brings their own special piece of sweetness to the table.

The plot was generic and yet interesting - you are a merchant who unfortunately has to become a hero. Problem? You have no idea how to do that. Hell, your only experience with swords is selling them! Thus, you have to go learn how to be a hero and save the world from an evil within a set amount of time. Your wife is not happy.

Gameplay
This is the main issue with the game and it's a big pity, because with such a wonderfully whimsical set-up, the gameplay portions really let it down - firstly, because it takes so damn long to actually get to any of the main gameplay! You get to tend shop once then there's a long series of scenes. In fact, I only got to get into the game itself around the half-hour/fourty minute mark!

After that you're dumped in the world with no real explanation of what to do next. So you try to go back home and get almost destroyed by slimes, which you cannot run from despite there being an option to do so. Your skills in battle are nothing and you also do not have the ability to get other characters to help you fight, so you have to buy a lot of items to attack with, which means selling items in your store - which you have to restock by purchasing more items or finding them in dungeons (which you cannot raid again if you fail... which you always will).

Nevermind that you have a timer counting down how many days you have left before the game ends. It is, frankly, bullshit.

Sure, there are ways to increase your combat ability, but I noticed very little actual aptitude for the amount of time I was spending, training with your village pal. Then there's the fact that if you die a certain amount of times (and thus, wrack up debt with the 'lovely' nurse) you will get a special game over where you become a science project for said 'lovely' (read: psychotic) nurse. Oh, but surely you can borrow money from the money lender in order to pay back Ms Psycho Nurse! Right, like that doesn't backfire spectacularly either.

Honestly, the main problem with the game is that from the offset, unless you know exactly what you need to do, you cannot get far enough into the game to enjoy the fun parts. Instead you're stuck trying to hock goods you bought while attempting (and failing) to run from slimes on the short journey from your home to the market and back again. Because you do NOT want to be away from home too long or your wonderfully understanding wife will leave your punk ass.

Engagement
It looks pretty but it gets boring after the first 10 minutes, and even after you get into playing the game, the combination of a time limit and the feel of lack of progress really makes for frustrating and upsetting play. After an hour of play I had burned through about 50 days with no real progress at all. I was still having trouble beating slimes despite levelling up twice (it takes forever to level up). I got wrecked in the dungeon. Ugh.

Overall, it's very pretty, the writing is on point and the premise is very interesting but the difficulty curve and the lack of progression over an hours play really makes it a frustrating experience.

In the IGMC I gave it a score of 40. If I were scoring it now, it'd be about 3 stars... maybe a bit less. It's really just sad how much of the enjoyment was sapped out by the gameplay, especially for a game that has so much character and heart.