On a dark, dark night, Heartworm has been released from its cage, breaking loose from its cage and onto our screens. This heartbreaking tale has been released as of July 31st, and it’s such a love letter to a bygone era, one that’s such a kickback to see in Steam stores again, what with its retro pixel art, and those low rendered backgrounds that just coax the worlds back in my day out of your throat.. all of these coming out of one boy’s desperation to see his grandfather one last time. Put the pill down, Heartworm really isn’t just for dogs anymore.
A tale as old as time
Heartworm sends us right back to the basics in more than just its artwork- The game is about grief and the journey that we take through it, the effects of holding on too tightly are explored in digestible 4-6 hours of gameplay with six different endings, sure to make you send a loving text to your mother and father this all underscored by the beautiful soundtrack that will haunt you just as long. It has a modern control scheme, so no one has to call their landlord to patch a hole in the wall, a back-in-the-day classic.
This game makes no secret of its appreciation for games like Silent Hill and the start of the Resident Evil franchise- what with its prerendered cutscenes and some great limited weaponry- I wanna bash a ghost with my camera! How the heck does that work? Show me how! You’ll be expected to use your brains just a little to solve puzzles as you explore, but mostly this is a narrative game, so bring the popcorn!
At the end of all
Heartworm is a nice love letter to the things that made people want to create, the joy in booting up those old titles and taking what was good from the past and highlighting why it worked so well. You don’t need all the fancy graphics and intense customization to make a game have impact. All you need is a good story with heart (hoping not infected with worms-) and passion and it that. People will flock. If this is your kind of game, it’s on sale 10 percent off till August 14th!
