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The black-and-white style is something that brings old memories, especially for the bit older ones among us, who lived through this era and knew its charm firsthand. Lately, black and white is also used to showcase sad moments, when someone passes away, for example, but one cannot deny its artistic value, and this is exactly what Badass Mongoose, the developers behind Helix Descent N Ascent, easily recognised.
Although Helix Descent N Ascent isn't a game that will be spoken about like something that reinvented the gaming wheel, its uniqueness will surely grab your attention if you decide to give it a go. This puzzle-orientated, abstract adventure is something you rarely see in the video game industry, and I, as a gamer, am always more than grateful for games like this one.
Story
Perhaps the hardest part to write about in Helix Descent N Ascent is its story because, well, there's nothing to write about, and that's exactly what makes it grand. You can interpret it as you like. You're literally thrown into the game without a single explanation. You play as a small, alien-looking creature roaming the world of Helix, a place where the ancient powers reside and wait to be awoken. Our hero will awake them and use them to his advantage. To what end? I really didn't get that much.
The game doesn't have any sort of voiceover nor a single written word; everything is showcased in symbols, and your job is to decipher those symbols and progress through the levels. Does it have any deeper meaning? Perhaps, although, I must confess, I didn't manage to fully crack it. Perhaps it might seem like a cliché, but such games really don't need any sophisticated story to be considered good, because the lack of any is even more impactful here.
Gameplay
Regarding the part concerning in-game mechanics, Helix Descent N Ascent is a simple game, really. It is designed in some sort of isometric view, where you move your character through the space shown on screen. Once you step out of the edge of that space, you're sent to the next piece of space, which means the camera is fixed and doesn't move at all.
Your job is to search the rooms you find yourself in, solve small puzzles and open the paths that will allow you to solve a certain room and progress through, and that's pretty much it. Of course, those puzzles start easy, and as you progress through the game, they become considerably harder, but nothing that will make you hit your head against the wall trying to solve them.
The real spice of the gameplay is power-ups our hero gains as he progresses through the game. Sometimes, he will gain the ability to produce cubes, and he will use those cubes on pressure plates to solve puzzles. Sometimes the cubes will be exchanged for a hook that will allow him to pull switches and jump from one area to another, and sometimes, you'll have to combine those power-ups to solve bigger puzzles.
Throughout the levels, you'll come across terminals with minigames. Those can be very fun, really. Solving those minigames will give you rewards, usually in the form of different power-ups and sometimes in the form of codes or pieces of more intricate puzzles. Every level will have its collectables; you'll be exploring levels and finding pieces of paper, and when you find all of them and complete the set, you'll be able to tackle a bigger puzzle for more rewards.
In Helix Descent N Ascent, everything is about solving the puzzles, and since any sort of written or spoken clues are excluded here, you'll have to rely on your instincts and solve puzzles purely by observation, trial and error, and raw discovery. This approach is quite clever, and it surely kept me glued to the screen, trying to solve the next mystery and the next and the next until I lost track of time. In this segment, Helix Descent N Ascent is really nailing it.
Visuals and Sounds
Black and white and endless combinations of those two – this is roughly the explanation of Helix Descent N Ascent's visuals. The art style is very charming, and hand-drawn images, along with the main character, whose only visible animation when he walks is small clouds of smoke rising from under his feet, look very minimalistic but also very in place.
The game combines black and white, not just as a visual effect but also as a part of the gameplay, and here is something I need to point out as a minor flaw. Collectables are scattered all over the place, and you'll usually find them in nooks and crannies barely visible to a naked eye. Due to a black-and-white effect, those small pieces of paper will be almost impossible to spot, and if it were up to me, I'd make them discreetly glow or something; in this way, finding everything the game has to offer can be a real pain.
The sound design carries its weight well, with the background music that steals the show. I already mentioned that Helix Descent N Ascent is a voiceless game, but the sound effects of empty spaces, awkward silence, and the background music are something that spices up the atmosphere of Helix Descent N Ascent big time.
Conclusion
Helix Descent N Ascent is a game designed around the puzzles, and here is where it really thrives, cleverly not trying to be anything else. It allows players to find their own way through the game and draw their own conclusion regarding the story without saying anything to point them in any right or wrong direction.
When you combine all that with puzzles that start slow but pick up the pace as the game progresses, you get a decent game to kill a couple of hours with, mostly to relax because the stress is forbidden here. Some collectables can be a bit frustrating to spot against the black-and-white backdrop, but hey, no one is perfect, right? And Helix Descent N Ascent definitely isn't trying to be.
The Good
Clever, dialogue-free puzzle design- Satisfying power-up combinations
- Strong atmosphere and background music
- Distinctive black-and-white art style
The Bad
Collectables nearly impossible to spot- The story's vagueness can be frustrating for some players
