Heidelberg 1693

If you love Super Castlevania IV but wish that it was a whole lot more gruesome, then let me introduce you to Heidelberg 1693. This is a gory and ultra-violent take on the side-scrolling action genre that oozes just as much style as it does blood. But is there more to this throwback spectacle than over-the-top carnage? Grab a raincoat and slip into your best pair of boots, because things are going to get real messy when I review Heidelberg 1693.

You can complain all you want about last year, but 2020 has nothing on 1693. Set against the backdrop of the War of the Grand Alliance, this is the story of what happens when King Louis XIV's evil and deceptive past comes back to bite him. Literally. When the Moon King raises an army of the dead to seek vengeance on the out-of-touch ruler, King Louis sends his bravest musketeer into battle to stop the demonic scourge before it completely engulfs France.

Spread across twenty challenging stages, our hero fights his way into Germany in hopes of making it to the heavily fortified town of Heidelberg. But even before he gets there, our hero is met with supernatural resistance every step of the way. Thankfully, he came equipped with both his trusty rapier for melee combat and musket for long-range attacks, which is just enough to give him a slim but fighting chance against the zombies, vampires and assorted monsters. With very limited moves and only a few secondary weapons to use along the way, the musketeer will need to use his brain and pick his battles wisely if he plans on making it through the throng of ghoulish creatures in order to defeat the Moon King.

If this formula sounds familiar, then it's probably because you've played a Castlevania game before. Between the haunting atmosphere and gorgeous pixel graphics, Heidelberg 1693 is more than a little reminiscent of some of the Belmont's earliest outings. With the linear stages and focused quest, I was immediately reminded of the pre-Metroidvania entries like Super Castlevania IV and Rondo of Blood. You aren't exploring a large interconnected world or leveling up the musketeer, because this is a more straight-forward adventure that feels like a real throwback to the 16-bit games we grew up with.

That's not to say that Heidelberg 1693 is a big rip-off, because the game does a lot to carve out its own identity. Beyond simply being a lot more gruesome than Castlevania, you'll also find that the story is much darker and the combat is more tactical in nature. A good example of this is the musket we use for long-range attacks. Don't go into this game expecting run 'n gun action, because the gun we're using will need to be manually reloaded after every single shot. That's multiple seconds of you being vulnerable as the animation plays out. You'll need to be slow and methodical about your attacks. But not too slow, because there's a flying demon who will constantly tag behind resurrecting the enemies you killed. It's this tug-of-war between needing to be cautious and needing to be constantly moving that makes Heidelberg 1693 feel different from the games that clearly influenced it.

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It's probably worth mentioning that this comes to us from the same developer of both 1917: The Alien Invasion and SturmFront: The Mutant War, two fast-paced shoot 'em ups that expertly mimicked the genre greats from the 1990s. While this side-scrolling adventure game may seem like a departure, you can still see the connection in the chaotic action. Let me tell you, this game is absolute madness. You'll have zombies roaming from all sides, enemy soldiers shooting at you, flying heads and even giant ogres pounding the ground, all while cannons will be raining bombs down on you. There are times when it truly feels like one of those bullet hell shooters. This is the kind of game that dares you to stay alive longer than a minute or two. Thankfully, there are enough checkpoints to keep the game from becoming too frustrating.

That said, make no mistake about it, Heidelberg 1693 is incredibly hard. In that sense, it really does feel like an old school game. The action is unflinching and the bad guys have surprisingly good aim. And yet, the difficulty is also inconsistent. Instead of slowly ramping up the challenge, the game has these massive difficulty spikes that will come out of nowhere. You'll go from breezing through a really easy stage to slamming into a level that will take dozens of tries to get right. And then, just as quickly, we're right back to speeding through sparsely populated areas. You never really knew what you were going to get from one moment to the next.

Part of what makes this game difficult is our hero's lack of moves and abilities. He can climb and double jump, and that's about it. He can't run or dodge or slide or anything else you might find in a more modern Castlevania game. He climbs and double jumps. Considering all we're asked to do in the final few stages, I found myself wishing the musketeer was more agile. Something as simple as a roll or a run move could have made the game a lot easier to play.

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You can't help but get the feeling that a lot of these decisions were deliberate. The developer likely nixed a roll ability because it would make dodging bullets too easy. And the constant difficulty spikes that come out of nowhere? Well, those were probably to keep you on your toes. Even the checkpoints seem designed to screw you over. Instead of coming back with full health, our demon-hunting hero comes back with only one of his three hearts. This means that any damage you take will send the musketeer right back to that checkpoint. Talk about stingy.

While some people will certainly be turned off by the difficulty, I ended up loving it. I was fully invested in the stunning world design and loved seeing the graphics become more and more chaotic the closer to Heidelberg we got. I was also impressed with the compelling cinemas, which are all presented here in a style that reminds me of a 1920s silent film. And then there's the haunting music, the epic boss fights and the incredibly satisfying ending. I could go on, but you should really experience Heidelberg 1693 for yourself.