Heroki (Switch) Review

Game: Heroki
System: Nintendo Switch
Developer: Picomy
Publisher: Sega
Age Rating: 7+ (in EU) | E (in US)
Price: £8.99 | €9.99 | $9.99
Release Date: July 20th on Switch e-shop
(The game is also available on iOS)

Review Code kindly provided by Picomy

You can do it Heroki!

High in the sky among the clouds, is a beautiful village called Levantia. It is the home of our little propeller headed boy Heroki; he has now reached the age to start his training with master Kundo to become a royal skyguard (Congratulations Heroki!).

The peaceful time in Levantia doesn’t continue for much longer, as the evil Dr N Forchin and Vapor steal the Emerix; a valued treasure from long ago that has kept Levantia safe and prosperous.

Levantia’s King and Heroki come up with a plan for Heroki to retrieve the Emerix alone, as an army would be expected by Dr N Forchin. First however, Heroki will need to collect Emirals from across the world and learn special powers to help him succeed.

Gameplay & Controls

Heroki traverses through maze like levels activating switches and buttons to progress, avoiding hazardous environments and battling hostile animals while collecting Emirals, Orpis (Levantia’s currency), letters and treasure – although the dangers aren’t overly difficult to avoid or defeat, they can catch you by surprise if you aren’t careful.

Lives are thankfully easy to obtain if the player is finding a part tricky; they can be bought or found during levels and can appear as bonus items at the end of a level. The maximum is 99 and if you try and buy lives while you have 99 then you are pretty much just throwing Orpis at the shop keeper – which is generous of Heroki but benefits absolutely no one, the shop keeper will not inform you that you cannot hold any more lives and will happily take Heroki’s Orpis until he is Orpi-less (a shop keeper that takes advantage or just an over sight by the developers? We may never know :P).

Collecting, powering up and finding hidden secrets!

The Emirals are the most important to collect from the levels as they are required to progress through the game. However, there are 120 of them in total and (if I am remembering correctly) only 70 are needed to get to the end of the game – so it isn’t necessary to collect them all.

There are power ups that can be purchased in Levantia to help Heroki in his quest; the most useful power ups were food and shields. This is where I felt the game fell short, it would of been nice if there were parts of certain levels which required the player to use a specific power up to access an extra area of some sort; granted two levels require the TNT to get to bonus lives, but that’s the extent of utilising a power up to access another area (a shame really).

There are a few puzzle-ish moments but not a lot, the game is more about traversing through the levels, finding hidden areas and collecting as you go; with retrieving the Emerix being the ultimate goal.

No touching! (unless it’s a menu)

Although Heroki was originally made for the touchscreens that iOS devices have, the Switch version only uses the touch screen for navigating through the menus. The joy con controls work brilliantly though, the only slight issue I had; using the wind to push an orb through pipes. Using the analog stick didn’t feel intuitive and precise enough; felt like the touch screen would of helped a lot with that part – I think touch screen controls as an alternative control method for all the game would of been a nice option.

Graphics, Designs & Soundtrack

The graphic style is cute, vibrant and full of charm; the creators have done brilliantly with the designs of everything and with making the world feel alive.

The characters each have their own personalities and roles; most are found in Levantia and either play mini games with you for Orpis, or sell items to you to help you on your adventure (aren’t they kind). Vapor will also appear during certain levels to try and slow down your progress in retrieving the Emerix (naughty Vapor).

The levels look great and have enough variation to keep them interesting, while the backgrounds have just the right amount of scenery, depth and movement to make the world come alive. It’s all in side view but they have done a great job in creating a convincing world.

The soundtrack captured the feeling of the levels perfectly for me. There were some funky sounding tracks that really added to the lighthearted happy tone of the game and gave it that extra layer of fun.

When Heroki is under water the sound would alter to add to the feeling of being submerged in water – it’s these little details that make the game that extra bit more engaging and enjoyable.

Additional Comments

There were a number of moments in the game that made me smile;  they were mostly down to Heroki but also some of the dialogue too  – it’s always good to have a game that can make you smile :D.

It took me around 10 hours to play through all the levels and collect all the Emirals, letters and treasures in the levels as well as buy everything from the shop; so for me it did live up to the 10+ hours of gameplay mentioned on the official Nintendo pages for Heroki on Switch.

Overall Opinion

I really enjoyed Heroki and had great fun playing through the game, love the graphic style as well as Heroki as a character – He’s so cheery while he flies around and he is so relaxed and carefree that he just lets his arms sway back and for like a rag doll; don’t really know another character that does that but it suits him and is yet another little detail that adds to the overall feel of the game.

I found Heroki quite relaxing to play, it’s not a game packed with action and danger or filled with puzzles; it has a pinch of each, mixed with exploration, hidden areas and collectibles to keep it interesting. Heroki is a rather laid back game, it has a few little challenges here and there but it’s not overly difficult – It reminds me of Nintendo’s Kirby in some ways; pretty straight forward but not too easy, it’s cute, fun and colourful with a cheery main character to keep the positivity flowing throughout.

I do believe however that there could of been more to the game; a certain character could of been utilised and involved more, although he was intriguing at the end – so a DLC or a sequel would be brilliant – I feel that there is some untapped potential with Heroki and if the creators make a sequel; I really hope they make it with a console (like the Switch) in mind and not for the mobile gaming  market.

Would I recommend Heroki?

Heroki is a great game, if you are looking for something laid back, fun, cute and light hearted, with plenty to find and collect; I highly recommend it!

I like it a lot!

Game Trailer

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