Helvetii was provided to use for review by Team KwaKwa and Red Art Games. Thank you!
Helvetii is a 2D side-scrolling action game that takes place in Celtic mythology. As one of 3 distinct characters, you will master the art of pummeling, juggling, and slamming your enemies as you make your way through beautifully presented levels. Buy items to enhance your skills, use cores to augment your skills throughout all your runs, and make pacts with the gods to unlock devastating abilities to go along with your core moveset. Will you be able to conquer your enemies?
Helvetii is a small game developed by Team KwaKwa that brought out a love I haven’t felt in awhile for side-scrolling combat games. It reminded me of all the good times I had playing Dragon’s Crown on my PS Vita, which I still love to this day. The art is gorgeous and with the promise of post-launch support, I would absolutely consider this a worthwhile game to purchase. Oh, how does it run on the Steam Deck you ask? Well…
Helvetii: Best on Deck
Without a doubt, Helvetii runs near perfectly on the Steam Deck. I didn’t need to change a thing and the game would run at under 8W drain at a native 1280×800 resolution. On top of that, the game has a native Linux build, which is always a pleasure to see!
The one issue I have, and it is a small one, is controller command popups. Instead of it showing ABXY, it shows 1234, which can be confusing. For those playing though:
1 (Jump) = A
2 (Projectiles) = B
3 (Attack) = X
4 (Special) = Y
This isn’t a deal breaker though and can be played perfectly fine through the game.
I did have some issues when starting up and trying to play the game yesterday when I first wanted to release this review though. For whatever reason, the game would stick at a blank white screen and not allow any gamepad input to trigger the menu. As of today, this is no longer happening, but since it did happen before, I wanted to make note of it.
Conclusion
Helvetii is an awesome game that I feel so lucky to have gotten the chance to play and review it here. It brought back those awesome memories of other games I played, while displaying a gorgeous visual presentation that captures my attention. With post-launch support confirmed, as well as it being perfect to play on the Steam Deck, this is a game you won’t want to miss!
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