When I first found out I’d be playing and reviewing a game called Henry Halfhead, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was pretty sure the game would be silly and light-hearted, and while that’s definitely the case it’s also more than that. Don’t like the daftness of its half headed protagonist fool you, Henry’s adventures are full of as much heart as they are laughs.
The game opens with Henry lying in his crib as a baby, tucked up for the night but not ready to sleep. With mischief on the mind you’ll have to escape the sleepy cage and go and play to please our hero, and while for most babies this would be tricky it’s nothing for Henry. This is because as well as existing as half a head Henry can also possess objects, and no I have no idea why this is the case.
Pretty much every single object you encounter in Henry Halfhead can be possessed, and you can happily wander around as all sorts of toy blocks, pencils and chairs. Some items have special abilities you can use when you possess them, like drawing as a crayon or pressing the buttons on a TV remote. In the small sandbox levels of Henry Halfhead you’re encouraged to mess about and cause as much chaos as you want as different items, but there are also main objectives to complete too.
Each level of Henry Halfhead will give you a selection of tasks to work your way through, be it stacking blocks to a particular height or cooking some delicious spaghetti Bolognese. The objectives are all nice and varied, but generally boil down to possessing a few objects and having them interact with each other. No matter what you’re doing though you’ll also have the witty narrator commentating on your every move. The writing of the only speaking character in the game is fantastic, and genuinely got a few chuckles out of me as I played.
While you start as a wee baby in the first stage of Henry Halfhead, you’ll progress through Henry’s life as you possess your way through the game. Baby Henry just wants to have fun, whereas child Henry has to work hard at school even if he’d rather dick around. Once you reach the life of adult Henry the game takes a bit of a turn, because a dead end job and limited free time is making Henry miserable. I wasn’t expecting to feel a connection to one of the daftest video game protagonists I’d ever played as, but as the game progressed I almost shed a tear for the half a head.
It only took me around a couple of hours to reach the credits in Henry Halfhead, but there are a lot of extra goals to aim towards if you want to play more. Each stage features a jigsaw to complete, which will require you to find and assemble a whole host of hidden pieces you’ll find in drawers, cupboards and under beds. There are other silly tasks to complete too that’ll unlock various achievements, and while this won’t necessarily appeal to everyone I must admit I enjoyed aiming for high scores in block stacking and looking for the fabled hidden rubber ducky.
Henry Halfhead is a silly and charming game, but it has a few things that prevent it from being an instant recommendation. For me one of these issues was how the stages appear, because instead of being set in actual rooms they’re sort of presented in a bizarre and oddly clinical white abyss. It’d also be fair to say that there isn’t really much to the game. You won’t ever really be challenged, or even have to engage your brain. If you look in every location and check your objectives you’ll always progress, and I found myself longing for just a touch more engagement.
Henry Halfhead is a bizarre video game with a surprising amount of heart, and once I began playing through the life of its somewhat stunted protagonist I couldn’t stop. Whether you’re looking for silly chaotic gameplay or a humorous and heartfelt storytelling, Henry Halfhead likely won’t disappoint you.