A Photo Safari Into Turmoil
HIGH A unique take on the genre. Some unusual locales.
LOW Nasty stuttering often occurs in the late game.
WTF Sharp-eyed explorers will spot a neat Resident Evil Easter egg.
When we experience the death of a loved one, we’re often lost and might not know how to express our grief. For some, life may lose all sense of meaning. We may try like Sam, our young protagonist, to find answers anywhere we can — even if it leads to mysterious locations and danger.
Heartworm is a third-person survival horror set in the 1990s that follows a young woman seeking knowledge about the afterlife. She hears a rumor about a house that may have answers, but no one who’s gone in has ever returned. That’s not going to stop Sam though — but once she’s there, she’s soon trapped in a nightmare based on increasingly-warped locales from her past. In order to survive, she has to solve puzzles and learn more about herself.
Sam is only armed with a 35mm camera, but in this realm, that proves to be one of the most powerful weapons possible. By snapping photos, Sam damages the digital specters, mannequins, spiders, and more that stand in her way. Most enemies can be avoided, thankfully, saving those precious film rolls. However, escape isn’t always possible, as I did have to engage with a couple of enemies (excluding bosses) that would trap me, either by boxing me in or by erecting a circle of stones that would prevent me from fleeing.
When not dealing with combat, each of Heartworm’s three major locales gave a good glimpse into Sam’s past — but more importantly, her psyche. Sam, understandably, is feeling lost after the death of her only remaining family member. She’s also dealing with unresolved childhood trauma, as well as the earlier death of her mother.
While many parts of these areas are common fodder for survival horror — schools, hospitals, childhood homes, etc. — one caught me off-guard. There’s a peaceful and scenic wilderness that seems out-of-place at first, but it was a great change of pace from the tropes we often see in horror. In this particular case, it was fitting, as the seemingly idyllic location held unnerving memories for Sam.
Ultimately Sam’s memories are unclear, so this creates an intriguing idea about how memories are often unreliable narrators, and we sometimes can’t trust ourselves when we tell our own stories.
While piecing this all together, Sam will encounter some satisfying puzzles stashed throughout the nightmarish interpretations of her memories. One required me to run the bases of a baseball diamond to open the way to a pitcher’s mound. Another had me memorize specific words to use at a statue to open the way forward. These puzzles helped break up the exploration in a way that wasn’t simply getting keys, which I appreciated. They also helped fleshed out Sam as a character. The aforementioned baseball puzzle led to Sam discussing her recently-passed grandfather, who was a Little League coach.
While Heartworm‘s premise is good and I was interested in Sam’s journey, there were a number of issues that cropped up for me along the way.
The biggest issue was that a frame-pacing issue marred the late stages of the adventure. At times, Sam would start to jump around, making it look like she was teleporting across locations. This tended to happen when there was a lot happening visually on screen, and it unfortunately extended to the area with the final boss, where it never stopped. This issue was especially bad in later cutscenes, which also caused the video and audio to noticeably desync — sometimes pushing the audio 10-15 seconds ahead of what was happening.
There’s also an issue where the camera can sometimes be zoomed too far out, which made it difficult to see where I was. There was also one point at which I got stuck behind some terrain and couldn’t get back out. I had to reload the game, and lost quite a bit of progress as a result.
Finally — and this is more of a nitpick — but the first area is too slow and goes for far too long. An intro area shouldn’t be a sprawling puzzle hunt while players are trying to learn the game and find their footing. Also, the unlock method for the best ending can be hard to figure out, since backtracking to pick up needed items is impossible after certain points.
All in all, Heartworm is a fascinating look at memories, trauma, and our experiences in dealing with both. The limited combat options meant that the disempowerment of needing to avoid combat when possible helped to serve the feeling of unease. Unfortunately, there are some issues that bring down the experience as a whole, and I wish they would have been fixed before release. Even so, Sam’s quest for meaning in the face of anguish is a relatable one, and that’s where this adventure truly shines.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Buy Heartworm — Steam
Disclosures: This game was developed by Vincent Adinolfi and published by DreadXP. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on PC. Approximately 8 hours was devoted to the game, and it was completed. There is no multiplayer mode.
Parents: This game is not rated by the ESRB. There are comments and memos from Sam throughout the game that imply that she is somewhat suicidal and suffered from childhood trauma in the past. Sam can be killed by various creatures, but blood and gore is nearly non-existent.
Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind options.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: The game offers subtitles. Subtitles cannot be resized. This game is not fully accessible. While closed captioning appears for some scenes, there are times when someone could miss an audio cue, like when an enemy is on the attack. Furthermore, some subtitles could be a bit difficult to read at times.
Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable.
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