The Henry Stickmin Collection (Overview)
Welcome one and all to another review on Hope for Gaming! It's been some time. Long story short I gave up doing reviews, but my passion was reignited so this time I'm going to try a little harder and write gaming reviews again. I'm back baby!
This time around we got a small, and awesome game made by PuffballsUnited and developed by InnerSloth. It started out as a small flash game on Newgrounds but slowly turned into a series of wonderfully animated flash games and that was turned into one single collection which is what you see here. This game is the final-HD collection, with higher quality and redone animations as well as a series of resolutions that wrap up the whole series.
It's a game filled with passion and references that is worth checking out, but if you need more convincing. I'll be happy more than happy to share the details of the greatest collection known to stick mankind.
Story and Characters
The game is about a stick man named Henry Stickmin and his various whacky adventures. Not much is really know about Henry Stickmin other than that he is a thief and somehow has access to inventions and powers and abilities that will help him to succeed or lead to an epic fail (more on this later).
You follow Henry Stickmin's story as we watch on how he steals a diamond, escape from jail, infiltrate an airship, and flee a compound. You actually have choices in the story which lead to 100 different endings.
Gameplay and Features
The game is a choose your own adventure based game. All you really do is click on choices and see where you end up. The charm of the game however is the failures. No matter what you choose, you will either fail or succeed and each of those choices is just so fun to see play out. It's almost impossible to describe any of them without spoiling them, but just know that they are really fun to see play out.
If you played the previous flash versions. You'll find that the interface and options have been updated here allowing for easy access to fails, and choices in the game.
There are also hidden easter eggs throughout the game to look for. There are so many references hidden in the game. All referencing games, anime, and other fandoms such as Advance Wars, Ace Attorney, Fire Emblem, Undertale, Dragon Ball, JoJo, Avatar, and so much more. Seriously, the amount of references in the game is staggering and each is a delight to see.
Art and Music
(Full OST. Video uploaded by MetaSpyR here is the original link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8VBygwLMR0)
The art is perhaps the best thing about the game besides the story and references. Ironic since it's just a bunch of stick figures. Apparently stick figure animation was really popular back then and I can see why. The art is so simple and yet the animator does an amazing making the most simple of scenes absolutely charming. Perhaps it's nostalgic or maybe you can sense the passion the animator puts in the scenes. Either way, it shows you can do amazing things with the most simple of actions.
On another note, the music is a delightful listen. Each episode has it's own soundtrack and each matches the mood and scenery to a tea.
Conclusion
If you the money, time to spare, and are looking for a whacky good time then I highly recommend the Henry Stickmin Collection which is available now on PC for $14.99 https://store.steampowered.com/app/1089980/The_Henry_Stickmin_Collection/)
