Fun action/puzzle game, some decent combat challenges and puzzles as well (has 4 levels of difficulty including story mode). Plus, a native Linux port that works really well on the Steam Deck. I've played all the way through (was beta testing) with no problems. I never read the comics before, but they are readable in-game

I'll start this by sayin' I have not read the Girl Genius graphic novels but have enjoyed this game. The gameplay is solid and smooth. Didn't encounter any bugs. The major downside is that there is no voice acting. I think that would brings these characters to life more. Despite that it reminds me of the old days when we had a lot of platformers. Good stuff. The price may be a bit much for some but still a welcomed addition to steam.

Gameplay here: https://youtu.be/h0a2t55KndE

I want to like this game, I really do. I've been reading the comics for many years and enjoy them immensely. This game however:

- The controls are clunky - I find it awkward to move around the world a lot of the time.
- Default gamepad controls are weird - the menu button is more easily accessible than the basic attack
- Difficulty settings seem to have very little effect on the actual difficulty (it seems to just give you more or fewer hearts, but it doesn't change the amount of healing your health potions can give you, meaning that the overall change in carried health is minimal. Enemies do not seem to do any more or less damage or to attack more or less aggressively)
- First boss fight is an absolute difficulty cliff. I died 8(?) times before giving up. Lowering the difficulty did not really help, as noted above.

This is really more of a neutral review than a negative one, or at least that's how I mean it. I've been entertained by my time with this game, which has taken me probably 90% of the way through a 100% playthrough, and I wouldn't be surprised to find myself circling back to it at some point. What tipped me over into a negative review is a combination of two things: first, it's likely to get a lot of positive affect from the kickstarter backers and comic fans coming to give it love, and second, the price. At $15-20, this would be an easy game to recommend. At $30, it's a lot more questionable.

For what it's worth, I am a fan of the webcomic on which it's based, and I don't think this kind of game was really the way to go in terms of adapting that story into the medium of videogames. Including the comics with the game is a cute touch, I guess, but it's really just a gimmick. They hand you the comic issues to scroll through with the arrow keys, more or less (as far as I can tell) the way they were sent to the printers, with less attention to the reading experience than you'd get from your browser's pdf reader. There's no zoom or 1-button page turn, much less stitching together the two-page spreads, and that's something they make a huge deal out of doing on their website. Honestly, I'd rather see whatever amount of effort went into including the comics here go into fixing up the website so the archival read is less of a headache.

Aright that's enough preamble. On to the game itself. This is a 3D action/puzzler that, mechanically, really regrets not being Hob. Let me tell you, this ain't no Hob, and that's not just a matter of tone. In terms of feel, it's got a lot in common with those old Playstation ports you see floating around on steam. I'm thinking specifically of Sphinx, which gives me a lot of the same vibes. Again, it feels a lot like that sort of experience, so it feels like it should have a similar pricepoint. You get the same slight sense of jank, the same overly busy boss animations that nevertheless don't quite read immediately, the same excessively convoluted scheme of upgrades, unlocks, and currencies, and the same vague impression that the game was designed primarily with a controller in mind, rather than keyboard or mouse/keyboard combo.

There are a few quality-of-life features that are just missing for no particular reason. The map is pretty solid, but connections between the two floors and some of the rooms aren't exactly well-marked, and if you try to navigate the map with your movement keys, you'll start scrolling through the list of room names instead of panning around from your current position, like you're back in a Gen 1 Pokemon game. Confusingly, the only methods available for healing up are (1) die, (2) use your potion, or (3) upgrade your max HP. There's no simple way to "just top up", not even by returning to the room that's supposed to be your base. And you only get one "utility" equip (grapple, bomb, or EMP), so there's no way to really have distinct "loadouts", and constantly swapping between the three can get annoying. Finally, a weird little lack of polish: the radial menu used to swap between your utilities has five items - the three I just mentioned, plus your wrench (main weapon) and potion, but those last two have their own always-ready hotkeys, so why are they even there?

All that said, this is genuinely a pretty fun 12-15 hour experience. Movement options are pretty standard for a 3D jumpless platformer, and they work well. The quickbuild constructs are a clever idea, and they make for great lockbox puzzles. The dingbot sections, where you're working with a slightly different set of tools from the same basic palette, are a fun way to break things up. Combat encounters are enough to spice things up, but not a chore to deal with and (critically) can generally be cleared up separate from whatever puzzles you're trying to do, except for those rare cases where a small continuous stream of enemies is a deliberate environmental hazard. And finally, the setting of Girl Genius is a fun world, and one that really vibes with the Teslagrad/WttW folks. Again, I'd like to recommend this game. I just can't in good conscience when it's so clearly lacking polish and charging about twice the price of its peers in content and feel.

$30.00 for a (what was for me at least) 10-hour game is, perhaps, not a price a lot of people are willing to pay. I myself might not have if I wasn't a fan of the comic - I mighta instead waited until (inevitably) it went on sale.

BUT, wanting to support the creators as I did, I sprang for it as soon as I could, and ended up with a very charming puzzle/action game with a delightful old school feel, bringing me back to the days of playing the original tomb raider. There's no obnoxious glut of extraneous mechanics, like a backpack where you collect different herbs and flowers, no 'hunger meter', and no over-abundance of side-quests (The only 'side quests' I really encountered were just finding little secrets and collectibles, if you're an achievement hunter!). It doesn't hold your hand with a target lock button or constant glowing arrows pointing you in the direction of where you need to go if you take longer than ten seconds to progress through a level. But neither is it brutally hard. Instead it's JUST hard enough. If you're the kind of person who's good at video games and is disappointed when you don't find a challenge, definitely crank up the difficulty.

I can only imagine that, were I playing this as a young child or a pre-teen, I'd have a grand time with it, in the same way I was obsessed with 'bugdom' and 'mdk' when they arrived pre-installed on my first iMac. As an adult it filled 10 fun hours for me, and gave me the urge to go back and (once again) re-read the current stock of girl genius archives.

I'm a long time fan of the comic-books, and I also enjoyed playing Teslagrad, so I was very happy when this game was announced. Backing it was a no brainer.

Alas, right now I can't recommend it, it seems to be in a beta state. The controls are really rough, the hitting boxes are sometimes pretty unfair, there's no jump, and that makes the game somehow frustrating. The worse is that after ten hours of play I've bumped into two softlocks. Right now I can only start a new game or wait until the game is in a better condition.

But the lore of the comics is there, the crazy castle, the witty dialogues, the atmosphere. It's a pity the game is still a little broken. I will visit the game again once it's been polished, and I'll gladly update my review.

To get my bias out of the way, my friend played a major role in developing this game, so there was no way I wasn't going to recommend it, do what you will with that information. However, that being said the game has pleasantly surprised me in more ways than one.

Girl Genius: Adventures In Castle Heterodyne is a puzzle action adventure game with a fair share of platforming and that "dungeon crawling" feeling. The game definitely has a bit of a niche style to it, which doesn't really resonate with me personally. Because of this I didn't care too much about the story and lore, but despite that I still had a blast with it through fun and engaging gameplay, and still I can appreciate the sheer amount of lore there is.

Where this game really shines is the atmosphere. I found myself getting lost in beautiful design and wonderful soundtrack several times throughout my adventure, and while I haven't read the source material myself, it seems like there is clear passion for it here. While the game is short and sweet, there is no such thing as an empty room. There is always something interesting to look at / engage with. It also rewards exploration a ton, with plenty of collectibles.

Other cons I have: While I think Agatha's and boss animations are good, I am always put off a bit by the other npcs' walking animations. I can't really tell if they're meant to be walking or running sometimes. I played the demo a couple months ago and felt like I got a rough idea of the amount of content in the game, and it ended up being more expensive than I had anticipated, leading me to believe there might be more than I had initially thought. Needless to say, after finishing the game, I can say that there was not more content than I had thought, however I ended up having more fun with it than I had thought in turn, so is this a con or not? idk, take it how you will. I think the game would also elevate greatly from voice acting, but obviously, voice acting is hella expensive so I could never fault an indie game developer for not incorporating that.

Regardless I do recommend it. The game isn't overly complicated and great fun all the way through. Quality over quantity at last.

So far, so fun. The humor and atmosphere is on point for the Girl Genius brand. On first login, I received the following quote: "If hitting it once does nothing, keep hitting it! Those people calling you crazy simply lack your tenacity!". Which is both funny and actual in-game advise!

The lack of jumping and the clunky stamina/run mechanic is slightly off-putting, but beyond that, I'm having fun so far.

Well made Gamecube/Playstation era game, saturated with fanservice for people who've read the comic -- you can even unlock the comics books for use in the reading balcony.

Decent puzzle game. Fighting mechanics were a bit frustrating; Zola has this thrust she does with a delayed and long lasting hitbox that is pretty tricky to dodge. Very steep difficulty curve on the fights right at the end. Remember, not all games need a final bossfight. I think this would've done better to have a really hard puzzle at the end.