A big pile of games to review, and wanting to play with my new Retroid Nova and CRKD Neo S on Clone Hero and YARG is my own little hell. Coincidentally, that’s the name of today’s game!
My predicament is hardly a hell, but being stuck in your own thoughts and not remembering who you are definitely is one. We’re all slaves to our thoughts, but at least we aren’t murderers.
Wow, that got dark quick, and that’s because My Little Hell is a dark game – figuratively and literally. Awakening in a darkened space, none other than THE DEVIL is telling you to kill, and also to off yourself! This should come with a warning.
Actually, it does. At the start, there is a very prominent epilepsy consideration due to ‘certain light patterns and flashing lights’. The visuals are an acquired taste, though it’s my ears that suffered the most.
Remembering To Use A Keyboard
My Little Hell’s early warning lingered longer than it should, mostly because of the need to press ‘E’. Playing on a handheld was clearly not an option with having to bring up a virtual keyboard, so I waited until I got a chance to play on the computer.
Though delaying the start of the review a bit, the actual runtime is under an hour. Without any key binding options (unless you want to faff with your Steam Deck), it’s best to play on a keyboard, as E features a lot.
Once it started, and the Devil said his bit, I learned to retrace my steps, starting with my dog. Oh God, do I have to kill it!?! Fortunately not. Worse though: I have to follow some bloody steps and wait for them to appear in the pitch black.
Objects come and go, accompanied by a burning film cell-like transition – which is really cool. Those objects will melt in front of you, artefacts will clip intentionally, as well as new structures popping up.
Unlucky For Some
The gist is a mass murder scene of 13 people, and My Little Hell will feed you titbits to give some closure. This will be in the form of notes or newspaper headlines, the Devil and some weirdo named Ed.
Your fella, Creep, will be transported back and forth to the scenes of the crime, some spots to work out some small puzzles, and the hub, which is that blackness with a pool of pixelated blood in the centre.
From a first-person perspective, you will explore the areas and look for clues, interacting with those notes and the odd item here and there. It’s all self-explanatory, and the core experience is unravelling what happened and your role in this.
Admittedly, I got quite bored walking around, and what irked me the most was the clipped sound, which was quite aggressive and out of place; the use of language with its fuckity-fuck dialogue, which sounded unnatural, and there not being too much to do.
We Come To A Grisly End
To counter it, I really liked the visual style and the concept. It’s very experimental and drafted to be a psychological trip – which it is – and that bit was interesting.
I’m not looking for realism and highlighting errors as a hobby, yet the dialogue and later interaction were a letdown for me in that it was very unnatural and somewhat rushed. The dialogue could be something lost in translation, however.
From what I can surmise, there are no alternative endings, so once you’ve finished the story, that’s pretty much it. My Little Hell wasn’t as torturous as it could have been, yet a game that awards an achievement for a jump scare then does the jump scare was just irritating and unnecessary.
A short, atmospheric experiment that handles the mood but stumbles on execution. Quirky visuals can’t carry clipped audio and rushed dialogue through its brief runtime.
PROS
- Interesting psychological concept
- A quick play respects your time
- Cool, experimental visuals
CONS
- Audio is dull, then equally aggressive
- The dialogue can be jarring and unnatural
- No replay value
My Little Hell is a stylish trip that may put you through Hell, but only briefly.
