Helix: Descent N Ascent sounds like it should be a mascot platformer starring a jaunty DNA molecule with floating Rayman hands, whose special power is making stuff go up and down. Up and down the evolutionary ladder, even! A platform game in which you can evolve and devolve your character at will, to solve different puzzles? Good lord, we’ll make one million dollars out of this! Somebody get me the CEO of Midway.
Alas for my career prospects, Midway is no more. And Helix is not a mascot platformer, probably to its benefit. As revealed by the new Steam demo, it’s a slow and atmospheric puzzler in which you investigate a fallen civilisation, while chasing your doppelganger. You being a lanky Area-51-looking lad, who acquires paranormal powers and must weave them into solutions for terrain puzzles of the Pressure Plate N Lever variety.
It all takes place in a monochrome world of scraped and sinuous thorns, pipes and spiral shells, whose touchstones span “1980s black-and-white indie comics, 1990s manga, and 1970s Franco-Belgian comics”. Do not strain your entorhinal cortex attempting to visualise these entangled references. Check out the trailer instead.
Watch on YouTube
This is certainly far too swankypoo for Midway – immortal creators of Ed, Edd n Eddy: The Mis-Edventures, to say nothing of Jackie Chan Stuntmaster – but some of your powers do probably qualify as telekinesis, which means that Helix can be mentioned in the same breath as Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy without starting a pub brawl (I patronise a very specific kind of pub). The first power you get lets you conjure blocks and shove them around. Then you get the ability to fly a little explodable drone that resembles your head. There are games within the game, including an eerie little tribute to Donkey Kong.
The screenshots may suggest artists doodling at random, but those single screen rooms join up into a larger maze that has definite mystique, reminding me of Amanita’s creations here and there. The puzzles aren’t that brain-fizzing so far, but the Steam page suggests that things will escalate. “Play in 25 distinctive ways, jumping between 3 levels of complexity while you explore the barren lands of Helix.” The full game is out later this year.
