Little Hellions (Game)

Little Hellions

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A two to four player deathmatch game where players can't attack directly. Instead, players must utilize the ability to swap locations in tandem with level based deathtraps in order to achieve victory.

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Overview

Little Hellions is a local multiplayer game in which up to four players eliminate each other via level based deathtraps. To do so, players must utilize the game's central mechanic; the ability to swap locations with each other at any time, often to disastrous effect.

Little Hellions has been in development since 2015 by Canadian development company, Schadenfreude (Company). It has been shown publicly at trade shows and conventions, and has hosted two 'Alpha Tournaments' via Salt Mines, an Alberta regional gaming event. Development of the game has been streamed regularly since 2020 via Schadenfreude's Twitch channel, hosted by Jace Boechler (the solo developer behind Schadenfreude and the game).

Gameplay

Overview

A standard two player versus match.

Players select from eight available Hellions (a purely aesthetic choice), four of which must be unlocked. Each player is assigned a color and symbol; player one is represented as a red heart, two as a blue spade, three as a yellow club, and four as green diamond. Upon selecting their Hellion, players may advance into one of the game's three primary modes.

Regardless of the mode, the primary player action is called hexing. A hex can be used at almost any time and allows a player to select another to trade locations with (after a short charge time). Upon executing a hex, momentum is transferred from the instigating player to the target player, allowing characters to be catapulted into hazards without making physical contact.

Other player actions include:

Warding – A shield similar in execution to Super Smash Bros.'. Wards break after blocking a single hazard, temporarily going on cooldown. They also block incoming hexes, resulting in a parry that paralyzes the aggressor for a time.
Jumping – A standard jump action. Landing on another player's head sends them into a momentary tumble, while propelling the other upward.
Eating / spitting candy – The equivalent of picking up and throwing items in other games.

Upon colliding with a hazard, players are ghosted. Ghosts can perform the same actions as living players, even hexes, but cannot win rounds in versus mode or advance through doors in coop mode. They can however be revived by ghosting a living player. Other states players can find themselves in include:

Tumbling – A compromised state caused by being hexed, bounced off of, or hit by a hazard while in ghost form. Controls become slippery and most actions aren't available while tumbling. Landing on the ground and pushing in the opposing direction of the tumble makes for a faster recovery.
Paralysis – A more severe version of a tumble where players can't control their character at all, caused by being on the receiving end of a parry or having a ward pop by over using it within a short period of time.

Each stage of the game follows a non-scrolling single screen format (not dissimilar to TowerFall (Game) or Samurai Gunn (Game)) featuring a unique and often manipulatable trap. Traps can be giant moving walls of buzz saws, geysers of lava, exploding basketball hoops and so on. Learning how each trap works is an important step in mastery due to the particular timing of hexes.

Game mode: Versus

Versus mode is the primary mode of play, in which players compete to be the last one standing. A game of versus mode is broken into a series of rounds, each ending when all players except for one have been ghosted. The surviving player is awarded with a point, after which player locations are reset, everyone is revived, and the next round begins. The game ends when one player receives a set amount of points. Rounds resolves as a tie if all players are ghosted at the same time. Rounds usually last between a 30 to 15 seconds on average.

The options for versus mode include:

Stage – The stage the game will take place in. Each stage belongs to one of 4 themed worlds.
Score – The amount of points required to win the game.
Time – Whether or not there is a round timer, and how long it may be. When the timer ends, Reaps appears and ghosts any player he comes in contact with.
Candy – Whether or not candies (items) will spawn, and how many of them spawn at a time.
Teams – Team play setting. Either free-for-all, 2-on-2, or 3-on-1.

Game mode: Coop

The game's secondary mode were players work together to complete challenge levels; testing their mastery of the hex mechanic. Each coop stage comes with a primary object and three side objectives. Completing the primary objective opens the exit door to complete the level. Meanwhile, completing side objectives earns torment, which is required to unlock later levels.

Coop mode features four worlds, each ending with a boss, culminating with a fifth and final boss. The first four bosses unlock secret characters, with the final unlocking masochist difficulty.

Game mode: Tutorial

A mode for new players to wrap their head around the game's mechanics. The tutorial is broken into a series of lessons that can be completed in a minute or so and can be played with multiple players like the rest of the game.

Soundtrack

Cover art for Lucy's playlist.

Little Hellion's soundtrack consists entirely of licensed tracks, a somewhat unique feature for an indie title. Currently the game features two bands: Canadian heavy metal band, Striker, and another that has yet to be publicly announced. Hints towards the second band have been made via Little Hellions themed Spotify playlists, released on Schadenfreude's discord server. As of now, the game currently contains 12 licensed tracks.

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