Heartworm Review
Heartworm. Vincent Adinolfi / DreadXP
Vincent Adinolfi’s Heartworm is a survival horror game in the PS1 era mold, published by DreadXP. That doesn’t just mean fixed camera angles and default tank controls—it extends to the game’s resolution, color bit depth, and UI. The game bears a reverent resemblance to classics of the 1990s, particularly Silent Hill and Resident Evil. Dealing with themes of grief, loss, and memory, the game felt like it must have been deeply personal for its creator and left me with plenty to think about. I’ve been eager to play it since interviewing developers Vincent Adinolfi and Yves Searle at last year’s PAX West.
Heartworm. Vincent Adinolfi / DreadXP
The player is in the shoes of Sam, a young woman who hasn’t been able to get over the loss of her grandfather. She becomes obsessed with finding a way to contact him, and ventures to an abandoned house rumored to be a gateway to the other side. The story from here bears resemblance to Alice in Wonderland—a door in the house leads her to become trapped in the Archive, where she’s forced to face transformed places that bear personal significance.
Heartworm. Vincent Adinolfi / DreadXP
Heartworm is divided into four distinct sections, including the prologue in the abandoned house. The division into sections gives the game a level structure—unusual for survival horror—since you can’t return to a previous area once you exit. Each of these levels is its own puzzle box that Sam will have to solve, and it was satisfying to discover how each level was built as I opened up paths and shortcuts. Like classic survival horror, you’ll run into a lot of locked doors needing specific keys, which you’ll obtain through puzzles. Most puzzles aren’t too challenging because there are ample clues within each level.
Heartworm. Vincent Adinolfi / DreadXP
I opted to play with modern controls rather than the default tank controls, and the game handles walking direction intuitively most of the time between the varied camera angles. I only found one instance with a moving camera where my inputs didn’t match the direction I was trying to move. I’m mixed on the game’s implementation of fixed camera angles. Changes in camera perspective didn’t always make sense scene to scene, and at times I found them unnecessarily disorienting because they undermined my understanding of the geography of the physical spaces. Rather than having a cinematic effect, it sometimes felt like switching to oddly placed security cameras, which I don't think the developer intended.
Combat in the game is limited, and I simply outran enemies for the most part. The only enemies that must be killed are the game’s bosses. Sam’s only tool for survival is an old SLR camera she inherited from her grandfather; taking photos of enemies stuns and eventually kills them, in a nod to Fatal Frame. You switch to an over-the-shoulder view to shoot photos by default, which makes aiming feel far more natural than if the camera didn’t shift, and also serves as a tool to better survey unfamiliar areas. I haven’t pieced together the thematic significance of the camera as a weapon, besides a photo’s connection to memory, but I have some ideas based on a late-game reveal.
Heartworm. Vincent Adinolfi / DreadXP
Heartworm is visually impressive with its fidelity to 1990s games in the genre. It looks like a lost PlayStation game, down to the style of its UI. The only hint of more modern tech was the game’s lighting; whenever you use your camera’s flash to light dark areas, the illumination made it clear that the backgrounds weren’t pre-rendered like Resident Evil and other games of that era. I played the game in a 4:3 aspect ratio for the most authentic experience. Even the music sounded like it came straight from a game in 1996.
Heartworm. Vincent Adinolfi / DreadXP
The game has three endings, which are unlocked based on how many of three optional collectibles you find. I finished the game in around 6 hours with the best ending, though it’s clear that with prior knowledge, it’s possible to finish the game much faster—there’s an achievement for beating it in under an hour. I had a great time with the game. While it might not be the best retro survival horror mechanically, it has far more thematic depth than other recent survival horror throwbacks that I’ve played, which makes it a more interesting experience.
Heartworm is available now on Steam.
Overall Score: 8/10
Played on: Steam Deck
