Headlander Reviews
This game will have its players enjoying the experience from beginning to end with a smile over their faces.
While the game does have a few slight irritations when it comes to its design, Headlander still manages to keep its head on its shoulders (or traveling through space via rocket propulsion) thanks to its eclectic blend of old-school, side-scrolling gameplay and its art direction that sci-fi fans will truly enjoy. Though it shares more similarities with the likes of Metroid, Logan’s Run, and so many of its other influences than it may for something completely new, Double Fine and Adult Swim Games have still managed to make Headlander into an experience that’s funny, delightfully weird, and might just make your head turn.
Headlander proves to be a nice distraction in the midst of the Summer drought season as I enjoyed its humor from start to finish. While its humor helped carry me to the end, the literal disconnect of the character's head from his body turned into a figurative disconnect as its story wasn’t engaging enough. It has some nice Metroidvania moments, although it sputters towards the end to only rely on its color-coded components to keep me out of certain areas, which felt like a cheap way to finish the game.
What starts as a fine homage to Super Metroid and ‘70s style sci-fi ends as a disappointing waste of both story and gameplay potential.
Headlander from Double Fine Productions is a fun, quirky science-fiction Metroidvania game with engaging puzzles, strong exploration elements, and flying heads.
The moment you begin Headlander and see the VHS-style lines show up along with the formation of the old-school title with a blast of colors and a jaunty tune, you know you’re in for something good.
[A]ll told, “Headlander” left me in a mellow state with few regrets over the three days that I spent with it.
Headlander's retrofuturist aesthetic is creative enough to make up for the fact its underlying mechanics are anything but.
Headlander is quite challenging, packed with an effective gameplay, but unfortunately never really addictive or so memorable.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Headlander is a great metroidvania whose retro-future style, humorous story, and tremendous exploration come together in one of the summer’s most complete experiences.
I was immediately struck by how classically “Double Fine” this game’s design is. If you’re not familiar with what I mean, I weep for you, for you have clearly been asleep for the past ten years.
Headlander is a little action, a little puzzle, and a great time overall. At around 10 hours or so, it doesn’t overstay its welcome, and I think it’s perfectly balanced as a game to pick up for an hour of gradual progress after work or school a couple hours a day. It’s well-designed and has a clear purpose in mind.
It's a testament to the excellence of Headlander that it can only be faulted for its slight technical flaws. Everything about it is so finely tuned, from its gunplay to its platforming to its puzzles, and it doesn't just stay true to classic Metroidvanias – it also builds upon the foundations that they laid. The story is well told, the characters are entertaining, the environments are fleshed out, and the humour is as brilliant as always. Headlander's one of the best games that Double Fine has ever produced.
Headlander’s hugely charming, basically, and though it doesn’t run too far with the humour of its concept, it absolutely makes the gimmick work from a play point of view. It’s got more steam in its engine than other recent, similarly high-concept Double Fine endeavours too, working hard to stay vibrant throughout.
Headlander is a perfect storm of thought-provoking sci-fi, biting humor, and pitch-perfect gameplay that comes wrapped in a stylish, affordable package, and is one of this year’s very best.
Headlander is neither Double Fine's best game nor its most ambitious. Yet it's a solid, quirky, funny, and bold experiment in a genre new to the developer.
Headlander doesn't spend all of its time building a monument to Super Metroid, opting instead for a dangerous medley of absurdity that's nevertheless stable and, once you really start to look at it, kind of marvelous in its ability to stand upright and qualify as evidence of meaningful dissent.
It’s not that I think Headlander is a bad game — quite the opposite. It’s just that I want Headlander to realize its potential — to be so much more than what it is.
For a certain nostalgic generation of gamer, it’s hard not to fall in love with Headlander’s retro futuristic stylings and the kind of “what if…” set up that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Terry Nation TV show or a film like Logan’s Run. The combat and and boss fights let it down, but this is an eminently enjoyable twist on the Metroidvania genre.
Headlander is an enjoyable 2D metroidvania that successfully merges the usual wacky style of Double Fine with some straightforward gameplay mechanics.