Henry Halfhead – Review

You've got half a head, but is this game a complete experience?

If someone had told me I'd be playing a game where the protagonist is just half a head, I'd probably have shrugged and said, "Yeah, sure, and what's next, a game where you're a wheel of cheese?". And yet, here we are. Henry Halfhead exists, you can buy it on Steam, and it's the kind of game that has you asking yourself existential questions. Not about life or death, but about what it would be like to be a frying pan, a flower or a vacuum cleaner. Yes, it really is that wacky.

Beneath the apparent silliness of the premise, at least in the playthrough I committed to, there's plenty of room to interpret what the game is really trying to say. It's easy to see that this isn't just a physical world where you can turn into anything around you. The game touches on a handful of complex themes and recurring perspectives that you can recognise from real life. I don't think I'm overstating it when I urge anyone interested in Henry Halfhead to look past what's on screen and spend a little time on the introspection the game seems to recommend to its audience.

What was it the Latin poet Horace said? Carpe diem? Maybe he knew what he was talking about, even though he had no laptop, no games and certainly no running water…

A world where any object can be…

Henry is a minimalist character, reduced to half a head, but with powers Doctor Strange would envy: he can "move" from one object into another. The gameplay is built around exactly that. One minute you're a mug bringing coffee to the table, five seconds later you've turned into a radio blasting music, and then you decide it's time to become the broom in the corner and do a bit of cleaning. It's all chaotic, but it has a logic of its own, and every object has unique properties and ways of being used.

That's where the beauty of the game lies: freedom. You're not stuck in a linear script but in a toy box where the only rule is to see how much you can experiment. It isn't a pure sandbox, though. There are objectives to reach, puzzles to solve and a story that ties the whole experience together. Henry passes through the stages of life – childhood, adolescence, adulthood – and each one shows how play can survive even when the world tries to shove routine down your throat, and how life itself is more colourful when you look at whatever comes your way with an optimistic eye.

The story of the half-head that refuses to be boring

At its core, Henry Halfhead is also a small metaphor for life. As a child, Henry discovers the world with curiosity: every object is new, every experience an adventure. Later, school and grown-up responsibilities try to clip his wings, but his knack for turning any mundane object into a source of fun shows that imagination doesn't have to disappear.

It might sound profound for a game in which you spend your time trying to be a chair or a frying pan, but the message is there, and you feel it between the jokes and the absurdity. It's the kind of game that makes you laugh while quietly reminding you to stay curious and never forget to play, whatever your age. The message is a sincere one, and an important one too, for a world that increasingly struggles with depression, worry, stress and a glaring lack of motivation.

Co-op: double the chaos, double the laughs

If it all seems funny enough in single-player, just wait until local co-op comes into play and things spiral completely out of control. Here Henry is no longer just half a head but two halves, competing or cooperating to make the world even more chaotic. I tried it with my partner and we came up with combinations like "I'm the slice of bread, you're the toaster" or "you're the umbrella, I'm the cloud". Predictably, it all ends in fits of laughter, objects flung about at random and puzzles solved more by accident than by design.

It's the sort of experience that recalls the couch co-op of old, when you sat with friends in front of the TV and it didn't matter who won, only who laughed loudest. The one catch is that there's no online multiplayer, but that somehow makes it feel more authentic: it's a game meant to be shared with someone sitting right next to you. For me, it was the perfect excuse to spend some quality time with my wife, a devoted fan of this type of game.

A storybook atmosphere with an absurd twist

Visually, Henry Halfhead won't make your graphics card break a sweat, but it doesn't need to. Everything is drawn in a simple, warm style, with friendly colours and an atmosphere that feels lifted from children's picture books. Only here, instead of reading a story about princesses and castles, you're living an adventure in which you become a toilet bowl and are genuinely delighted about it.

The narrator adds another layer of humour, commenting now and then on what you're doing and guiding you through the levels. He's neither sarcastic nor scolding when you mess about; if anything, he nudges you to keep playing, even if that means turning half the room upside down.

It's a quality game that prizes concepts and ideas over the superficiality of a flawlessly polished look with no meaning or substance behind it.

Why play it?

Henry Halfhead isn't for anyone after pure adrenaline or serious competition. It's not a shooter, it's not a hardcore RPG, and it's not a classic puzzle game either. It's a blend of play, experimentation and absurd humour: the kind of game that puts a wide grin on your face while quietly making a point about how important it is not to lose your inner child.

There are a few small imperfections. Some puzzles are harder to figure out, and some objects don't behave quite the way you'd expect. But honestly, that hardly matters. All the charm is in trial and error, in stumbling on unexpected combinations and in the laughter that inevitably follows. My player two and I finished the game in about two and a half hours, which is short, but time that was absolutely well spent.

So, with half a head you really can have a whole lot of fun

Henry Halfhead is one of those games that doesn't take itself too seriously yet manages to say something important in a relaxed way. It's short, chaotic and packed with wacky ideas, and that's precisely what makes it memorable. Whether you play it solo to poke into every corner of the room or with a friend to double the chaos, you'll find that sometimes half a head is all it takes to have a whole lot of fun. What are you waiting for? Go be yourself, or any other object you find in the game, and GAME ON!

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