Welcome to Little Vale. Oh, don't pay attention to the title. There's nothing wrong here at all.
Helltown is an indie first-person horror game made by WildArts.
In the year 1959, you play as a postman who just got a job in the brand-new residential development named "Little Vale", a peaceful and idyllic town with nice people. Or so it seems, even when the sun is shining and the birds are chirping, the town is shrouded in mystery and as you spend time there you discover that there is something far more to this town than it appears. Something... unnatural is afoot.
Talk to the townspeople and explore the game's many locations, to unravel the truth behind it all. Will you be able to escape or be trapped in... Helltown?
Here's the official trailer
and it's available on Steam and Itch.io, here and here respectively.
It's a somewhat short but very involved game so beware of spoilers!
This game contains examples of:
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: Finding a bone behind some rocks and bringing it to the dog will make them playable once you get to the "The Spider and The Fly" chapter. They play very differently from the Postman, from having to play in a third person view instead of first-person, to following the scent trail of their master and also having a bark attack to defend themselves.
- Atop a Mountain of Corpses: A variant. When finally meeting up with Lilith, you have to walk through a body of water using the bodies of the townsfolk as steppingstones.
- Blood-Stained Letter: Or rather, package. The Postman delivers an eerily stained package to Laura.
- The Corrupter: Lilith, who manipulated the Pastor into establishing a cult worshipping "The Ancient/Dark Ones" as a means of acquiring human sacrifices.
- Crystal Prison: The dog's master is kept inside a huge crystal when you find him. Using the dog's bark attack, it shatters the crystal and allows the homeless man and his canine companion to escape.
- Evil Overlooker: The Pastor is seen with a wicked smile on the cover art.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Lilith was once a nun in exile because she lost her faith in what she believed to be a false god. Over time, "The Ancient/Dark Ones" not only gifted with knowledge and castle to call her own, but she slipped into cannibalism when she killed and consumed the flesh of a child who unwittingly stumbled upon her cabin. From there, she gave her soul to "The Ancient/Dark Ones" and sought out sacrifices for the beings, even manipulating the Pastor to do so.
- Heroic Dog: Naturally when you enter the route of playing as the dog. He is worried about his master and goes on a quest to try and find him, then subsequently saving him from his Crystal Prison and escaping.
- Human Sacrifice: "The Ancient/Dark Ones" require human sacrifices to become more powerful.
- Multiple Endings: There are four ways the game can end, and all are rather different at that too.
- Ending 1: The Postman, after navigating through Helltown, enters the church to find a congregation and the pastor, where the pastor makes clear the inevitability of the coming of "The Ancient/Dark Ones" before a monstrous creature emerges from him.
- Ending 2: After reading Lilith's journal in her cabin, the Postman wakes up in an empty Little Vale and makes his departure from the town without hindrance.
- Ending 3: After jumping into the well to find himself in Lilith's castle, the Postman traverses through the castle to encounter Lilith herself and surrenders to her will.
- Ending 4: The dog is transported into Helltown, navigates the grounds to find their owner, the Homeless Man, frees him from the Crystal Prison and they escape together.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The demon who created the cult along with the Pastor is called "Lilith".
- Ominous Fog: On the second day in Little Vale, the town is nearly enveloped in a fog.
- Poison Is Evil: Remember the peculiar herbs smelling of wildberries the Postman delivered to Rachel, which she plans to use to make a "special tea" for her neighbors? It's actually poison used to kill the cult followers as human sacrifices to "The Ancient/Dark Ones".
- Retraux: The game has low-poly PSX graphics although in the ending where the Postman meets Lilith, they are sent to a realm that uses the Unreal Engine's impressive graphics to really show how strange, surreal and otherworldly her realm is.
- Rule of Three: To progress through the story, the Postman makes three deliveries on the first day, makes three deliveries on the second day, has to collect three keys to get out of the graveyard, and collect three symbols to get inside the church.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The Postman attempts to flee to his van after successfully escaping the cemetery, meaning to leave Little Vale for good. He doesn't get far.
- Shout-Out: The hotel's floor carpets look very similar to the one's found in the Overlook Hotel.
- Sinister Minister: The Pastor already has a vibe of unease around him. Then later on we find out that he leads a cult dedicated to worshipping "The Ancient/Dark Ones" and sacrifices people to them, also killing anyone who does not want to worship them.
- Sole Survivor: Depending on which endings you get, it's either the Postman or the Homeless man and his trusty dog that survives the events of the game.
- This Bear Was Framed: An officer and detective investigating Little Vale come to the conclusion that the Pastor and the Postman were killed by a bear. Though, it's suggested the investigators think there's something else going on entirely...
- Thwarted Escape: The Postman doesn't get to reach his van and escape town when lightning strikes by him, knocking him out cold.
- Town with a Dark Secret: Little Vale seems like a peaceful town on the surface. But it is actually run by a cult that worships the "Ancient/Dark Ones" and sacrifice people to them.
