Hasslevania: The Quest For Shuteye is a 2007 PC action/metroidvania Freeware Game by DXF Games that's something of an Affectionate Parody of the Castlevania series.
It tells the story of Rovert Bellhump, who just bought a nice and cheap house. The problem is that his new neighbor happens to be Dracula and evil is a noisy business. Rovert can't sleep with all those skelecopters flying around, so he decides to invade Drac's castle to tell him to stop, or else he'll call the cops!
While the game is a metroidvania, it plays more like the older Castlevanias, with plenty of platforming, level gimmicks and traps. You can get it here.
A sequel named Hasslevania 2: This Space For Rent began to be developed back in 2007, but went through a severe Development Hell and was eventually cancelled in 2016. The final beta build was made publicly available by the developer. Its story begins right after the original ended: after Hasslevania's explosion, Rovert and a demon named Chris Subdevil escape on a small spaceship and end up crashing on a derelict ship — an accident that fuses Rovert and Chris together. After taking over the place and refurbishing it, the duo must explore a trio of alien planets and fight off the Baron who originally owned their new home.
General tropes:
- Affectionate Parody: Of Castlevania games.
- Armor-Piercing Attack: The Lost Axe is slow but also powerful and is required to beat armored enemies. In the second game it also lowers enemies' defenses.
- Author Avatar: In the first game the author, Del Duio, can be found as a miserable little pile of bones in a certain room. Rovert gets the Blade of Del Duio from him. In the second game, his ghost is a boss.
- Big "WHAT?!": Like Alucard, Rovert sometimes says this.
- Catchphrase: Rovert's "I can do it!".
- Have a Nice Death:
- The game over screen in the first game shows Rovert as a skeleton in hell. In reference to Symphony of the Night, the game over screen has some random silly phrases for flavor.
- In the second game the game over screen features Rovert flying towards heaven, chuckling as Chris falls into a lava lake on hell.
- Healing Checkpoint: The design choice more likely to get complaints in those games is how save points won't heal you at all. In the first game save points do heal you in easy mode, but even then it's only up to half of the HP gauge.
- Hyperactive Metabolism: If Rovert finds a edible item, he'll immediately eat it for HP. A cut comment from Chris lampshades this - Rovert could make better use of his backpack.
- Mythology Gag: Lots about the Castlevania series and a few to Del Duio's earlier works as well.
- Nonindicative Name: No, David Hasslehoff isn't the villain of this series. There are a few references to him, though.
- Randomly Drops: Candles and pots may drop money, keys, hearts or nothing when destroyed. The second game adds random drops for the enemies, too.
- Sdrawkcab Name: Rovert = Trevor backwards.
- Shout-Out: Besides Castlevania, there's shoutouts to Rush, Metal Gear and The Legend of Zelda.
- Super Drowning Skills: Rovert loses HP while underwater unless you have the item that allows him to breath underwater. In the sequel you must wear a space suit instead. What's worse is that he can't jump or swim either.
Tropes found in the first Hasslevania include:
- Artificial Stupidity: When summoned, Chris will sometimes fail to go after enemies even if they're standing by his side.
- Award-Bait Song: "Oh, Rovert!" parodies this kind of songs.
- Big Bad: Dracula.
- Blackout Basement: The final area. The switch to turn the lights on is not too hidden, though.
- The Cameo: Statues of characters from earlier DXF games appear through the castle.
- Easy-Mode Mockery: The easy mode is named "Wussy Schoolgirl", which also locks the good ending. A prior version also didn't provide a normal difficulty level, thus the player needed to pick a challenge mode if they wanted one of the good endings.
- Easter Egg: There is a secret room that is only accessible through the use of a glitch. Near it there is a room where a cutscene will only be available if you go there immediately.
- Expy:
- Alucart, the vampire who runs a casino. Back in Castlevania: SotN, the Alucart items were a set of equipment that granted a luck boost.
- Deaf, a grim reaper who's a comrade of Dracula and a rock star.
- Also Gala Moth, a moth in a gala outfit.
- Floating in a Bubble: A gimmick present in a couple of screens.
- Fragile Speedster: The Blade of Del Duio makes Rovert walk faster, but enemy attacks will be slighty stronger. It's not a big penalty at all (
and only happens when a room is loaded, not after that), and wielding it makes candle grinding less tedious. - Game-Over Man: Rovert in Hell.
- Guide Dang It!: When the game tells you about a draft, it means there is a passage in the ceiling right above you. Version 3 makes it a little easier to notice it.
- Kilroy Was Here: "Del Duio Was Here" is written in some rooms, foreshadowing the character's presence in the game.
- Leap of Faith: The first vertical room (labeled "Water Hall") has steps going down. There's a blind jump downward, unless you have the map, you won't see that you can land on spikes.
- Logo Joke: A rat passes by Del Duio's face. He then screams.
- Mercy Invincibility: About 4 seconds worth.
- Metroidvania
- Monster Compendium: A book with data about the various enemies is hidden in one level. Another book that is about the weapons Rovert can collect can be bought and increases his power a bit.
- Multiple Endings: A bad and a good one. Find Chris and collect most of the items to get the good ending.
- Nintendo Hard: Levels are filled with dangerous traps, save points won't heal you and other healing options are expensive and limited.
- Respawning Enemies: Enemies respawn when you exit and re-enter a room.
- Schmuck Bait: Early in the game, before you even catch sight of a save point, a hint book is visible on a underwater path. If you get it, it tells you Rovert can't jump while underwater, as you die hopelessly.
- Script Breaking: It's possible to defeat Deaf before watching the cutscene where he is supposed to appear for the first time.
- Spikes of Doom: Early versions of the game had a... notable use of spikes. As in, a set of spikes in the path to the shop were unavoidable. By jumping on them and then immediately jumping off, damage could be avoided due to an apparent glitch in collision detection.
- Take That!: Rovert's grandfather complains about how how complicated Castle(vania) exploration has become nowadays.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Dracula escapes after he is defeated.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Rovert's grandfather Simon isn't seen again after he gives his whip to Rovert. In the sequel, Chris assumes he died in the castle's explosion, though he also finds people who inexplicably survived the incident.
- You Shouldn't Know This Already: The random password at the LCD Tower only works if you found all 3 password codebooks. You can't just find two and guess the third.
Tropes seen in Hasslevania 2:
- Fusion Dance: Rovert and Chris get into an accident involving toxic fuel, which fuses them into a purple and fanged Rovert with Chris still conscious on his mind.
- Immediate Sequel: It begins shortly after Rovert and Chris escape to space as Hasslevania self-destructs.
- Not the Fall That Kills You…: Rovert enters each planet by just falling on them from outer space.
- Sudden Downer Ending: The game was intended to have a tragic ending from out of nowhere, with Rovert deciding to get back to Earth but getting shredded by a skelecopter on the way down, while his love interest gives birth to a baby that has more of Chris' features on him than Rovert's.
- Trailers Always Spoil: A trailer makes it noticeable that Rovert's skin is purple because he's fused to Chris.
