Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye
Overview
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Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye From the DXF Games site description: Poor Rovert Bellhump! He has just bought a house on the cheap and the big reason why is because his new neighbors are none other than Count Dracula (tm) and the whole of Castle Hasslevania!! You see, all our hero really wants is peace and quiet. Unfortunately, tonight is the 100th year a certain you-know-who wakes up and starts making big plans for world domination. Since world domination is always very loud and irritating, Rovert decides to go and tell Drac and the gang to knock it off- or else he's calling the cops! But can he survive the dangers of old school challenges in the world of today?
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Technical Mumbo-Jumbo
Graphics, Music, Story, and Code by Dave Fillion of DXF Games, and was made using Multimedia Fusion 1.5. Hasslevania was Developed from Feburary - November of 2007, and had numerous great ideas brought to light from fantastic members of the Symphony of the Night message board on GameFAQs. The original release date of Version 1 was November 21st, 2007.
This is a 137MB freeware game.
Voice Credits
Dave Fillion: Count Dracula, Skelecopter Pilot, Skelevator Operator, Del Duio, Alucart, Chris Subdevil, Ghouly Lee, Alex Deadson, Simon Bellhump, and the Prison Zombies. Also sings the bonus song "Oh Rovert!", which plays during the good ending of the game.
Brad Rogers: Rovert Bellhump, Me Sued Ya, Neil Hurt, and Ninja Bradley- Salesman.
Unca' Reach: Oldie the Ripper.
About
Hasslevania features DXF's first-ever custom platform engine, original graphics and MIDI music. It's an homage / spoof, but will stand alone for anyone who's been living in a cave and has no idea what games like Castlevania, Castlequest, and Wizards and Warriors are. The game plays out a lot like a "Del Duio" version of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Look for cameos of DXF Games' other creations in the game in the form of Hasslevania's statues and other characters.
Hasslevania promotes exploration above all else- there are numerous ways Rovert can achieve his ultimate goal. I tried my best to make multiple paths to obtain the same items, and it's pretty non-linear. There are 6 big bosses and that doesn't include the final showdown with Count Dracula himself. This game is a lot like the old NES Metroid as far as the "Where the heck do I go now?" feelings players might experience from time to time.
The game also has similar bad B-movie voice acting that the recent Castlevanias seem to have in common. You go about the castle finding weapons and other items to help you progress. The pyro "mace" iac can burn thorny passageways. The mighty Blade of Del Duio doubles your run speed but lowers your defenses. There's even a Belmont-type whip that can kill most undead enemies in a single hit! The iron armor protects you from spikes. The shield can deflect arrows, nails, and other projectiles.
There's a little Devil you can find that will follow you and basically destroy anything in its path, but it has a hunger for Rovert's skill hearts and takes them at an alarming rate! It might be worth it to keep him around though, as a big chunk of the comedy is devoted solely to the Devil.
Reception
Overall, reviews for the game were generally positive. Most of the inital gripes from early players focused on the large filesize (brought on by the large amount of voiceovers the game has) and the overall difficulty, especially towards the beginning. There were also complaints that health wasn't restored when you used one of the game's 3 save points (coffins) and there was too much candle "grinding" to get money. Versions 2 and 3 were attempts to allieviate some of these concerns, and a new game mode called "Wussy Schoolgirl" was added which heals players up to 50% of health upon saving. To balance things out, you cannot get the best ending while playing a "Wussy Schoolgirl" game.
The Good Ending
There are 2 endings to Hasslevania. In order to get the "good" ending, which includes an extremely cheesy bonus song and lyric scroll, you need to defeat Count Dracula and escape Hasslevania with a collection percentage of at least 80%. You also must have found and rescued Chris Subdevil. If you're playing in "Wussy Schoolgirl" mode, you can't get the good ending no matter how many things you've collected.
The WTF Zone
The following video shows a secret warp room that is only accessible through a glitch.
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