Hero of Many is an independent video game developed by Trickster Arts. It is an Action-adventure game for Android, iOS, Ouya and Windows. The Windows version was released on Steam on 15 September 2014. The game contains no dialogues and uses black silhouette graphics similar to Limbo. Hero of Many is inspired by the games Another World, Heart of Darkness and Abe's Oddysee.
Gameplay
Player takes role of a white-colored ball-shaped creature. The creature went to an underwater cave in which he can meet fishes. There are two groups of them. White ones are friends to the player and accompany him as he get near them. Black ones are enemies and attacks him and his companions. The player can send white fishes that follow him against the black ones. The glowing of player's character serves as the health indicator. It can be replenished by lights that can be found scattered across the level. There are also crystals that serve as checkpoints.
The game contains 26 levels. The goal of the game is to reach the end of the level. There are 4 worlds – Grey, Red, Green and Blue. There are also multiple puzzles, mini games and boss fights. There are also present multiple traps that player should avoid.
Story
The game contains no spoken dialogues but there are numerous cutscenes displaying events from game's world. The game takes place during a period of genocide on white fishes committed by the black ones. Hero narrowly escapes death when his escort is attacked by black fishes. He starts to organize defense and eventually kills a captain of black fishes but it turns out that he was just a minion and black fishes are truly led by the Black. Hero continues to fight enemies and gets to the Kingdom of Red where he meets Red Queen. They continue together but they soon come across Black who easily defeats Hero who is unconscious falling to the depth while Red Queen is trying to help him but Hero is eaten by a Whale.
Hero gets out of Whale's stomach and gets to the Green World. There he meets Green. They start to seek for green seeds that can revive the Tree of Life which is the center of Green World but is currently rotten. During the search Hero is attacked by the Earth Dragon and almost dies but is saved by Red Queen who shows up at the last moment. They together revive the Tree of Life but Black shows up and attacks it along with his army. Hero fights them off but Green dies. Energy from his body enters the Tree where it grows into a fruit. Via this fruit Hero gets Green's power. Hero starts his chase for Black. It leads him to the Blue World.
In the Blue World he liberates a temple from black fishes and meets Blue who puts him into the test. Hero has to get through a labyrinth and fight a labyrinth monster. He passes and Blue explains the start of the war. Black fishes were once white but they came across to black mass. It turned them to black and made them aggressive. It also turned Grey to Black. He then initiated the campaign to exterminate white fishes.
Hero returns to the Kingdom of Red where he meets Red Queen. They are attacked by Black and forced to overcome a "race" with him. In the end they escape. Together they get to the center of the kingdom where Red Queen gains new power so they launch attack which pushes black fishes from a local nest. There they help little fishes to born. Soon after that Black attacks and conquers it back. Hero has to escape but is able to gather enough forces to start attack against enemy positions in Grey World. It turns bad when he comes to contact with black mass while saving life of Red Queen for whom he sacrifices himself. He finds himself in a black-and-white world where meets Green and is "reborn".
Hero becomes stronger than ever and starts to gather strong swarm for final battle. Just before the attack he meets Red Queen for the last time. The strike is successful, as he destroys black armies and Black is chased to the lighthouse. There a duel between Hero and Black occurs. In the end Black is defeated and absorbed. Hero, now exhausted from the darkness he absorbed, leaves the lighthouse and lies himself to the ground. Player can see a text of words by Lao Tzu: "Bearing yet not possessing. Acting yet not expecting. Leading yet not dominating. This is the Primal Virtue." Hero then dissolves the darkness he absorbed and dies. Multiple lights of energy are coming from his body and Red Queen takes them. She puts these lights across the world while credits roll.
Reception
The PC version was also met with positive feedback from critics. The review published by Games.cz praised how developers ported the game to PC. Also praised "nonviolent nature of the game, relaxing pace with which the game tells a heartbreaking story through simple video."
Another review was published by Italian SpazioGames. This review praised storytelling, soundtrack and expolorativeness. On the other hand, it criticised the game for being too easy and lacking gameplay.
212Fahrenheit review praised the game for its gameplay, atmosphere and impressive soundtrack. Another point of praise is a story that is open to interpretation. The review also noted that the gameplay is pretty limited.
What's your Tag? review found gameplay a bit repetitive at times but noted that new concepts in game are introduced in good intervals which helps. The Combat, specifically when in tiny places, was criticised on the other Hand. Graphics, Soundtrack and Atmosphere gained much praise and the game was likened to Limbo. The review was overally very positive and gave the game 80%.
