Headlander Critic Reviews

This is easily one of the year’s most enjoyable games and one you won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

Headlander is a great metroidvania whose retro-future style, humorous story, and tremendous exploration come together in one of the summer’s most complete experiences.

Headlander is a perfect storm of thought-provoking sci-fi, biting humor, and pitch-perfect gameplay that comes wrapped in a stylish, affordable package, and is one of this year’s very best.

It's a testament to the excellence of Headlander that it can only be faulted for its slight technical flaws. Everything about it is so finely tuned, from its gunplay to its platforming to its puzzles, and it doesn't just stay true to classic Metroidvanias – it also builds upon the foundations that they laid.

It’s a simple game in its approach: its mechanics are not over-wrought or complicated, but it’s top quality fun. Headlander is of the few games in recent memories to garner a true belly laugh.

Minor gripe aside, I expect Headlander to reach that cult classic status like many of Double Fine’s prior titles and it’s well deserved. This is a must own for fans of the genre.

Headlander is an unexpectedly great take on Metroidviania-style action. Some of the objective design renders its flashier, body-endangering powers moot, but the quick and complex moment-to-moment gameplay carries it splendidly.

Headlander is a uniquely funny, sometimes weird and visually very distinctive action-adventure.

Headlander has a few rough spots, but its 70s retro/sci-fi aesthetic and head-swapping gameplay are out of this world.

Double Fine was able to take a classic gaming genre and imbue new life into it with their trademark humor, and the resulting experience is solid. It could use some tweaks here and there, but fans of metroidvanias are sure to have a great time floating through the ridiculous world of Headlander.

Double Fine Productions has managed to craft an experience in Headlander that successfully combines the retro style of 1970's science fiction with excellent modern gaming trappings. Don't let the absurd premise sway you, there's more than just zaniness here.

From its odd mechanics to its captivating presentation, Headlander's parallels to Metroid bubble under the surface; it's the game's fresh qualities that grab your attention and make it one of the most delightful takes on the well-worn formula in years.

Headlander had me hooked during my nine hours with it. The game oozes with charm through its off-the-wall and eccentric gameplay mechanics, and its humorous characters and fictional world. Though the checkpoint system may feel a little too ‘hardcore’ for some, and the game seems to struggle under the pressure of some of its more demanding moments, those who are after a Metroidvania-style side-scroller could do a lot worse than this.

Every so often a game comes along that reminds me of how boisterously odd the medium can be.

Headlander from Double Fine Productions is a fun, quirky science-fiction Metroidvania game with engaging puzzles, strong exploration elements, and flying heads.

Double Fine delivers a great game once again. It's not ground-breaking, but definitely a nice surprise perfect for the summer while we wait for the blockbusters.

The graphics look great, with very vibrant colours throughout the game. It’s fun to play, nice to look at and there’s a good number of laughs. It’s not a serious game, nor is it a triple A title; But it is fun.

Headlander doesn't spend all of its time building a monument to Super Metroid, opting instead for a dangerous medley of absurdity that's nevertheless stable and, once you really start to look at it, kind of marvelous in its ability to stand upright and qualify as evidence of meaningful dissent.

For a certain nostalgic generation of gamer, it’s hard not to fall in love with Headlander’s retro futuristic stylings and the kind of “what if…” set up that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Terry Nation TV show or a film like Logan’s Run. The combat and and boss fights let it down, but this is an eminently enjoyable twist on the Metroidvania genre.

Without claims during the development, Headlander proves to be a Metroidvania with excellent core ideas and a lot of good vibrations. It's not so surprising as he seems in the first hours, but remains funny and engaging until the end.