Heroes of Hellas Origins - Part 1

Review

There were many tribes who settled in Hellas (Greece) and all seemed fine and dandy; life was peachy as they coexisted happily in God’s country. Beautiful cities were built all around Hellas under the watchful eyes of the God of the sea, earthquakes and horses . . . the one and only, Poseidon! But trouble arose swiftly, and war exploded in the land of Gods. As the devastation worsened, Poseidon was outraged to see his beloved people killing each other, and he consequently had a dummy spit! A bright blue flash followed his dive into the sea and the people of Hellas stopped fighting instantly. The job ahead is humungous, so much so that Poseidon needs your help to create an underwater kingdom full of life and wisdom to save the poor souls, in Heroes of Hellas Origins: Part One!

Heroes of Hellas Origins: Part One is a casual match 3 game developed by Jaibo Games and published by Alawar Premium on 10 of October 2019 on Steam.

The game consists of 108 levels plus an extra 18 when you finish your first playthrough. There are three levels of difficulty: Relaxed, Normal and Advanced. If you select the last, time will run faster than in the previous two levels of difficulty.

Your goal is to complete one or more tasks (depending on the level) before your times runs out. There are 4 main items to collect to build this underwater kingdom of life and wisdom: the laurels, flowers, hearts, and of course, coins.

On the main screen, your kingdom will be a vast blue sea with nothing in it. Four gauges will be at the bottom of your screen which will represent the main four items to collect, and on the far right is the button to launch your next level.

The gameplay is slightly different to other match 3 games. Here, you have to use you mouse to connect the same coloured symbols. You can match 3 or more and they can be connected in different directions as long as these symbols touch each other. If you connect 5 or more of the same symbols, you will be rewarded with a coin on the grid, which can be substituted for any of the symbols on the board, helping you to create your next chain.

The board consists of hexagon tiles with coloured symbols sitting on top. The board will vary from level to the next; some are fairly big and others small. But don’t think for a second that it’s going to be a fast and simple one. In these instances, a symbol with three wings around it will be placed in a difficult position on the grid. Match another two of the same symbol with the winged symbol, and the board will add or refill with new tiles. As you progress, you’ll unlock some characters which have special actions. For example, Poseidon can reshuffle the tiles on the board to facilitate your next chain of symbols. These characters on the left side of your screen have an icon with a gauge around them. To fill in the gauge and activate it, you have to keep matching their own symbols on the board until the gauge is full.

You’ll find several obstacles on the board; some symbols will have chains around them and you’ll either need to make a match 3 chain next to them, or be part of the chain of three, twice, to be freed.  Free up keys or swords to cut the Medusa’s head, or even use one of your character’s special abilities to destroy tough tiles. There are explosive jars that can help you do that, too.

Some of the levels will have a wisdom shell to collect; in fact, there are 60 to collect during your playthrough.  The interesting point is that the shells have to fall off grid in order for you to be able to collect them, and they must be collected before completing any tasks in order to complete the level.

Every so often, you’ll have a small hidden object phase as well, and that will take place on the main screen. If you get stuck, you can use the hint button to help you find the hidden pieces of the object.  Personally, I don’t mind this, as it adds variety, which is always good.

Nice graphics, and the soundtrack suits the game very well.  Not much in terms of settings here. You can mute the sounds or play the game full screen or in window mode. In terms of the controls, it’s all happening with your mouse.