Hero Project Redemption Season

While an ok standalone game, The Hero Project: Redemption is an honestly pathetic sequel to the phenomenal Heroes Rise series. Where the games before rely on characterization and entertaining and deep story arks, Redemption falls flat on its face by not only refusing to give any background information other than what you already know from the other games, but also by having flat; one dimensional characters and a terrible power set which gives you a different animal power set every in-game day. The story is meant to be an essay on minorities and discrimination but winds up feeling overly preachy because of the narrative style of the new author. Although the attempt to take this series in a more serious and realistic direction is admirable and fairly well executed, the story ultimately has the same problems as Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. I came in expecting a fun, silly ride with dark, serious undertones. Instead I received an author’s noble yet misguided attempt to make a statement and bring about change at the cost of what amounted to a power fantasy With a healthy dose of political intrigue with racial undertones when fighting in the slums and a power fantasy of epic proportions when you fight with the Heroes Rise universe’s version of the JLA or the Avengers, the Millennial Group. I am going to try the next game that comes out. Here’s hoping that it’s handled better.

The writing of this game is fantastic, and the world you play in seamlessly flows from the world of Heroes Rise- sometime shifting focus of story/characters can make you feel like it’s a different setting, even if it all takes place in the same city. I especially enjoyed all the different powers and characters shown in the story. I also very much like the story itself, with the reality TV show, the PC’s strange powers, and the shocking twist in the story revealing the Big Bad. However, the entire story is utterly riddled with social commentary and seemingly non-stop condemnation of racism, sexism, and bigotry. These things are important issues, but it feels like we’re beaten over the head with them at times. One of the characters, a straight white male (from the South no less! Horror of horrors!) is called out by a trans character for being, surprise surprise, a bigoted, privileged, white male. The man was already written as sort of a jerk character, at that point you’re just trying to write him as a villain. That’s just ONE example If you overlook those issues- and they’re hard to ignore because it feels like they’re literally everywhere in the story- it’s a very fun game to play through, and I love my character and her relationship with her sister, JK. I hope the next game isn’t so heavy-handed with the Social Justice though.

Being a fan if the original Heroes Rise trilogy, I can't help but feel let down by this entry. At least once per chapter, there was at least one character delivering a speech about the underrepresented minorities. Either the Ani Powereds, roughly translating to race, the Disembodied, roughly translating to transgender, and the morphos, roughly translating to the rest of the LGBT+ community. It feels too preachy when delivering a political message, which the first trilogy did, just less so, so that the rest of the story felt like it had substance. In comparison to the first three books, I felt as though the game played out much too short. It doesn't seem to have much choice, but that is mainly because it is making ground work for the sequels. My heart sank when I felt like the story was finally picking up great speed and excitement, only to see "Next: Epilouge" written at the bottom, indicating that the story was over, barely one fourth of what I expected. However, I would still recomend this to anyone, as I am still hopeful for the series, as the ground work laid out before you seems as though it will be very exciteing. Ultimately, to get a much better experience, you should play the original heroes rise series first.