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Hel's Trial
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About the game
In Norse myth, Hel rules Niflheim, the cold realm where warriors go if they died of sickness or old age instead of in battle. In this game one of those souls is offered a second chance. Hel gives you a body and an axe, and tells you that if you can fight your way out of her hall, you may rise to Valhalla after all.
Each fight is turn-based on a grid of stone tiles. On your turn you can move a few tiles and attack, using the mouse to pick the tile you want to walk to or the enemy you want to hit. After you end the turn, the monsters move and strike. Your health and your energy are the same number, soul power (SP). Attacks cost SP, and so does every hit you take, but your power grows through the death of the creatures you slay. You have three attacks: a direct strike, a thrown hatchet and a sweeping blow that costs the most. Choosing between them and deciding when to hold back is most of the game.
The art is pixel art in a dark palette, with pillars, wolf-like beasts, skeletons and the looming, purple figure of Hel commenting on your progress. The fighting is cartoonish: a number pops up above the creature that is hit, and there is no blood. Sebastian Dorn made the game for js13kGames 2022, where everything had to fit in 13 kilobytes zipped. The theme that year was "Death". It is built on the LittleJS engine, and the author recommends a Chromium-based browser for the best performance.
Playing it here
Click Play. Hel speaks first, and a few boxes explain the rules; press Continue in each one. Then the fight begins. Click a tile to walk to it, press 1, 2 or 3 to choose an attack and click an enemy in range to use it, and press E when you are done with your turn. Escape pauses the game.
Controls
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| Mouse click on a tile | move there (within your movement points, MV) |
| Mouse click on an enemy | attack with the chosen attack |
| 1 / 2 / 3 | direct attack / throw hatchet / sweeping blow |
| E | end your turn |
| Escape | pause or resume |
A few things worth knowing
Watch your SP. It is also your life, so a costly attack that misses the point can leave you exposed.
Use the pillars. The map has columns that block the way, and they can keep the beasts from surrounding you.
End your turn early. If there is nothing useful left to do, press E instead of spending movement for no reason.
Credits and licence
Hel's Trial was developed by Sebastian Dorn for js13kGames 2022 and released under the MIT licence. The licence text, together with the notice for the LittleJS engine (Frank Force), is linked from this page, and the source code is on GitHub.