Selfless Heroes

About

"Selfless Heroes" is a puzzle-based game where you control a team of heroes with shared artificial intelligence. Your goal is to design their AI, solve puzzles, and defeat bosses within a dungeon. The game features 63 puzzles, over 30 hours of playtime, and a Discord community for help. It also provides a learning opportunity for coding and parallel programming, making it both challenging and educational.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

75%

Audience ScoreBased on 64 reviews

gameplay4 positive mentions

Fun and engaging puzzle game that serves as a good introduction to programming concepts.
Challenging levels with unique constraints that provide a satisfying experience when solved.
Cute graphics and lighthearted tone make for an enjoyable atmosphere while playing.

Lacks clear explanations of mechanics, making it difficult for new players to understand the gameplay.
Some puzzles are too large for the screen, complicating planning and execution.
The programming language is overly simplistic, limiting the strategies players can employ to solve puzzles.

gameplay
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
61%
17%
The gameplay is characterized by fun and satisfying puzzles that gradually introduce more mechanics, enhancing replayability through challenges and goals. However, many users criticize the lack of clear explanations for these mechanics, which detracts from the overall experience and leads to comparisons with other games. Despite these issues, the game is praised for its depth and value, offering extensive gameplay for a low price.
- “However, the gameplay (i.e. puzzles) is quite fun and satisfying to solve.”
- “They start off very limited but you get more mechanics as the game goes on.”
- “Challenges and goals make replaying levels after learning more mechanics fun.”
- “However, I am giving it a thumbs down because there is far too little explanation for the mechanics in the game.”
- “After revisiting this game after putting 20 hours into 7bh, I realize it wasn't so much that the puzzles were too challenging, but rather they didn't explain the mechanics well enough.”
- “This makes the game seem even more like a ripoff of 7bh, as if the developer didn't explain the mechanics properly because they didn't come up with them themselves, but rather copied them from another game.”
music
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
44%
19%
The music in the game is generally described as chill and cute, complementing the overall vibe, though some users find it mediocre or mismatched with the gameplay. While it has been noted to be catchy and "earwormy," opinions vary on its effectiveness in enhancing the experience. Overall, the soundtrack is appreciated for its fun and welcoming atmosphere, particularly appealing to programmers.
- “Great coding puzzle game with chill music and cute art.”
- “The music and vibe are so cute and welcoming.”
- “Soundtrack, visuals and the dev himself are nice.”
- “Music and sound effects are mediocre too.”
- “Music doesn't fit.”
- “The music is 'earwormy'.”
graphics
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
42%
25%
The graphics are described as cute and feature charming pixel art that enhances the overall experience, complemented by a pleasant soundtrack. However, the text code editor's graphic commands suffer from inconsistencies, which can lead to confusion and frustration for players. Overall, while the visuals are appealing, the implementation of graphic commands could use improvement.
- “Soundtrack, visuals, and the dev himself are nice.”
- “The text code editor's main use is as a copy-pasting tool, because it has mediocre translations for the graphic commands (like this inconsistency: some commands have parentheses, some don't), and even then the player needs to click a red circle to see only the first error, which is anyway either misleading ([insert already unlocked command which is restricted in this level] doesn't exist) or outright not useful.”
- “Graphics are cute.”
- “Cute pixel graphics (heroes sure look jolly) and soothing tunes will accompany many head-scratching levels.”
optimization
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
33%
33%
The game's optimization features are limited due to the absence of numbers, registers, and pointers, which restricts players from employing advanced compiler optimizations or low-level coding techniques. While there is a community leaderboard for comparing solutions and learning optimization strategies, players focused solely on completing levels may find themselves lacking in optimization skills.
- “There's also a community-run leaderboard featuring the best solutions if you really want to compare your solutions, or just want to learn the answers or the best tricks for optimization.”
- “This game lacked numbers/register/pointers, therefore there is no compiler optimization or low-level tricks you can pull to optimize your code. In contrast, in HRM, you can see yourself using decision trees and loop unrolling, or using algebraic properties to subtract after you add something instead of reloading it, or rearranging the control flow to minimize jumps and comparisons.”
- “If you only aim to clear each level, not caring about optimization, you'll most likely remain below that.”
story
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The story in this game is characterized as fun and lighthearted, distinguishing it from other similar titles that often feature darker narratives. While it may lack the depth of more complex storylines, it offers an enjoyable experience within its programming and puzzle mechanics.
- “It's a fun and lighthearted programming/puzzle game that doesn't have a dark story like many similar games do.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is consistently described as straightforward and amusing, appealing to a wide audience with its simplicity.
- “Very simple and funny.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is praised for its exceptional stability, being described as completely bug-free and very well polished.
- “Completely bug-free and very well polished.”