I have had my fair share of visual novels in 2021 and it is more than appropriate to continue the reviewing tradition of that genre in 2022 with Henchman Story from Silken Sail Entertainment. While I fully understand that most of what you do with the visual novel is read and make choices, the story for Henchman will keep you engaged, giggling like a fool, and entertained.
Let’s dig right into this.
The Story
The Henchman Story revolves around a henchman named Stan who works for a freakish purple goober villain named Lord Bedlam. Stan has been a full-time henchman for five years since graduating with a history degree and longing for day-to-day simplicity without real effort needed. Stan’s life is filled full of random missions assigned spontaneously by Bedlam and includes the occasional beating from superheroes that generally stop Stan and his group from succeeding in their evil plots…such as robbing a pet store. When Bedlam partners with another supervillain named Madame Scorpion to up the success rate and spoils, Stan’s life gets complicated. Scorpion wants more out of Stan, which includes going on secret missions for her. To make Stan’s life even worse, Stan must help a recruit named Kate that tagged along with Scorpion during the villain merger. As Stan partners more with Scorpion and Kate, his life gets far more insane than expected until it hits a twist. That’s where this summary ends.
It’s so difficult describing the story for a visual novel because you just want to talk about everything that goes down. I watered the hell out of the above description, dear readers. Since the beef of this game is the story, I cannot tell you everything that goes on. That includes the multiple twists (enjoy that), the witty characters that you run into (watch out for Chef and Dave), and the possible exchanges the superheroes have with Stan (such good stuff). I can’t discuss any of this, but just know that it’s waiting for you and that it is good.
What I can discuss is the general structural pieces of the story. First, let me just say that this story is well-written, especially with its comedy delivery. I found this to be one of the more entertaining visual novels that I have had the pleasure of reviewing in some time. It really kicks from the beginning and doesn’t stop until it concludes. Even then, it gives you the motivation to go back and try it differently. Typically, there are dipping points between acts in visual novels that struggle with transitions between them, but Henchman Story traverses and excels with these transitions with humor and sincerity. I truly never found myself scrolling quickly through dialogue to get to the next big point in the story. I enjoyed the entire structure and humor from beginning to end. The writers for this game should be commended because they were constantly spot on with their humor and writing delivery.
In addition, there is a love story sprinkled into the middle that blooms by the game’s end. Well, depending on what choices you make in the game. Regardless, the love story is there, and it works well. It builds slowly, though a bit predictable, and eventually gets to where it needs to go properly and unforced. There is always a risk of shoehorning such things into visual novels, but its transition seems natural, and the love story is well-placed within the ridiculous and honest world.
One of the biggest pluses for this entire package is how well-developed the characters seem. Stan is built well in the story. You know that he is a bit of a slacker that doesn’t like the limelight. He is doing his job and has memorized what works and doesn’t work in the henchman line along the way. He has above-normal intelligence for a henchman and has a good grasp of his bosses’ intentions. He is built through his actions in the story and maintains a sense of self through dialogue and dialogue choices. Again, he is well-written and isn’t forced at all. As for the rest of the characters, everyone goes along the same way, even with the twists and turns introduced in the story and through player choices. You will like all the characters in Henchman Story. They have their own personalities and while some are shallower than others, they are still built to be noticed.
Overall, the story and its characters are meaningful and sincere. They work from beginning to end and you won’t want to speed up the dialogue to get through it. This is what makes a good visual novel.
How you work the story
As expected through visual novels, you work this game like a “Choose-Your-Own-Adventure” book. While the story unfolds, the dialogue will bring up choices. Some of those choices affect how characters treat Stan. Some of those choices shift the entire story itself and what direction you’re going towards next. There are some choices in the game, especially when it comes to who Stan is going to fall for in the game and what direction he is going to take his life, that are huge story shifts that change how the game is going to conclude. It’s a perfect game in this sense, though some of the choices are just a bit lopsided in their timing and appearance. Sometimes you get a great big glob of dialogue (which isn’t bad) that is absent of choices when you think there should be a choice for Stan to make. This isn’t a terrible issue and it’s very minor compared to what works well in the game, but it does happen. A good chunk of visual novels has this happen, it’s like trying to find a place in the dialogue to make the interactivity happen for the player that makes sense for the branching narrative to take hold. Sometimes it takes a bit longer for these places to show up and sometimes they show up right when they need to show up. There were only a few spots where I was anxious to shift the story and it didn’t happen when I thought it should. There are sprinkled moments like this through the entire 5-6 hour experience, but nothing that disrupts the experience.
Getting back to the dialogue choices, you will find replayability in Henchman Story because of some of these major choices the player has to make, which is what you want from a visual novel. You can see the major fork in the road in one of the choices that could change the course of the story from fork-in-the-road A or fork-in-the-road B and is the catalyst for going back and revisiting this again. Replaying this specific moment will be worth the second go-around in Stan’s life. Maybe when I finish reviewing a few more things this month, I will give the second Stan journey a go. I really do want to see how that story plays out, though I can guess from afar.
Anyway, the mechanics of the game work well when it comes to choices. They are fun, impactful at times, and really make you feel like your choices are making a difference in the story.
Presentation
Graphically, the game is colorful, visually playful, and works for the story written for it. While I wish there were a few more backgrounds to create some more variety with the story, it visually works with what is written. There was a lot of passion and love put into the art and the characters that makes the entire journey a treat.
The biggest plus with this game is how the dialogue is delivered. The voice-over folks who took on Stan, Kate, and the others really did a helluva job putting their energy into their acting. They delivered the dialogue perfectly and made their characters lovable, even the evil ones. They seemed to buy into their roles, and it shows in their delivery. I sincerely enjoyed this game thanks to the writing and the acting. It all worked well and sold the world the way a visual novel needs to sell it.
The presentation of Henchman Story is as good as the rest of the game.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a visual novel that delivers almost everything perfectly, then look no further than Henchman Story.
