Hart's Toil
A downloadable game
Heart's Toil is a short puzzle game set in hell. Inspired by La Mulana and the cruel game design of oldschool games. It was made with RPG maker VX ace.
Your goal is to complete a series of obtuse puzzles in order to escape hell before your memories fade forever. Are you clever enough to solve its secrets? Or perhaps you're just looking for a way to torture yourself.
This game is best played with one or two other people by your side to help you figure out the puzzles together.
This project took the better part of a month to finish, and a little longer to polish.
You can now download a Korean translation courtesy of Lunapeusa!
https://lunapeusa.tistory.com/7
Version 1.19
- Added settings to the save lanterns menu.
- Fixed a softlock related to the cold area.
- Minor spelling ajustments.
- Minor graphical ajustments.
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Korean Translation By Lunapeusa.May 26, 2023
- Version 1.16Apr 30, 2023
- Version 1.15 HotfixApr 11, 2023
- Version 1.13Apr 09, 2023
- Version 1.10Apr 09, 2023
- Version 1.9Apr 08, 2023
- Version 1.8Apr 05, 2023
- Version 1.7Apr 05, 2023
Comments
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This was quite the gem of a mystery game, thank you very much for creating it :)
The only reason why I went back, and figured it may not be the 'correct' ending yet was thanks to the zip file with "HER NAME.7z" in the folder. And eventually everything unraveled when I finally interacted with the correct things in the end. And the extra credit of figuring out the password for the zip-file is appreciated :)
I'm glad you enjoyed the game! And congratulations for solving the zip file puzzle! You must be a very curious player!
Indeed - I feel like you may be familiar with La-Mulana, considering the similarity to the Shell Horn in one of the first chests. That game is one of my favorites :)
That's right! This game was heavily inspired by La Mulana, and that item is a reference ;)
I’ve kinda gotten hard stuck on beating the 2 bosses and having everything besides the crimson eye part done which stops me from progressing
Nvrm I figured it out I deeply enjoyed the game after figuring out how slow I am
I'm glad you enjoyed it!!! The goal of the game was to really squeeze the best out of people's puzzle thinking!
This game sounds great but when I load it up and start a new game I just start automatically walking down and I'm unable to move back up again. At first I figured this might be a puzzle or something but I don't believe that to be true. I tried unplugging any gamepads I had installed and even tried re-extracting the game but nothing is working.
I think that might be a problem with your keyboard. There seems to be no issue on my end.
The part with the rolling boulders is really frustrating because I keep falling over the edge
Could I translate this game into Korean? I love this game!
Sure! I am not sure how would that work, but if you figure out a way go ahead. The game files are unencrypted so if you got RPG maker VX ace you really can edit the game however you want.
Thank you for your permission! My twitter account is @lunapeusa, and I'll let you know later when the translation is finished.
How do I reach 'the ending without fruit'? If I don't get the fruit, I can't even go back to Hell from Panopticon...
It's a one-way path. The bad ending becomes unavailable once you enter the panopticon.
i really enjoyed it, thanks. i'm guessing it wasn't supposed to start me with an endgame save file though!
Thank you for playing! You are also right, the save file shouldn't have been there haha! Sorry about that, but thank you for letting me know about it! I fixed it now.
What is the password of 'HER NAME' file? I thought the password would be the witch's name, but it wasn't. Isn't this file extra content or something?
The answer can be found as part of a hidden, optional puzzle. The reward is small. Do not feel obliged to solve it unless you simply want another puzzle to solve.
But if you are undeterred. You want to find her full name.
I found that puzzle at the hero's memorial, but I still don't get it. How do I choose correct 7 letters among those 21 letters?? Is there another hint in the game? Or does it have regularity itself?
Oh never mind. I solved it
I'm happy you figured it out!
The game is about overcoming difficult adventuring puzzles. The reward is seeing the puzzle become solved after being stuck on it for a while. For that reason, I couldn't give any hints, because that would go against the spirit of the game. It's all about the puzzles.
Thank you for persevering!
welp, hello again. I know I already stated on my LP about the good things about this game. Again, I enjoyed the game, and most of the puzzles that I overthought are mostly my mistakes and faults, and it's still difficult ofc, the characters are cute, and I think my favorite puzzle on this as well, will be the the before before to the last one that is optional but required. I'm sorry if I only posted today my thoughts of this game ofc. And having one save with all the fixes happened (especially with the spell softlock being fixed), I guess it absolutely compliments with the game being hard even more. so I'll give it a thumbs up. As for story, it's minimal, but still pretty good! And again, it's already a difficult game I guess, but not by much. Again, I did enjoy, and I hope to see more games from you in the future.
(Also do you have references of the characters, like at least the two of them, I might draw them sometime, tho I'm unsure if you can reply it here, as it will be spoilers.)
It brings me great joy the knowledge of you having played the game from start to end. The release was very rocky but I'm happy that it is now in a stable state.
I appreciate your time playing and I'm very thankful for it. This game was made on a whim with a somewhat experimental design philosophy in mind, so I am glad to know it reached people who can enjoy it. The closest thing to a reference can be found in this piece of promotional artwork and in the title screen. However, you can gather more references from the game files in the characters and faces folders (Including some unused sprites).
Thank you for the encouragement, I definitely would love to develop more games in the future!
About how long is the game? I'm trying to decide if it would be a good one to Let's Play.
On average it takes between 3 to 5 hours to complete. But some skilled puzzle-solvers have beaten the game in as little as 2 hours. It all depends on how quickly you solve the puzzles.
I recommend you play with someone by your side so you can figure out the puzzles together as they are quite difficult.
How do I get the eye of secret from crystal ball? I think I collected all items as much as possible, but it keep says something is missing. What else I need to do to get that item?
A magical, heart-shaped lock prevents you from grabbing it. A heart-related item would be the key to open such a lock. Have you found it?
Was that item added in the new version? I investigated every map and object, used enchanted ocarina in every map, and even watched other player's let's play but I still can't find it😭 Could you please give me some more hints?🙏
How do you get Past the snow area, either the one with constant damage or mach 20 enemies?
An Item will protect you from the cold. Fire may also help. But I cannot give you any direct hints. The struggle of the puzzles *is* the game.
Bug!
Sorry about that! I hotfixed it on 1.13 version.
Huh? Where's the download?
Edit: Yayyyyy, a download!
Sorry about the download files. Sometimes I have to take down the game to fix game-breaking bugs.
I FINALLY completed the game! Now all I need to do for 100% is to find the secrets and open the HER NAME file!
I'm happy to know you've persevered despite the difficult trials presented by the game!
I hope you enjoyed the game so far!
Does anyone know how to get the salt?
Edit: Never mind, I found out.
welp, I'm verily stuck and absolutely clueless, tho I responded in the comment you made in the video instead.
That's a shame. The game's puzzles are deliberately made to force you into observing the clues very carefully, and figuring them out after being stuck for some time.
I still appreciate the time you have spent solving puzzles so far, and I thank you greatly for it.
Hey, how did you get the salt?
I found a bug in version 1.7 in which I can't kill Tundra due to a script being missing. The last version I played, version 1.5, worked perfectly fine. Thank goodness you fixed it!
Can you be more specific? Does the game crash? What do you mean I fixed it?
I tested it on my own and seems to work fine.
If the problem is that you cannot deal damage to her, it's because you require an item to hurt her, and you need more than zero MP.
I said that it was in an earlier version, in 1.7, not 1.8. And yes, the game DOES crash because it didn't detect a certain file.
You don't need to help, though. It works fine on my end now.
Ah. Glad to hear then.
Really cool game, i would help with Russian translation if you need
That would be really helpful. But given the constant updates, I can't really afford to work on doing a translation. However the project files are publicly available. Anyone with RPG maker VX ace is able to simply edit the game's text to their liking if they know what they're doing.
Quick question: in the game, which side is north? I need it for something.
North is Up. South is Down. West is Left. East is right.
Good to know! I need it for the statue puzzle. However, when I go west/left, I couldn't go up because the way's blocked by the artwork. Do I NOT need to use the statue labyrinth for this puzzle?
You might be mixing up the hints for two different puzzles.
Ohh, no wonder why I'm stuck! I used the hint from the beach instead of something else!
Edit: Used the hint ON the beach, and solved the puzzle! Thank you!
will there be a web version?
I'm sorry but there are no plans to make a web version.
Tried looking for a walkthrough on YouTube because I'm stuck on the part with the tent monster treasure part, had the displeasure of witnessing a thumbnail with a hand squeezing worms ]out of a dog.
You indirectly scarred me for today.
Edit: Oh my GOD the section with the draining health is literary IMPOSSIBLE to me!!!
Please don't be discouraged. The puzzles may be harsh, but everything has a reason.
Always remember that if you can't find a solution, you may be missing an item. If not, just keep looking at the hints. You can do it!
Thank you! Sorry for acting a bit harsh, I just want to pass the part with the 7-ish different freezer spirits. Do I need an item in this case? There's a lock with a number password on it, in which I'm stuck on. It's the one with the ghost guarding it. Is the fire magic in there?
Sorry, but in the good spirit of the game, I cannot give you any hints. I recommend you to play along with someone on your side. Two heads think better than one, and should make it easier to figure out the puzzles that can be solved at that stage of the game
Heyo! While I haven't completed the game yet, so far I'm enjoying, and the pixels art are pretty freaking good! I'm gonna I had brain farts sometimes, but the puzzle has been pretty solid so far (I overthought of the symmetry puzzle and code, despite I already thought of the answer, but just completely ignored it, and took me 30 minutes for absolutely no freaking reason). I'll finalize my review once I played fully the game till the end (and had a playthrough recorded).
I hope you're enjoying your time so far!
I'm excited to hear what you think of the game once you finish it!
Please remember that if you're using an old version, you can update by copying and pasting your save files from the old version game folder to the newer version game folder!
The overall atmosphere was nice and the girl characters were cute and matched the environment very well.
Although the overall map is small, I really enjoyed solving the many puzzles because all the maps have some kind of mystery hidden in them.
My favorite puzzle was the one where you have to find destinations all over the world based on the information in the book in the hut.
Thank you for playing! I'm glad you liked the character. I drew her!
I made the map small because you have to return to the previous rooms very often. But I will consider your advice in a future game!
That puzzle was really fun to design!
she do be bad tho
Nu-uh. No thirsting for the witch on my front page.
:(
Intresting game. If this paint you, i love you art
Thank you! I made most of the assets myself. Some were edited from the default RTP, but at least half of the graphics were custom-made by me, or at least heavily edited to match the art style of the game.