• Price: $14.99 USD (digital; currently on sale for $10.49)
• Developer: Silken Sail Entertainment
• Publisher: Top Hat Studios
• Release Date: October 14, 2021

A review code was kindly provided by the developer, Silken Sail Entertainment. We thank them for being able to cover something they’ve worked so hard on.

Henchman Story is a ~200,000 word satirical visual novel in which you play as a much aggrieved henchman who works for a “bumbling” supervillain named “Lord Bedlam.” You may not be the most competent supervillain sidekick, and the purple spandex uniform may not be the most fashionable thing ever, but in this case crime does seem to pay (with added healthcare benefits!).

I am a big fan of visual novels, and even before starting the game, it has great graphic appeal. The colors are vibrant, and I quite like the art style. You’re able to make friends, enemies, and even develop a romantic relationship with some of the heroes, villains, and other “henchpeople”! The characters are further brought to life with full voice acting!

A look at the IMDB page for Henchman Story’s cast made me even more excited to hear the voice acting! The voice actors include Caitlyn Elizabeth, Daphne Nitsuga, Elissa Park, Anairis Quinones, Alejandro Saab, Anthony Sardinha, Mark Soskin, Howard Wang, and Suzie Yeung. Some of their previous roles feature their voice acting in titles such as RWBY, Fire Emblem, Dragon Ball Z Abridged, and more!

Right as you start, the game drops you in the middle of a heist. You play as Stan, a henchman, so that makes sense. (Un)fortunately, your boss Lord Bedlam seems to have missed the memo on how to be a proper villain, as your loot consists of mere pet supplies. (On second thought, stealing items used for doggies and kitties is rather evil…)

Lord Bedlam, despite his status as a “villain,” seems to be a better boss than most. He’s polite, pays his two hundred henchpeople, and provides them with food, okay enough healthcare, and housing (private rooms, as he apparently did research on employee morale). The benefits seem pretty nice, although considering that there are assemblies with announcements of forced henchpeople retirement due to injury, the job may not be great long term…

Our character Stan, however, gets the above-mentioned perks for frequently guarding a rarely used door. (With the occasional mission here and there.) Stan seems like a pretty snarky guy, and I really appreciate how Marc Soskin voices that dialogue.

Stan has Dave, a very peppy Lord Bedlam fan, as his direct supervisor. (Stan suspects that Dave may have a Lord Bedlam tattoo somewhere. Lord Bedlam has some concerns on the level of enthusiasm, and requests that Dave please tone it down.) Dave seems like an odd choice for a henchman considering his positive personality, but I suppose there aren’t too many people whose ambition is to work for supervillains, so he’ll do.

As this is a visual novel, you’ve got decisions to make for your choice of dialogue. How you respond to people will change their opinion of you. I couldn’t find any menu that showed how your dialogue decisions impacted your relationship with that person. You can kind of get an idea of whether what you said made someone happy or annoyed based on the change in their facial expression, but I would have liked to see where I currently stand with the characters like you can in some otome games.

Stan isn’t fanatical about Lord Bedlam and his cause; he’s mainly there for the benefits, and doesn’t know much about the organization’s goals. He consulted Lord Bedlam to make sure the plans don’t involve hurting people, although they do take the occasional hostage. Stan isn’t terribly enthused about taking hostages, and doesn’t feel very comfortable doing it. Lord Bedlam recruited Stan and some other henchpeople by posting ads on their equivalent of YouTube. It’s a job with some definite pros, but the violence definitely detracts from it.

Being a henchman can certainly be hazardous to one’s health. If you don’t have super powers – especially healing abilities – you’re in for a rough time. Superheroes show up to stop Lord Bedlam & Co whether they’re stealing pet supplies or from an important data center. Bumbling Bedlam doesn’t seem to succeed in his plans too often, and loses a decent amount of his workforce. Eventually, he joins forces with Madame Scorpion, a villainess that actually appears to be fairly competent and strong.

Henchman Story is intended to be a satirical take on the superhero genre, and it shows. The game is full of quippy comments, and if you look closely at the background, you’ll notice some additional humor. Lord Bedlam reminds me of Emperor Zurg, Buzz Lightyear’s arch nemesis in the Toy Story series. Henchman Story’s superhero Shining Nova reminds me of Iron Man, and Madame Scorpion makes me think of Marvel’s Black Widow. (Apparently, scorpions and black widow spiders are indeed both in the same class, Arachnida – but they’re classified in different orders in the animal kingdom. #TheMoreYouKnow It’s kind of a neat little subtle detail that adds to my suspicions on the inspiration for Madame Scorpion.)

I completed one of the game’s eleven endings (I always get the bad/less satisfactory endings out of the way first), and I must say that I’m incredibly impressed so far! The game’s witty dialogue is fully voiced, the art is colorful and well drawn, and the ending theme performed by Elsie Lovelock is incredible. The “extras” section allows you to look at Henchman Story’s CGs that you have unlocked so far, and you can also listen to the game’s music! 🎶

When I started my second playthrough to get the second “bad” ending over with, I hit the R button to skip previously viewed dialogue. What I didn’t realize was that I apparently needed to turn the skip option on in settings. Once I figured that out, it was fine. 😅 When I turn on the skip function, it will skip over dialogue until the next dialogue choice comes up. I do wish the rewind function would rewind until stopped like the skip function, but that’s just a very minor complaint. It’s easy to create multiple saves in order to reload to get different endings.

The game may be described as satirical, but at the same time, the relationships are not really exaggerated in that manner. Sure, it might seem like somewhat of a “like at first sight” kind of scenario that I wouldn’t love in an *otome* game, but here I didn’t mind the quicker attachment between Stan and his love interests so much. The relationships – whether they stay strictly friends or they develop a romantic relationship – are congenial and light. (With each love interest, Stan can decline a relationship and the love interest doesn’t lose it, reacting in a reasonable and respectful way.)

I really appreciate that Henchman Story balanced the cast in terms of gender; it isn’t simply a male dominated story despite Stan being the main character. There’s Stan, Dave, and Lord Bedlam, but then there’s also Madame Scorpion, Miss Dynamo, and another major character who I won’t name due to spoilers. The female characters are not sexualized at all; Madame Scorpion could perhaps be considered a sexy character, but I wouldn’t consider her to be sexualized. (There are offscreen “encounters” that are implied in her routes, but I didn’t feel that it was the major focus of the story there.) In fact, I would say that the women are arguably more powerful and competent characters than the men here (Stan even acknowledges this). It’s a good portrayal of both intelligent, capable women and fairly healthy relationships.

I felt that the overall plot in terms of the hero versus villain conflict was decent enough. I’d have loved to have seen that plot expanded on a bit more, but only because I enjoyed the characters so much. You, as Stan, are able to make a series of decisions about different moral quandaries that pop up. Stan initially just does enough to be average, and to be safe. Over the course of each branching storyline, he/you can choose to pursue a new path in life. Will you choose to follow a more righteous path, one of immorality, or will you remain conflicted? Or like me, will you complete each ending and then decide which you like best? 🤔

I think that the real triumph of Henchman Story is the strong interactions between characters. The voice acting really adds to the experience for me. I found the writing to be clever, and found myself chuckling quite a bit at many of the lines. It’s a silly game, but in a very good way. Humor is subjective, but I loved it. During each playthrough, I’d choose a dialogue option I hadn’t chosen before just to see what the characters would say (you can easily rewind to get to the dialogue choices so you can choose the “right” option for specific endings). I really appreciate the creativity and effort put into the game. I’d love to see a sequel with a story from the Northwestern Hero Association’s characters’ perspectives!

Switch it ON or Switch it OFF? Let’s ask the boss: