Game Over: Terror of Hemasaurus

Recently, my wife was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, and due to this, we've been taking a break from our traditional gaming. While we can usually be found on the Howling Abyss in League of Legends ARAM (especially when there's a Battle Pass, not that we'd want to support Riot's latest one due to the consistent nerfs) or in soulslike titles trying to reach new heights of videogaming enlightenment, we've had to take a bit of a stopper and breather. Sure, I may not be diagnosed with her disease, but solidarity means that we stick through it together, and either we all play hard-as-balls games or no one plays.

My endeavours to find more relaxing titles to join her led me into a game that I'd been meaning to explore for a while: Terror of Hemasaurus. This arcade title is all about destruction, as you take control of a harbinger of terror, a kaiju, as you wreak havoc across the United States because an iceberg melted and set you free. It's the sort of mindless fun that ensures you don't need to be stressed because you'll miss a perfectly-timed dodge and die, but at least it's action-filled enough that you can still feel like you're doing something and destroying things.

Traditionally, Terror of Hemasaurus isn't the type of game that I like to play: it's slower and easier, it's all about destruction, and it has a satirical story that tries to tell a deeper, more meaningful message. While I'm usually trying to be great at videogames and test new heights with harder and harder games, Terror of Hemasaurus was one of the last titles on my to-play list, but it was still there enough that it warranted a playthrough.

So, into the story I went, expecting something... not quite to my flavour. I decided I'd enter with an open mind and play, at least for a little while, as I figured that it deserved nothing more than a fair try, especially given the glowing review Alana Dunitz left of it on our website.

At first, I wasn't smitten by the story and gameplay — it wasn't that I didn't like it, but, again, it was too simple to my liking. You play as a kaiju that gets freed from an iceberg, and your sole purpose is to wreak havoc, completing quests across various stages that usually boil down to "kill everything and everyone in sight". It's a simple title that has simple goals, and it tells you a story about climate change with a cult and a corporate world that has gone too far off the deep end, demanding the new culling of the race (like the meteor to the dinosaurs).

I'll admit that two hours in, I didn't really want to continue playing, but I'm the type of gal who tries her best to see a game through as much as she can, and if I'm able, I try to 100% titles. My view is that you are entirely likely to love a game if you give it the time (many titles I would've left early support this theory), and I try to complete every achievement not only because I'm a novice achievement hunter but also because I'd rather be done with a game before it's done with me. Too many times have I suffered at the hands of ending a title and wanting more, but being unable to squeeze more life out of it.

Terror of Hemasaurus proves exactly why I'm so fond of my philosophy. At the time of writing, I have played the game for nine hours and finished the experience 100%, and despite some tedious elements and difficulties here and there, I left out the other side of Terror of Hemasaurus liking the game, which was a far cry from my original dismissal of the experience overall.

The gameplay may be a bit simple, as climbing buildings and breaking them down got a bit boring over time, but developer Loren Lemcke was able to keep it entertaining by adding new, unique twists every so often that it was fresh enough. These small boosts of content breathed back life into the experience, offering a small reprieve from the otherwise repetitive nature of the title, and it was in absurdity that Terror of Hemasaurus excelled the most.

Whether it was saving cats and dogs to restore my social media image, killing rich people because they destroyed the world, or going on a rampage in the endless mode to get to the 100th cleared stage, I enjoyed my experience. The whackier and more freedom Loren Lemcke offered themselves in development, the more I enjoyed it — blasting through the city with alien powers and shooting back kidnapped humans in a flesh minigun was a ridiculous level of power few games have ever offered me, and it made Terror of Hemasaurus stand out. 

For £10.29 (or £5.14 on a good sale), it's worth the experience, even if only to give yourself a short, one-minute break where you get to take it out on humanity for once.