Descend into the mysterious world of Helix: Descent N Ascent and ascend as a master of the monochrome

David Staffell, 23 February 2026

I’ll admit, I’ve always been dreadful at understanding how games fit into their various genres. In an attempt at a comparison, whilst trying to categorise Helix: Descent N Ascent, I had to Google whether Zelda was considered a Metroidvania… and the verdict? I still have no idea. To be fair, I don’t think the demo of Helix allowed me enough of a glimpse of its world to define it properly, but just know it gives vibes of Zelda, and other games where the gameloop is ‘gain powers/items to be able to overcome obstacles and solve puzzles.’ So basically, that’s what the genre is. Hope that clears things up!

Genre-ignorance out of the way, this game is simply beautiful. I truly adore games with black and white palettes—there’s just something about the starkly contrasted aesthetic that tickles my brain, and suitably tickled it was as my character descended into its magically monochromatic world. 

Whilst the juxtaposition of hand-drawn and vector-traced elements is a little chaotic at times, don’t let that take away from its magnificence. Every screen is full of life; like a series of pages straight from an old school manga comic. The inspiration is clearly present, and I’m here for it.

The game also presents strong themes of duality, which I’m also a fan of. Represented by the black/white, light/dark and good/evil (I’m obviously good, and the antagonist has a scar, so that must mean he’s evil), this is hammered home when the game flashes up a swirling yin/yang animation during one of the transitions.

Another thing that tickled me with Helix was the lack of hand-holding. I do so very much appreciate games that opt for absolute minimal explanation—it provides an additional layer of mini aha-moments whilst ambling around trying to figure out what’s going on. Sure, it can make for some confusing moments, like when I respawned after touching a glowing orb with the ability to suddenly produce blocks, but that just added to the game’s mysterious nature. I know I initially mentioned the similarities to Zelda, but I would be doing the game a disservice if I didn’t also mention the Tunic-vibes I got whilst traversing the landscape.

The puzzle progression flowed smoothly, not ramping up too quickly, yet becoming tricky enough by the end of the demo that a couple of times I had to have a real good scratch of the noggin. In all honesty, I had to close the game and return to it three times before I realised what I had to do for one puzzle. I was so convinced that the game had a bug that I even joined the Bad Mongoose Discord specifically to ask for a hint… though thankfully moments before I was about to post I figured it out. Forehead slapped.

As well as some excellent puzzling moments, Helix encourages exploration: hidden secrets in the form of collectibles can be found in areas you otherwise might not discover unless you tried to go there. It’s definitely a game where you’re rewarded for investigating every nook and cranny. I’ll have to wait for the full release to know what some of the collectibles actually do, though…

Every now and again I’d come across a mini computer which, when activated, threw me into a platformer mini-game reminiscent of the original Donkey Kong. I encountered a handful of these during my playthrough, and they seemed to be the same game, just with slightly different variations on the layout. Being the demo, it’s impossible to say whether it’s the same for every instance, but hopefully there is some variety, as I can tell I would tire of them. It does give the option to change difficulty, so I appreciated that at least (though whether increased difficulty gives additional benefits was also unclear to me).

Solving puzzles in Helix is done through the utilisation of different powers. The demo gives the player two to play with, granted out one-by-one and initially constrained to their own zones; but later combined in what appeared to be more of an ‘overworld’. The game promises a mix-and-match system of abilities, so it’ll be interesting to see what kinds of combinations there will be. 

Of the two I got a chance to use, the first power allowed me to produce two large blocks, with the dual-effect of being used as platforms to cross water, as well as being able to hold down buttons at a distance. 

The second power gave me the ability to produce a clone of my own head and fly it around for a bit, remotely exploding it at will–mainly to activate otherwise impossible-to-reach buttons, but I did enjoy flying the head into the centre of a cluster of critters and then causing them to scatter in panic when I self-detonated. 

One aspect of the game did have me primed to throw shade fairly early on, but thankfully that issue was quashed before it became too irritating. I had a very similar experience with Lorelei and the Laser Eyes *sips coffee (iykyk)—it was quite enraging honestly, and I was this close to putting the game down, but glad I persevered!

My only real criticism of the game comes in the form of how saving works (although I feel I should preface this by saying it’s very possible I misunderstood how saving works!). Simply put, it wasn’t clear to me where checkpoints existed. On the two times I needed to put the game down, I was confident I’d reached a point where I was satisfied it would save my progress. However, upon returning to the game later, I found I had to repeat some things. Whilst I appreciated the game, saving my found collectibles and skipping the Donkey Kong sequences, having to repeat some of the puzzles was a little irksome.

Saving woes aside, I thoroughly enjoyed the demo of Helix: Descent N Ascent, and I’m excited to see what new powers I’ll be able to play with on full release. From viewing the pause menu, I already have an idea of how many to expect, so in the meantime I’ll just have to ponder about what they might be. 

From watching the trailer, I know there is some kind of hook-shot power, and if you know me, you’ll know I love a good old hook-shotting action.