I haven’t slept all night, but it was worth it. I am exhausted, have a pounding headache, and my day is not going to be a good one, but was worth it. I truly enjoyed this game, revelled in it. It do like to play the villain, and this game captures that experience in a fashion I found to be much more satisfying than in other titles; whether published here or even on game consoles.
But I am getting ahead of myself. I always start with the negatives first, and as much as I enjoyed this novel it is not perfect. It has problems. It has it’s flaws. And here is what I came across in my playthough:
~ The Wait - Even though you expect to play a game in which you are the villain, you do not really take that moniker until much later in the game. Which was rather frustrating. I understand that this is the very beginning, and you do not have the convenience of being rich at start (I’m looking at you, Diabolial 
), but it would have been nice to play as your own villainous persona for a bit longer.
~ The Darkness in Your Past - From what I read, it seems that you experienced something traumatic, though I am left rather confused over what that was exactly. I read the scenes, but I am left unsure as to what happened to the protagonist. Since I did not really know what happened, it was hard for me to feel immersed in those moments; as if it is my trauma rather than the protagonists. Certainly I was left very conscious that I was reading someone else’s life story rather than weaving my own. In those moments, at the very least.
~ The Lack of Impact in the Ending - Personally, when you review the impact that your villainy has caused, I found it lacking. I was expecting vicious news articles, TV show personalities making cutting jokes at the Rangers expence, politicians coming in and promising that this new villain will be hunted down, a air of fear and terror hanging over the city from your victory, and perhaps the creation of a fan site dedicated to us. Now that last one would have been pretty sweet.
~ A Few Errors of Code and Word Placement - They were not common, and were rather minor. But there were moments when I found words out of place in sentences or some coding that I think may have gone a bit wrong. Only a minor annoyance, though.
Those were my main concerns. Now on to the better half! The gushing!
~ Story Felt More Realistic For A Villain - I cannot say that I was entirely immersed, but the story did grip me. I do wonder if the author had listened to Jordan Peterson, or whether they studied psychology at all. What was discerned in terms of the protagonists character, the anger and hated and blind detachment to the world around them, and that last part must sound odd considering that we play as a telepath.
I watched and listened to a video of Jordan Peterson speaking of the school shooters, and the darkness flickering within the protagonist feels akin to what Peterson spoke of. It’s chilling, in some ways, but it makes for a great story. Chilling also in terms of how dark of a Villain I became, which was fantastic as well. Torturing Herald like that. It was refreshing for that not to be editted out. The whole experience just felt so much more real. In a lot of other titles, your ‘villainy’ feels very shallow and unbelievable. A monster does not start off as a monster, after all. It takes work, hard work, to grow that dark and snuff out the light.
~ Playing This Villain Felt Incredible - It is only at the end that you truly become the Villain, but it felt incredible when it finally came. You really did feel like a God in that armour, in comparison to the heroes. A true villain; incredibly powerful and overwhelming. You really were able to cause so much chaos, so much mayhem, and so much fear. And suffering. Being able to torture Herald, seeing the casualties in the hospital. They were nice touches, allowing you to deepen yourself into your own darkness.
~ The Powers and Armour were Great Features - I was honstly sceptical about the usefulness of the telepathic powers, but being able to possess people, influence them, gave you a feeling of power. It was fleeting, but it was the promise of what was to come later. The armour I loved the most, though. Whatever the protagonist paid the doctor, it wasn’t enough. A brilliant piece of technology that worked better than I could have hoped. The armour made you physically powerful, and the telepathy made you magically (that is the only way I can describe it) powerful as well. To use that combination to wipe the floor with those heroes was definitely satisfying.
~ The Romance Dynamic was… Interesting - In all honesty, I didn’t have much interest in the doctor. But Ortega was another matter entirely. That was definitely interesting, interacting with him both in my puppet and own forms, it made for an entertaining dynamic to the story that I thought was handled well. In the end, I decided to have my puppet romance the former Marshal. It didn’t really work, but I am hopeful for the future. I didn’t want to romance it personally, at least not in the end. It was a hard choice. I actually did like him. But I enjoy being a villain too much. Like the scene in the park. It is hard to hate him, admittedly. I did waver a few times, so tempted to give in to the light, to open up to him. But I didn’t. I ran away. If there were ever a chance I would have been interested in him, it died at that moment, hence why I mopped the floor with him.
You know, I almost wondered if the puppet might be a romance option in the future. It did think of it when I created him, but then there was that sigh of activity in the hospital; the puppet dreaming. Perhaps that is what the author is working towards. I silently hope that it is.
In conclusion, this was a very enjoyable game for me, being a very good start to a series. And there have been a few titles that have been the start of a series lately; Choice of Rebels, Wayhaven Chronicles, and now Fallen Hero. This one, though, certainly scratched the need for a decent game that I liked in which we play as a villain. And a real villain at that; not some caricature. I raise a glass to the author, @malinryden. You did a great job in this game, and I eagerly await the next installment. 
Just please, please do not make the next installment with some tacky game show scenario. That really took the immersion out of Heroes Rise for me. >_<
i have no words. i just love them so much. now that i think of it, most of my fave scenes involve ortega (or the MC’s issues or both)
