Henchman Story is a tale of superheroes colliding with capitalism
Henchman Story starts off with a full-throttle goofy tone, and at first I thought I was in for a standard superhero story — just from a slightly different point of view. I play Stan, a goon who works for an over the top, bombastic supervillain. I’m bored but content, and the benefits are too good to quit despite the occasional beating from a hero. But then a new venture capitalist joins the team, and things get much more interesting. While Henchman Story is an interactive tale about superheroes, it’s also a story about living in a world where superheroes haven’t stopped capitalism from running amok. It’s a simple ride made more interesting by the cast of characters and the compelling core conflict.
Henchman Story is a visual novel, so the gameplay comes down to making choices in dialogue trees. While these choices start small — am I nice to my obnoxious supervisor, or do I snidely dunk on the dude? — they ramp up as the story goes on. Eventually, I have to make big choices on whether to betray a friend, overthrow a boss, or relentlessly pursue my own self-interests.
Stan lives on a supervillain base, where he receives meals, shelter, and benefits. He’s just a cog in a corporate system, and the stresses of day-to-day worker life are amplified a thousandfold — he works for a supervillain, after all. Stan starts as a henchman under the employ of a silly, scene-chewing bad guy called Lord Bedlam, but a new executive coming aboard complicates things quickly. Madame Scorpion is an assassin with a suite of mysterious powers, and she’s oddly interested in Stan. That fixation causes problems in the rest of his life, which I have to either roll with or desperately try to repair.
Player choices become less about whether Stan is a
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