REVIEW: Henry Halfhead joyfully brings to halfmind the simpler things in life

Henry Halfhead might just be one of the most genuinely sweet and sentimental games I've played all year. Whimsy is at the top of the agenda for Lululu Entertainment's sophomore effort, a game that places childlike glee and experimentation at the forefront and smuggles in an emotional story about how best to live our lives.

​Just the Facts

Developer: Lululu Entertainment

Publisher: Lululu Entertainment, popagenda

​Platform(s): PC*, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch *denotes platform reviewed

​Price: $12.99

Release Date: September 16, 2025

Review key provided by publisher.

This half-head adventure has full-fledged power backing it with the Zurich-based students who came together to create a game featuring a hero with powers but one major disadvantage, eventually morphing that experience into Henry Halfhead. Lululu Entertainment then decided to bring in a partner to help publish the game, halving the work in that department, by bringing on board popagenda, a company we know fondly as one of the top indie PR companies around that has begun to bring their work into publishing as well.

Henry Halfhead tells the story of a child named Henry, born as nothing more than half a head. In your journey as Henry, you'll see them learn about art, go to school, get a job, and otherwise experience the ebb and flow of the human experience. Well, I guess the halfhead experience. As a halfhead, Henry's got a special ability that really helps them understand the world — and that's the ability to hop into and become any object in the world around them. By doing so, Henry receives a unique perspective on the world, and on life in general.

As I said at the top, Henry Halfhead is full of whimsy. From the PBS Kids-like narrator charmingly dictating each silly thing I was up to, to the all-around silly playfulness of the game's first half, it's so smiley and sweet that I almost wondered if it was going to be more intended for a younger audience. I almost felt myself retreat from the game. But then Henry got a job, and it became clear that was kind of exactly the point.

This game, just two to four hours long depending on how thoroughly you play in its sandbox, is a reminder: not only about embracing childhood joy, but also about remembering who you are and never losing hold of it. Today's world tells us to retreat from whimsy, to balk at joy and silliness for the sake of it; Henry Halfhead is the antithesis.

By the end of my time with the game, I felt grateful tears welling up.

One of my favorite sequences of the game is one that displays the monotony of the daily work-life — of how it strips us of our personhood and makes us single-minded beasts for the machine. Even within its limited presentation style and the constraints of its particular brand of mini-sandbox exploration gameplay, Henry Halfhead showcases this concept so effectively and in a way that's familiar enough for anyone to wince at.

It's silly, it's whimsy, it's childhood joy — and Lululu Entertainment manages to package it so well that it even caught me trying not to be cringe. Let yourself be cringe, gamers.

Speaking of childhood joy and literal sandboxes, that's exactly what Henry Halfhead delivers in its gameplay experience. Clearly inspired by the likes of cute but weird games like Katamari Damacy and its oddball ilk, Henry Halfhead is less about the objectives ahead of you and more about just seeing what's possible in its world, following your creativity and imagination as you hop into and out of objects in the world around you to pick up and interact with them.

You've got simple goals at each step of Henry's life, but some of the moments that sparked the most joy for me were when I saw something in the distance, wondered what Henry could do — or even just what he would look like — when he possessed it, and making that my one and only goal from that point forward. Each one made me smile, giggle, and think of some other fun thing to combo this new interaction with. Sometimes that coincided with accidentally doing what the game told me to do, sometimes it made for a fun five minute distraction; but either way I was enjoying myself.

Henry Halfhead is less about the objectives ahead of you and more about just seeing what's possible in its world.

I think it would have been exciting to see the game find more challenging ways to utilize these systems or at least have a little more interesting structure — though a late game "level" does just that before pulling into the game's ending — but it was still fun to poke around. Henry Halfhead doesn't overstay its welcome with its short run time. I managed to squeeze four hours out of it and I still yearned for a little more in the end. I almost wish there was some sort of sandbox level I could play around in after credits rolled.

Even with the ways it appeals to all ages, I imagine this would be a perfect game for a youngin' to get sucked into. Everything is accomplished with one of two buttons and its concepts are simple enough that experimentation will more often than not net you your goals, so I'd certainly recommend it as a fun family-friendly game to consider. Especially because the game also comes with a fun two-player local co-op mode, which spawns in a second halfhead to help you set up some fun interactions even more easily (e.g. one of you inhabits a toaster while the other hops into a piece of bread).

Henry Halfhead is just pure fun from start to finish. I talk a lot about the "aha" moments in the cerebral brain-teasing detective games we review a lot here at VGG, but there's a second version I love just as much.

It's the "ooh, what if" moment, and it's scattered all throughout Henry Halfhead. The feeling where you find a new item or concept in the world and wonder if that thing you did or saw earlier would interact in a fun way... and it does, sometimes in the way you expected and sometimes creating a completely delightful surprise.

To sell that whimsy, Henry Halfhead's world is beautifully realized. As you explore each of Henry's spaces, which come together modularly as you open new doorways and accomplish tasks (almost like a child's building playset), the world is painted in bright colors and simple shapes. It spawns in a void that your brain almost fills in on its own as you dig into each environment, whether it be a classroom or Henry's kitchen.

The manner of Henry's object possession talent is visualized by stamping his big, round, curious eyes and protruding nose onto everything he inhabits, and it's always a joy to witness.

The soundtrack would fit in with an episode of Adventure Time, full of goofy beeps and boops, sneaky lyrical earworms, and Mario Paint-like exclamations. Composer Lucien Guy Montandon rounds out the package with all the whimsical levity you could hope for. (And that theme song is just stuck in my head.)

But it's the little details that really sealed my enjoyment here. There's the accessibility allegory as Henry has to find new ways to navigate this world as a halfhead. There's the inclusivity of Henry being referred to with gender neutral pronouns at all times and the player being allowed to pick a skin color that best matches their lived experience. Leander Schneeberger's narration reacting in real-time to my shenanigans. Books in the world matching the lessons the game's trying to impart.

Lululu Entertainment uses all parts here to sell its vision, and it all sings in harmony.

By the end of my time with the game, I felt grateful tears welling up — for being able to experience what Henry had to offer and for how it helped me reflect on my own life.

It is a simple little thing, not unlike Time Flies, another 2025 favorite which offers a similar runtime and mini puzzle box format. But Henry Halfhead made me feel more and smile more than many other games have this year.

So I've got half a mind (get it?) to say you've got to give this game a try if you've still got whimsy in your heart — or if you're looking for a gateway to finding more of it.

Video Games Are Good and Henry Halfhead is . . . GREAT. (8.5/10)

+ joy-driven sandbox gameplay for all ages, a genuine saccharine narrative experience that leaves an imprint, a banger of a theme song

- a little too simple in spots, over before you know it, will make you think about some surprisingly deep things

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