I don't think it's a game with all the confidence it could have, and the one thing that points that up is the music, boring to hear after a while. At the same time, for a game that explores its possibilities but doesn't dig seriously in them, I think it fits, and that's not a compliment.
Take 'New Super Hook Girl' for example, a freeware game, shorter than Elechead, but with fundamental differences, such as:
- Showing the most fundamental mechanics in a very short first level.
- Having very diverse levels (only 5) where even if the mechanics are the same, don't feel the same.
- And the most painful one: it doesn't drag on.

ElecHead doesn't trust in itself enough, to the point where it chooses the path of showing but not going most of the time. The difficulty of the puzzle solutions feels adequate, but that happens very late, when the way of solving them is A) unique; or B) open. In comparison, everything before some of the last rooms is just rudimentary.

Sometimes I think that avoiding to put stuff related to humanity in videogames can cause coldness. Even the few instructions that are given to the player feel like it's sent via machine from an uninterested authority.
It may be useful to work in a videogame that way, if that guarantees concentration and continued results, yeah. But if a game is about going from A to B, repeatedly, it needs more drama.

✔
Shocking that I liked this one, right? Pun aside, Elechead is adorable. That's the best way to describe my experience. I was just sitting down and playing an adorable game. This is going to be a shorter review, but this is admittedly a shorter game. This did not make the game any less fun.

The controls are so simple. Move, jump, and throw your head. Your head is a battery, so you can use it to send electric currents to places and use it to your advantage. Unfortunately, you can't survive without your head forever. This leads to a lot of fun puzzles where you have to try and redirect your electricity (and in some cases, try to NOT get shocked).

Unlike a lot of games I've played, this one gets right to the point. You don't need to sit through a long opening. It's just start the game and go. This means there are no long tutorials or anything. There are just text boxes that show up in the background. Longer openings work for some games, but I do appreciate that Elechead just starts.

I actually came across Elechead by pure chance like Everhood before it. I just happened to see Elechead in a presentation, and when I heard it was developed by just one person, I had to check it out. Cave Story was made by just one guy too, so I was sure this would at least be good.

This is honestly one of the cutest games ever. Play it. It's short, sweet and worth your time. The mascot is adorable. The soundtrack is a bop. Just play it. It's pretty cheap too, if I recall. If it's not, it's still worth it. Go pick it up. Do it. Go right now. Really, stop reading this review and go find it.

I'm mindful that I might end up writing something that takes longer to write and/or read than it would take a person to just play the entirety of the game in question, so, short and snappy. Here goes!

ElecHead! It's a puzzle-platformer which establishes a tiny handful of core mechanics in the first, like, 4 minutes, pats you on the back and throws you at a series of challenges which are solved through the clever use of electricity. I really like this style of game design: nothing against the alternatives, of course, but I really enjoy games which hand you a small number of central mechanics at the start and test your growing understanding and mastery of them over time by only changing the environment in which they are challenged, rather than serving you a slowly expanding set of skills.

Nama, the game's developer and designer, clearly established the central mechanics available to the player early on, because it's really impressive how incredibly well designed the challenge in this game is. The game is given a genuinely satisfying and enjoyable difficulty curve through level design alone, gently introducing new environmental hazards and mechanics at a pretty even pace, which all tie in to the central electricity mechanic that the player has direct influence over.

ElecHead is really a masterclass in how to do so, so, so much with so little; I felt like I was still learning more and more about the game right up until the finish, and having an absolutely wonderful time with the process of learning the entire time. Also, it needs mentioning, Nama has a really delightful sense of humour that comes across in the mechanics and some of the smaller details of the game (including one particularly devious puzzle that I won't spoil).

There's some really nice environmental narrative stuff going on, and a particularly entertaining secret ending that's a reward for some fairly enjoyable secret hunting. The soundtrack is really nicely composed, and complements well with the process of thinking your way through some of the trickier puzzles that might have you stumped for a little bit; but it's never a tiresome experience, overall. There's even some leaning into some interesting meta-mechanics which I feel were used sparingly, and really show an interesting lens on game design. It all comes together and, in a sentence, produces a really interesting and compelling gameplay experience with so little chaff and a huge amount to love!

Nama is absolutely a game designer you ought to keep your eye on.

In 1 word: delightful.

In more words, Elechead is game that knows exactly what it is. It's snappy and precise gameplay make the movement feel so satisfying. The head-throwing feels great and becomes so intuitive and the ability to power different parts of the room is very unique and a fun concept.

I was surprised to see it wasn't level based but more room based similar to Celeste but with designated checkpoints that can, cleverly, sometimes play into the puzzle of the room itself. Although the checkpoints were placed so that sometimes I'd die and go a couple rooms back and have to repeat rooms I didn't die in.

Rides the line of difficult perfectly. Most of the rooms I was able to "solve" in real time as I completed them but a far number of rooms left me staring at the screen wondering "How do I pull this off?". And respawning is super fast so it doesn't feel too punishing.

Secrets were well hidden and satisfying, I found about half on my first way through and went back for the remainder.

As far as it's length, I think it's ideal. It left me wanting more, but I think that's far preferable to it over staying its welcome. If it was longer, I'd like to see a couple more mechanics introduced but I think it nailed it.

If you're into timing based puzzle platformers, absolutely worth giving this a try!

For a game made by a single college student, I have to say that he did an amazing job.
This feels like a game that could've been on the SNES, as this game has a unique puzzle gameplay. I think the game getting you use your head to figure out solutions to making sure Elecheads... head, impacts the walls/ceilings/platforms to activate/deactivate objects that are both harmless and deadly.

The games only song is great as it's a simple loop but is catchy enough to remember.

The game is great in puzzle design and surprisingly doesn't have a single enemy that attempts to stop you from progressing any time in this game, as any objects/environments that are deadly can only be caused to activate and destroy you are due to your own mistake as you have to understand what you did incorrect in a certain puzzle.

The games 2 endings are interesting in their concepts as the good ending is actually unexpected and can be seen as a bad ending, but also hilarious, but if you look it through the eyes/mind of (bare with me, any ai movie where a robot has gained sentience, and they decide that the issue is humans) you understand why the ending might be considered good in context of solar system.
Elechead (after having collected all golden key cards) decides to connect his head to destroy planet earth and humanity as in this timeline, humans have seemed to have harnessed the power of the Sun, but as human greed always is, they overuse it to where it's killing the solar system, so in order to save the sun and make sure even if there's a solution for humans to get other energy sources, Elechead decides to fire the laser at Earth destroying it from existence, but saving the Sun.

As for the bad ending the context is very clear, and just by how the game uses the electricity angle, to establish how the world has run out of energy and elechead is the only with said energy, and the bad ending entails him using his head to power earth once again. In context, throughout the game you find other Elecbots who are tapped out of energy or have been destroyed, this tells us that they either failed the puzzle room they were in, or they ran out of energy. With the bad ending, Elechead plugging himself into the generator to power the planet is a futile effort as, like his predessors, he too will be tapped out and Earth again will no longer have electricity.

Now obviously this is just theorizing on my part but considering how both ending can viewed in both a positive and negative light is really good story telling with hidden details to support both sides of the argument.

I honestly hope the developer makes more games, not necessarily a sequel, but I wish him all the best with his ventures in the video gaming industry.

I recommend Elechead if you want a fun, retro styled puzzle game :D