Times have been going up and down, and 2023 is turning out to be a crazy mix that’s bound to flip the script. The gaming scene has been just as wild and wacky, and Hilltop Studios is the latest contender to join the Hall of Fame, though nothing is ever as it seems. Hilltop Studios started off as a casual conversation between two friends, Artiom Komarov and Scott Christian. Things spiraled from there, and they founded their studio in 2020. Now, this Canadian studio is definitely very green, but a little teamwork and some brilliant inspiration are all it takes to bring a little magic to you.

The magic in question is with their first and only release, Lil’ Guardsman, released on 23 January, and you’re in for a hell of a ride. Hilltop Studios’ main ideology is to make games that blend storytelling with great mechanics, and it looks like they hit the nail square on the head with this one. Something to keep in mind with Lil’ Guardsman is that it is incredibly reminiscent of ‘Papers, Please’ in terms of most of the gameplay, but it comes with a few fun twists in a more relaxed cartoon-like world. Without further delay, let the chaos begin as we dive into the weird world of Lil’ Guardsman.

The world of Lil’ Guardsman isn’t quite what you’d expect when you go through the introductory cinematic, and you’ll be told a story about a small child who was thrown into the workforce. Granted, the kingdom she lives in, the Sprawl, is on the verge of everlasting peace, but that can change very quickly. That same small child will be the one making the biggest decisions that can guarantee peace or bring about the end of the Sprawl, and it will make a wrong decision at the worst time. You’ll take on the role of Lil, a small 12-year-old girl with a massive job ahead of her, thanks to her gambler dad, who’d rather spend his days betting on games than doing his job.

Jumping straight in, the same cinematic that turned into a nightmare turned out to only be an actual nightmare as it woke up Lil in fright. This is where you’ll get to see her and her dad along with the first taste of what Lil’ Guardsman looks like – The first thing you’ll likely think of is, ‘Why isn’t this an animated Saturday morning cartoon?’ The thing is, why to watch a cartoon when you can instead play it and make epic decisions? Sadly, Lil’s childhood is about to come to an end when her dad, Hamish, wants to have ‘The Talk’ with her. No, it’s not that talk…. It’s the type of talk where she has to start working her dad’s shift at the guardshed so he can run off to bet on Goblinball games.

Now, Lil’ Guardsman isn’t this heavily animated game with intense visuals and the like; it’s a 2D Indie that relies more on simplicity and its story. So you might not get these epic cutscenes and dialogues, and you’ll instead get a lot of subtitles and brilliant voice acting, but the small changes in expressions and conversations are what will keep you glued down for the next laugh that will get to you – Like a Saturday cartoon. Get it? Well, not yet, but you will soon enough. Off you go to the guardshed with Lil and Hamish, or Mrs. Abernathy calls him ‘Shamish’ because if the shoe fits.

Your adventure and tutorial really take off at the guardshed, where you’ll need to decide who gets to enter the Sprawl. However, you can’t just let anybody in; you’ll have to interview the many people and creatures and use the occasional tool to make sure they don’t want to do anything malicious. Remember, your decisions can assure everlasting peace or the total destruction of the Spawl. Luckily, your first person is the sweet old Mrs. Abernathy, and she’ll also act as the main part of the tutorial.

At the start of each encounter in Lil’ Guardsman, the person or creature that wants to enter will state their business in the Sprawl, though they might not always be speaking the truth. You’ll need to conduct interviews to check for holes in their story, use tools like the Truth Spray, and might even have to phone a friend in power. These friends in power are Councilwoman Ashe, the politician, Lieutenant Stryker, the guard captain, and lastly, Malcolm, the royal jester, even though he is chaos personified. Making a call to one of them won’t always give you a definitive answer, and they’ll usually only give you an opinion, but this also depends on what the Royalty Writ says. The Royal Writ is where you’ll be given your criteria for the day, such as – No goblins are to enter the Sprawl or Councilwoman Ashe is expecting someone from the Mage Guild, but she must be called when they arrive.

The Royal Writ isn’t just for the daily criteria, though; the ever-chaotic Malcolm might throw the odd wildcard at you and be willing to pay for the bit of chaos his request will cause. However, it’ll be up to you as to what you’ll allow into the Sprawl in Lil’ Guardsman, even if your choices can be damning to a whole kingdom. Lucky for you, you are eventually given a proverbial ‘undo button’, but more on this later. For now, a more pressing matter to deal with is the stress-inducing world of tools, the crystals that power them and Action Points.

As mentioned before, Lil’ Guardsman puts you in a position where you’ll be the deciding factor as to who gets into the Sprawl, but sometimes you’ll need a little help separating truth from lies. This is where you’ll need a few tools to aid you in the interrogation process, such as – The Truth Spray, X-Ray, Metal Detector, Bullwhip, and Decoder Ring. Each of these tools has its uses, but they’re limited to the number of Power Crystals you have at the start of your shift and how many you can use in each tool. You’ll carry over your previous shift’s crystals and get three more at the start of each shift, but this doesn’t mean you’ll have enough to go crazy with using them. A little economic thinking can go a long way, and you’ll need a decent stockpile later on.

Now, you’re not just limited to Power Crystals in Lil’ Guardsman; you’ll also be limited with actions. In most cases, you’ll have 3 Action Points per person, and you’ll have to use those points carefully to come to a conclusion as to whether or not to allow the person in or deny them entry…. Or, send them to the dungeon. However, not all your interactions end with allowing or denying people access to the Sprawl. Some of them will end in Lil’s demise or their own – Naturally, Lil meeting her end is a bad thing, but if a bad guy happens to turn dust because you decoded their demonic curse, it’s still a win.

Allowing or denying people and creatures entry into the Sprawl is great, but nobody works for free, and Lil does get paid for her work. This gets even better when Lil’ Guardsman sweetens the child labor deal with a star rating for each encounter; scoring a higher star rating will also net you extra gold, which you can use on Goblinball bets or at Garby Bunches’ shop. His name might be hilarious, but his shop isn’t a joke; he’ll sell tool upgrades and Power Crystals to you for a fee, and you’ll need both as you progress through Lil’ Guardsman.

To save the most crucial part of Lil’s Guardsman for last, the proverbial ‘Undo Button’. Meet the Chronometer3000 is essentially a time machine that will allow you to rewind time on certain encounters for that shift or even restart the day altogether. This might not look like much at first, but there’s no shame in a little trial and error to really make the most of your star rating or to rewrite a mistake you made when you accidentally let in a seemingly innocent girl with a brilliant singing that turned out to be a homicidal maniac. That same girl has a particularly vicious habit of killing people in dark alleyways. This serves as one of the prime examples as to why you need to be extra careful to figure out what you’re dealing with; simply turning the killer away doesn’t mean the kingdom is safe.

There is one more thing to keep an eye out for in Lil’ Guardsman, with how much detail went into each character, you’re not just listening to what they’re saying; you’ll also have to see what they look like. Suspicion comes in all shapes and sizes; even a little blood splatter or a sob that sounds fake can be cause for further investigation. Granted, this is also what makes a game like Lil’ Guardsman so special and possibly even better than ‘Papers, Please’; it’s all the extra detail and how deceptively innocent everything looks that makes it brilliant.

Lil’ Guardsman might not have realistic visuals, fast-paced action, or mind-meltingly smooth animation quality, but its simplicity is what makes it so visually appealing. The modern cartoon art style really brings everything to life, and the extra details, along with the small expression changes during dialogues, is that extra level of polish that keeps you coming back for more; it’s also what drives the story forward in all the best ways. However, Lil’ Guardsman isn’t just a visual delight on its own.

This brings us to the other half of what makes this game shine; the inspired voice acting. Voiced acting in any game is already a nightmare to make it convincing, but Lil’ Guardsman’s voice actors went above and beyond to give it a voice… Or several voices, each one adding their unique touch to the Sprawl and Lil’s perilous job to root out evil. Bringing the visuals and voice acting together is where this becomes a true deduction game, and you’ll need to pay attention to both to spot those slight differences that don’t add up.

Overall, Lil’ Guardsman is one of the better deduction games that takes on a very cozy approach with its art style and voice acting, but it keeps you hooked on its story. Fans of social deduction games will definitely enjoy this strange release for its incredibly strange and whacky events, but they’ll also be pleasantly surprised at just how deceiving looks can be. Lil’ Guardsman definitely takes the title of being a double-edged sword, and you’ll never really be too sure which side is sharp, but that’s the beauty of it all and what will keep you coming back for more each time.

Jay Claassen (@R3GR3T_3NVY)
Senior Editor, NoobFeed