Gretel and Hansel

Gretel and Hansel is the first installment in an episodic adventure series based on the classic fairly tale Hansel and Gretel, popularized by the Brothers Grimm. This chapter (subtitled "Stones") tells how Gretel and Hansel's parents decide that in order to preserve food, they need to leave the children behind in the forest. Gretel overhears the conversation and needs to collect ten pebbles she can leave behind to find back the route when they are in the forest. It ends when the two children wake up abandoned in the forest and the second chapter will pick up from there.

This adaptation is not a linear recreation and introduces a number of twists. Using digitized watercolor paintings for the graphics, there are many humorous actions and ten different gruesome deaths for the children to experience. Players only control Gretel. She can be moved around using the keyboard and the left mouse button is used for actions. She carries a slingshot used to interact with the environment and collected items are stored in a knapsack, which acts as an inventory. When walking around a hint balloon often pops up to indicate that Gretel can perform an action there. Her first task is to find a way to leave the room and venture outside before her parents wake up. She can explore the surroundings of the house, including a well and an area guarded by a giant spider. When dying the game continues right away from the last section.

There is no spoken conversation during the game. Instead the characters talk through speech balloons with animated images of the conversation (similar to Machinarium), complemented with some humming that reveals the tone of the speech. The game is generally designed as a point-and-click adventure, but the route to the forest is completely different. It is presented as a mini-game where quick reflexes are needed to prevent Gretel from getting mauled under the cart of her mother, while she needs to jump to avoid obstacles, leave behind pebbles and scare off the bird that tries to drag away Hansel.

The Newgrounds version of the game has in-game medals.