Metal: Hellsinger (2022)

Metal: Hellsinger delivers well on its promise of blending Doom's demon-blasting FPS gameplay with the action-rhythm hybrid we have in games like Crypt of the Necrodancer. For a first effort it exceeded my expectations, but I think there's a lot of room for this type of game to grow. There's not a lot of depth to the gameplay, which is alright considering the game's short length, but I didn't feel compelled to play more and chase high scores after finishing the story.

In this FPS you match the timing of your shots to the beat of the metal songs playing in the background. The soundtrack is really great across the board, though I found myself preferring the tracks of the first few levels. Regardless, all of them were tempting to headbang to. The thing is they pretty much all seem to have the same rhythm, and with most levels looking very similar visually, the only real distinction between them as far as gameplay is concerned is the later levels feature higher quantities and a greater variety of enemies. Oh and I guess the bosses are...sort of unique. They use roughly the same model. The arena is often what makes the difference with them.

The weapon variety was fine, but I found myself happiest when I was using the first couple weapons the game handed me and each subsequent unlock felt further away from what I enjoyed. I'd like to see weapon types focus less on different effective ranges and more on how they fit into the beats you should be shooting in time with. The shotgun has a really satisfying fire, cock gun, fire, repeat rhythm to it while later ones just mix up how long you wait between shots. Maybe having limited ammo and better enemy variety would force me to switch weapons more like In Doom: Eternal?

This rhythm game does commit the sin of leaning too heavily into its story. Every time you boot up a level, you'll sit through a cutscene made up of lightly animated still frames and a narration playing over them. I couldn't bring myself to care about the plot, but figured I should sit through them regardless. But it doesn't stop there though. The game also has narration throughout each of the levels. More specifically, in the middle of combat, when I'm trying to focus on timing my shots to the music. The choice to have that happen in a rhythm game is a true headscratcher, to be sure. After a couple levels I turned the voice volume to zero and never looked back. The narration wasn't all that great anyway.

I truly hope they revisit this concept because there's lots of ways you could go with the foundation laid by Hellsinger.

"Metal Hellsinger" offers a unique gameplay experience where players shoot and kill hordes of monsters to the rhythm of metal music. Successfully hitting the right beats enhances the damage dealt, adding a rhythmic challenge to the shooter mechanics. The game's concept is engaging, and the music sets a fitting backdrop for the action. The variety of weapons and ultimates, particularly the hounds, adds depth to the gameplay. However, there's room for improvement.

Suggestions for Future Iterations:

Sigils: While Sigils can be useful, I found them to be of limited necessity. Their role could be expanded or better explained to enhance their utility.

New Monsters: Introducing a greater variety of monsters would keep the gameplay fresh and challenging.

Boss Design: The bosses in the game felt underwhelming and too similar. Distinct and unique boss designs, with different sprites and mechanics, would significantly improve the experience.

Weapon Variety: Adding more weapons would give players more options and keep combat interesting.

Difficulty and Levels: The game could benefit from a more balanced difficulty curve or the inclusion of checkpoints, especially if more levels are added.

Co-op Campaign: A local or online co-op campaign mode would be a fantastic addition, allowing players to enjoy the game with friends.

Setting: Setting the next game in Heaven could provide a fresh and intriguing contrast to the current hellish environments.

Overall, "Metal Hellsinger" is an enjoyable game with a solid foundation. With these enhancements, future iterations could elevate the series to new heights.

First music pack landed.

Reviews on Steam are "mixed", mostly from people complaining that the songs are not "metal". One review mentions that the songs are not layered, meaning that the sound of the song doesn't depend on the current combo meter, which for me it's a deal breaker. I think the layering is one of the big selling points of the game.

Roll Credits?: Yes!

Surprised/Let Down/As Expected: Let Down

Favorite Mechanic or Narrative Moment: When a battle flows properly, there are a bunch of mini dopamine hits as things line up just right, and it's crazy

Least Favorite Thing: The depth of the combat just isn't there. Most weapons come down to just shooting on the beat, and enemy variety doesn't really land. The extra sigils don't feel too impactful, because the difficulty of the game is quite low. Turning up the difficulty simply increases enemy hp, and isn't very satisfying either. the final boss is an immediate difficulty spike, and isn't particularly enjoyable to fight through

I was stoked for this game since I heard about it and then played the demo and it didn't disappoint. Fun, fast, challenging and with good music.

The only real issue, for me, is that it's all ab bit too one note. The songs are good (although not my main cup of tea) but honestly I couldn't tell them apart. Most levels also look the same (some variety of hellish red) and all boss are the same and played with the same music.

But it's short enough that the repetition didn't bother me and in the end I enjoyed it a lot.

I wish the boss fights throughout were better. All of them underwhelmed outside of the final boss. I also wish the weapon varieties and rhythm patterns were more varied. The entire game seems to play at the exact same "rhythm" no matter which weapon you use, and all weapons are made to work within that seemingly constant rhythm. More variety would've made the game more challenging and fun, IMO.

The music, while very good, was a bit lacking in the first half of the game. The metal songs sound really generic, but it definitely picks up in the latter levels. Especially the final level, but again, I wish more of the game was like that final stage. It's worth playing, and overall it's exceeded my expectations, but there is room for growth in a potential sequel (if there is any).

We've got Souls-likes & Rogue-likes... I think this counts as a Doom-like. And it's a fun enough one of those. The catch on this game is that you're expected to stab/shoot with the rhythm of the background music.

I had to dial it down to Easy mode to get more than halfway through the game playing on a controller. Even on Easy mode, the final boss was still a bullet-hell pain in my butt.

Short & sweet; and despite getting repetitive fairly quickly, it doesn't out-stay its welcome.

Also, it's a crime that you can't buy the soundtrack for this anywhere.

Dang it.

After 2 weeks of dealing with customer support for Microsoft Rewards to fix the broken PC Game Pass code they sent me, my Game Pass subscription ended. Sure, I could pay actual money to spin my subscription back up and finish this game, but being a cheap POS is my brand.

The game is pretty fun so far, but halfway through it feels pretty repetitive. I do wish there was a way to dial down the difficulty so I could plow through the rest of it. As far as I can tell, once you pick the difficulty on a playthrough, you're stuck with it. Making it to the boss in a given stage then dying and having to start the stage from scratch feels like a fairly large time commitment when you're bad at games.

I actually like the off-brand Overwatch Cowboy narrator voice. Not sure why it seems to get a lot of hate here. Is it because of the baggage behind that character in Overwatch?

And as a metalhead, I really need to get my hands on this soundtrack. That's something I've never said about a videogame...

Difficulty: Beast (this game's version of Hard)

Right off the bat, the soundtrack is great and my three favorite tracks of the game are:

1. No Tomorrow ft. Serk Tankian (System of a Down)

2. This Devastation ft. Matt Heaft (Trivium)

3. Dissolution ft. Björn "Speed" Strid (Soilwork)

Rhythm games based on action is becoming more of a thing nowadays. Crypt of the Necrodancer is one of my favorite roguelites and at this point, it has become its own indie darling franchise, I have not played BPM, but it is one of the first well known rhythm FPS games. Metal: Hellsinger is one of my absolute favorite games of 2022 and one of my favorite rhythm games. I played it via Game Pass, and now I want to buy it for myself. I mean I always wanted to, just even more now.

Gameplay is great, made fantastic by the music of the game. Not only are you incentivized to raise the Fury meter to 16x by having vocals exclusive to 16x, but more Fury deals more damage in general. Enemy design is mostly great and varied. Arsenal is really cool. I like the dual boomerangs a lot as using them optimally is a matter of distancing yourself between enemies so that they can be hit twice by one throw. And I love the smaller mechanics in the game like having a diagonal dash to easily escape being crowded depending on where you aim. It even has a bit of ULTRAKILL's dash jump wasn't used much, but feels so good to pull off. The slaughters, Metal: Hellsinger's versions of DOOM 2016/Eternal's Glory Kills, can be used to travel long distances and is great for such.

Some tweaks I would like to see in a later update would be that the shielded Cambions are way too spongy on Beast. Like it can soak up nearly a whole entire sword ultimate, even at 16x Fury. For the Hounds(the dual wielded pistols), you can't place your ultimate while in the air. Being in the air now feels like a small punishment for trying to be evasive. A solution would be to place it like you can with the crossbow's ultimate. Give an option to remove the audio filter when low on health. It takes me out of the music for a moment and I have to scurry for health via crystals or slaughters to get the music back since it is harder to get back into the beat. I think the tracking of enemy attacks is a bit too aggressive for my taste.

As much as I love the soundtrack, I think the way the rhythm is handled is kinda samey. Now granted, the instruments were all done by Two Feathers. I mean that the tempos between levels feel similar and I would have liked to see more variation. In one of the songs, Silent No More, the vocalist screams "SILENCE!" as the instruments stop for a moment and you're still shooting. It could've been cool for a pause in gameplay, have it play around with moments like that like Necrodancer does. The thing is that the rhythm system is metronome based rather than it being based on the song.

ENDING SPOILERS

I would have loved more more resolution with the Unknown getting her voice back. The ending was disappointing on that front. Since all we get is only a part of her voice. And then she goes to Heaven and we don't get to experience it? Maybe in DLC.

8.5/10