Metal: Hellsinger is developed by a team of heavy metal lovers at The Outsiders studio and published by Funcom. Before its release, this game also received the most anticipated Steam game award at Gamescom 2022.
Fear of demons
In Metal: Hellsinger you take on the role of a character called The Unknown who has had his voice stolen and has been imprisoned in Hell for years. Until the narrator, Paz, one of your weapons, opens a door in this prison for the Unknown to return and avenge his suffering and most importantly get his voice back from the King of Hell, The Judge.
Paz tells the story most of the time through semi-animated cutscenes. Of course, you should not expect a complete and meaningful story from such games, because the main focus of these types of games is on their gameplay, but Metal: Hellsinger was able to present a purposeful story in the middle of its exciting gameplay.
Heavy metal rhythm
Metal: Hellsinger has done well with music from very popular heavy metal singers and bands, such as Alissa White, Mikael Stanne, and Matt Heafy. Each stage has its own special music and environment design to separate each stage from the others.
To use the rhythmic system in its gameplay, the game Metal: Hellsinger has placed marks on the sides of the crosshair that move in sync with the BPM of the music on that stage, and by firing at the right time, the Fury ratio on the top of the screen will also increase. Increasing this ratio, in addition to increasing your damage power, also makes the background music more perfect over time; Until the x16 factor, the vocals are also added to the music.
Increasing the ratio and staying at x16 is not that difficult; therefore, the game experience will be very enjoyable. But if you don’t shoot for a while, for example, because you have to go to another area and there are no enemies in the environment, your multiplier will be reduced. By lowering the Fury from x16 to x8, the audio stops and the music returns to its original state.
Weapons
You have 6 weapons, 2 of which are always with you and you can choose your other 2 main weapons. You will find 4 of the weapons during the first 4 stages. It’s fun to use them all, and each weapon has a special ability that you can use if you kill enough demons with it.
6 weapons, only 4 of which are main weapons, may seem less compared to other games of this genre, but the total number of stages in this game is very small; This will prevent you from using these weapons again. But on the other hand, these stages are all enjoyable and have wonderful music for shooting with their rhythm.
At the end of each stage, you can play the same stage again with new challenges called Torments. Due to the well-designed stages, these double challenges increase the game’s replay value.
You will face a boss fight in each stage. Unfortunately, all these boss fights are in the same form and with the same music. It only changes the fighting environment and some features of the boss of that stage.
Conclusion
The title Metal: Hellsinger is a relatively short but very enjoyable game for fans of rhythmic shooter games and, above all, fans of heavy metal music. The very good design of the stages, their extraordinary original music, and the special challenges of each stage multiply the value of the experience of each stage.
The Outsiders studio has managed to provide a great experience in this game and also create a solid foundation for the development of future games.
Positive points
- Smooth gameplay
- Great music
- Attractive environment design
Negative points
- Few stages and repetitive boss fights
- Unsuitable mixing of music when changing from x16 to x8
