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Metal: Hellsinger (PC)

Status: Stopped playing - Something better came along
I started playing this game on Saturday 16 September, 2023  //  I stopped playing this game on: Sunday 8 October, 2023
Current opinion of this game
No comment, yet.

September 17, 2023 03:35:47 PM
Wow, this game is really metal! It really is...which makes sense, given the name. But, the more I play the more I realize that the game really does a good job of making you feel the music (you can't just "tune it out"). It's badass in the way that DOOM is badass - and it makes me think of this game as a sort of "alternate universe" version of doom. It's a FPS, with demons and stuff, and you feel like a badass as you jump around, dodge and strafe, all to the beat of heavy metal music.

It would be unfair to compare the game to Guitar Hero or other music games where "doing poorly" is equated - aurally - with muted music, loss of certain parts (e.g. vocals) - leaving only the beat (I wonder if the beat is on top of the music's drum parts?). But, that's how the game operates. BUT, where things get different is that here you really want to get your streak up - back to back kills/hits and an overall multiplier result in doing more damage, which feels more badass, and so on. The game does seem built around the positive feedback loop...when you miss though, it's a bummer and hard to recover from.

I've completed two levels (after the tutorial) and failed a few times with the 3rd. Which surprised me, tbh - because I felt like I was "pretty good" at the game (despite losing at least once in each of the levels played, but resurrecting in them - at a score cost). Anyways, the difficulty jump seems more about my failing to keep a streak up (and not dodging all that well?) But, it might also be that I chose my weapons poorly? (unlike other FPS games where you either have all the weapons or you find them along the way, here you choose a weapon to use - presumably leaving the others behind - which feels annoying as I kept trying to switch over to the shotgun only to realize I didn't have it - because I'd picked twin pistols instead).

So, I then played a few torment levels that are basically short challenges that reward you with what I think are permanent boons to make things easier. There are 3 for each level, so perhaps the ideal progression is to complete a level, then do the 3 boons and then move on to the next level? We'll see how it goes the next time I play level 3.

Am I having fun? Yes - but it's tricky for me - you have to do everything on the beat, and missing the beat on the keyboard as you're also trying to hit the reload (R)_, or switch weapons, or dash...it all might be a bit too much for my middle-aged hands at this point. I could always lower the difficulty level, but I'm playing on the middle one now...which I've assumed is the "regular person" one.

Oh, there's a leaderboard for scores from the campaign as well - it surprised me that this wasn't separate. As in, I though it might have been a competitive mode as a separate thing. My guess is that they really want to encourage replayability (there aren't THAT many levels in the game for - I assume - content/song licensing challenges) - so, go back and see if you can beat your earlier score or your friends' might be part of the intended experience.


 
kudos for original design to Rodrigo Barria