The latest DOOM Eternal, in addition to being a great game in general, had a notable advantage: knowing how to combine a metal / rock soundtrack with a frenetic and fun gameplay. This is most likely what prompted the developers, Outsidersto give rise to Metal: Hellsinger, a rhythm shooter game that tries to combine metal music and shooting phases in an exciting combination.
We just recently had the opportunity to preview the first few hours of this atypical FPS distributed by Funcom and we were pleasantly surprised, even if it is still early to give a definitive judgment, we can at least underline that we find ourselves in front of FPS that could have more things to say than you might think and if you don’t believe it, you can see it for yourself during the next Steam Next Fest expected in June, which will give you the opportunity to try the experience for free.
To the rhythm of Metal!
The idea behind Metal: Hellsinger is strongly inspired by the concept seen in DOOM, where the narrative component becomes only a pretext to make your way through hordes of ravenous demons, but this is not to be underestimated anyway since the team has directly hired the famous actor Troy Baker to tell the story of the protagonist. However, it becomes difficult to be able to evaluate the story after only two hours, since what we know is limited to a demon seeking revenge in the underworld.
In any case, what really interests us is undoubtedly the gameplay and obviously all the musical component related to it. Yes, because Metal: Hellsinger is a rhythm shooter game, this means that the better we are at shooting to the beat of the music, the more we increase our damage and the intensity of the music itself.
We are therefore faced with a first-person shooter where it is not only the reflections and the aim that makes the difference, but also our ability to know how to keep the musical rhythm (we assure you that after an hour you will begin to move your head like a real metalhead). To help us in this, there is an on-screen indicator, positioned right next to the viewfinder, which helps us to click the mouse and keyboard at a rhythm for every single action, which is not aimed only at shooting, but also at executions (just DOOM style ) and fast charging. Initially we must admit that it was not easy to get used to this style of play, as damage to enemies carried out out of rhythm generates very little damage, inevitably leading to premature death.
Incidentally, the game does not offer a checkpoint system, but is all based on scores. By eliminating the demons we get points that allow us to be able to resurrect in the event of death. If the score obtained is not enough for us to respawn, we are forced to restart the level from the beginning. This greatly increases the difficulty, but is still quite accessible for any type of player.
Beyond the shooting component (which works well) and the extravagant idea of ​​rhythmic music, more than a few doubts remain about the variety of situations. We don’t know if the full game will offer collectibles, upgrades and so on, just as exploration seems to be oriented towards a single linear path. This could severely limit the gaming experience. but it is also true that we are certainly not talking about a triple A product, but rather a video game that tries to offer something different.
However, it should be emphasized that Funcom has invested quite a bit in Outsiders, managing to have music from the likes of: Serj Tankian (System of a Down), Matt Heafy (Trivium), Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquility), Björn Strid (Soilwork), Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy) e James Dorton (Black Crown Initiate). In short, you will have understood that we are certainly not listing the latest additions to metal music. In addition to the music, however, we expect the final version to express something more in terms of content.
We don’t actually know how much the game can offer in its entirety, but if the graphic component seemed more than satisfactory to us, the design one seemed a bit more banal and with settings that they already know, just as the weapons did not show anything particularly original. We await the finished product to refute or confirm these first sensations.
Summing up
Metal: Hellsinger promises to be a first person shooter capable of immersing the player in a rather atypical context of mechanics, but also functional and well thought out. The idea of ​​developing a rhythm shooter game at DOOM is certainly a good idea and even if the production seems limited in some respects, the idea of ​​slaughtering hundreds of demons of hell to the rhythm of metal could be worth the price in itself. of the ticket.
