During the Summer Game Fest, developer The Outsiders showed gameplay from their new title, Metal: Hellsinger, and then they delivered an explosive revelation that a demo was immediately ready to download and play. Naturally, I was quick to do so. After gleefully completing it, I couldn’t wait to deliver some quick impressions ahead of the game’s September 13th release date this year.
Combining the action of Doom with rhythm games like Guitar Hero is likely not an idea that many had on their radar. Besides Pistol Whip from Cloudhead Games, a VR rhythm-based shooter on rails, I cannot think of another game that successfully married the two concepts quite like this. Along with spectacular action set pieces straight out of Doom, Metal: Hellsinger mixes in a powerful blend of hard-hitting metal music from artists such as Randy Blythe from Lamb of God, Alissa White-Gluz from Arch Enemy, and Serj Tankian from System of a Down, among several others.
Their music isn’t just background noise; it is essential to the gameplay itself. While you must be somewhat accurate with your weaponry, of far more importance is that your actions happen on beat to the music. As you keep your beat, you build up a score counter which, upon reaching a certain level, brilliantly unlocks the vocals of the track, really getting you in the zone of slaying your numerous foes. The enemies also drop more health when dispatched on beat, which is essential as the game looks to present quite a challenge!
The demo, sadly, includes only a tutorial area, and one area after that. There is a boss, however, and she poses a nice threat. Another fine touch is that there is a functioning leaderboard for the demo, so you can stack your score among those of your fellow slayers of demons.
Look for much more on Metal: Hellsinger right here on Seasoned Gaming as we eagerly anticipate September’s launch!
