‘Metal: Hellsinger’ Feels Like the Perfect Balance Between Doom & Bullets Per Minute

Ahh yes, now I remember why I didn’t have the cool Guitar Hero games growing up… because I can’t stay on beat for anything.

The Metal: Hellsinger demo was just released on Steam. It’s advertised as a Rhythm FPS game. I can confirm, that it is exactly that. You play as a part human/part demon creature known as “The Unknown” with a taste for revenge. The theme of the game if you can’t tell yet is based around Hellish worlds filled with demons and monsters. Ok, if you want to get technical it’s the Infernal Planes which is really a ton of different hells but we aren’t getting into all that. Just know for now that there are a bunch of different worlds.

Without skipping a beat, let’s get more into how the game plays. Maybe you remember a game a couple years ago, BPM: Bullets Per Minute. When it came out it had a bit of hype, and it is the same idea as the soon-the-be Metal: Hellsinger as far as genre. I’m pumped to see that Metal: Hellsinger is going to be one-upping BPM in both music and quality however. It may be a niche game genre but there is a fan base to support it for sure.

So, how does it work?

Metal: Hellsinger Gameplay

You enter the world with nothing but a sword and a dream. With this sword, you are tasked with killing the evil demons who get in your way. On the screen where the crosshairs are you also have arrows that come from the sides and meet in the middle to the beat of the background music tracks that is playing. Your goal is to then make your attacks while keeping rhythm with the beat of the music. If you do this successfully then you deal more damage and start creating a streak. The better you do, the better the music becomes. If you can keep it up without messing up you eventually unlock the vocal, and then it gets intense.

Of course, not every evil lurking demon is going to want you to get up close and personal, so there is a variety of weapons you will unlock and progress with, each giving a special ultimate attack and different abilities. You’ll find an interesting skull, some pistols, a shotgun (have you ever tried keeping a rhythm with a shotgun?? It’s not easy), and an assortment of other tricks. Personally, the pistols gave me some hope in my performance but still not enough to save my score.

Like you would expect in any level-based FPS, there are different types of enemies all varying in level. While you start against most of the grunts, you’ll soon encounter minibosses and other harder-hitting enemies. While the demo doesn’t get too involved in all the levels, they promise that you’ll not only encounter these monster’s in the fiery depths of the hell we know but also in icy and mad worlds filled with new things.

One of the hardest parts is just changing the mindset of how you play. This isn’t a game that you can just trail zombies and turn around and unload, and you can’t jump in the middle of things and spray and pray. You have to resist the urge to shoot as soon as you see something, and instead make sure you only fire to the beat. Coming from someone who plays games that usually involve just pulling the trigger when I see an enemy, this was hard to do. With enough practice however, I’m sure this game could become very addicting.

Metal: Hellsinger Team & Community

On that note, let’s get into the team behind the game because it’s actually pretty impressive.

Starting with the talented team at the Outsiders who are creating this. David Goldfarb, the one who’s bringing this dream of his to life, has worked on some pretty serious games in his time. From Game Director on Payday 2 to Lead Designer on Battlefield 3 and Battlefield: Bad Company, Goldfarb has had a hand in many successful FPS. You can tell just by the work put into the demo that this game has some serious talent behind it.

Not only the graphics and gameplay but the music as well. They had every track created specifically for the game using well known and loved metal singers. This is not some indie project with generic music, but a fully cast team of talent to make for the best experience possible.

After checking out the demo I hopped into the games Discord and already found people speed running the demo and just hyping each other up. The game has already begun forming a community around it before it’s even launched, which hopefully indicates an awesome fan base once it’s out.

Is this Game for You?

Do you want to relearn everything you think you know about FPS? Or were you a fan of BPM? Then this game is for you. If you want to just sit back and relax with another repetitive type of game, this one probably isn’t the one. Would also suggest you at least enjoy metal and hard rock type music, as you will be listening to a lot of it.

The main character, The Unknown, has a quote as he enters one of the levels.

“I remember this place like it was yesterday – wish I didn’t”

THe Unkown – Metal: Hellsinger

I felt this quote on another level after several failed attempts. But it’s the grind that keeps pushing you to want to do better and better.

I would definitely keep an eye out for the release of Metal: Hellsinger. I think it has a ton of potential and a fanbase around it to keep the hype up.