Metal: Hellsinger Preview – Going On Rhythmic Rampages

Metal: Hellsinger is a concept that appeals to me right from the beginning. Slay demons as a first-person shooter in modern Doom style to the beats of new tracks by big names in metal and rock. As someone who grew up playing the original Doom and loves the modern iterations of the franchise, and has perhaps sunk more time into the Rock Band series than any other franchise, The Outsiders’ upcoming game checks a lot of boxes. Despite this, my initial impressions of the game were not positive. The short demo that I tried out at Summer Game Fest, which is available on PlayStation 3, Xbox and Steam, confirmed my belief that the game was for me.

A brief tutorial teaches me how to increase my multiplier by shooting my guns, cutting my swords, and blasting flames off my skull. The final score of each level is determined by the multiplier. There are many reasons why you should have a multiplier. For me, one of them is that the song explodes as soon as it reaches the top tiers. What started as just a beat with guitars turns into screaming vocals and double-kick-laden drum beats. While it may sound simple, this demo was a long one in which I had to re-learn how to play FPS. 

My first time at this was not a good one. There are rules that tell you how to time your shots to the beat. But my instinct upon seeing demons approaching me is to grab the trigger, slice them up with my sword, and then spam it. It turns out, my years of first-person shooting are not as helpful at the beginning. Slowly but surely I learn to master it. My attacks feel more powerful as I hit successive shots with perfect timing. While some weapons can be more difficult to aim to the beat with than others, I find it easier to use my shotgun to maintain a rhythm, while dual pistols allow me to feel more confident about my shooting skills. Like in Doom 2, once an enemy is sufficiently damaged, it becomes stunned and allows you to strike a final blow. Finishers cannot be used at will, unlike normal attacks which can be fired anytime, but must be executed in sync with the music.

My speed as I blast my way through demon-filled streets almost puts me in a flow mode. Attacking to the beat, dodge-dashing out away from incoming attacks, performing on-beat active reloads, and landing finishers to clear rooms feel almost like second nature thanks to the entrancing-yet-intense metal pumping through my headphones. After I understood the basics and retrained my FPS instincts initially, Metal: Hellsinger drew me in.

Judge Aspect was the boss of my demo. The winged beast is equipped with all of the essential moves that you would expect from a game such as this, including focused energy beams and fireballs, Teleportation, Teleportation, and summoning minions. Aspect’s substantial health bar takes a long time to chip away, but thanks to the waves of minions and a few health pickups on an adjacent piece of land, I finally take the elite demon down and my demo comes to an end.

Metal: Hellsinger will launch with 10 tracks from at least nine artists. It can be played on 7 levels. Names like Randy Blythe, Serj Tankian, from System of a Down and AlissaWhite-Gluz, from Arch Enemy, provide vocals for the soundtrack. I cannot wait to explore the deepest parts of Hell on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on September 15th.

Metal: Hellsinger: More Information – Check out this interview with Serj Tankian from System of a Down about his views and contributions to the upcoming film.