The final battle between Hellsinger and the demon Red Judge is an epitome of badassery.
System of a Down’s eccentric Serj Tankian screams his head off in “No Tomorrow” as demonic revolvers fire. One shot, another, then a third blast, all in sync with the song, is what I pull thetrigger for. The intensity of the music combined with the fireballs of the Red Judge makes them fly. As the song comes to a triumphant climax, one last shot to the eye ends the fell beast for good.
The most exciting and compelling music game of all time is delivered by Metal: Hellsinger.
Hellacious presentation
Metal: Hellsinger is a first-person shooter with a rhythmic twist, and the entire soundtrack is intense metal music. You play as a demon who must descend into Hell to defeat the demon who stole your voice
The music is a heavy soundtrack that pulls no punches and the game is tight and fluid. A prominent metal vocalist is added to the already remarkable score composed by Twofeathers.
The voices of Trivium, Jinjer, Lamb of God, and Serj Tankian from System of Down will all be heard.
Metal: Hellsinger encourages you to reach the highest possible score. If you fire at an enemy in time with the song, your combo increases, but if you take damage or are off-tempo, your combo is reset. To raise your score, you have to sink into a rhythm. I know thatchasers will have a difficult time putting this game down.
You aren’t just encouraged to match the timing for a high score. Before the vocalist ties it all together, more musical layers emerge, starting with drums and bass, followed by guitars, and then the entire band comes in. It is gratifying to see music work with the game in a harmonious way.
Hellsinger’s best moments are when you sync with the music’s timing, entering a zen-like flow, as each pull of thetrigger functions as an extension of the song. A drum’s fast double-bass pedal has always been compared to the sound of a machine gun in metal music, and that comparison becomes violent in Hellsinger.
You are making music and not just blowing demons away.
A metalhead’s dream
This is the most important metal-themed video game of all time. Metal: Hellsinger dives into the deep end, showcasing heavier music that may appeal to a general audience. It has an authentic identity due to its commitment to heavy music. This game is bound to capture new metal fans in the process, but the core audience will be obsessed with it.
The developers at The Outsiders are very fond of metal. It isn’t rock or even hard rock, it’s heavy, aggressive, in-your-face METAL, and it’s not for everyone. I absolutely adore it when your grandmother breaks out the holy water from the individual track.
Regardless of how heavy the song is, it still incorporates an artful melody, whether it’s Heafy’s high vocal range during the Incaustis stage, the catchy, spacy keyboard passage during Gehenna, or the shredding guitar riffs during Acheron. There is an ebb and flow to every song, giving you a little rest time in between the walls of heavy music. At times it DJENTS.
The variety of metal music in Hellsinger is not only a testament to Two Feathers skills as musicians, but also the abilities of the distinct vocalists. One moment, you will hear Arch Enemy’s Alissa White-Gluz belt out her famous operatic vocal lines and the next, she sounds like Satan. It takes a lot of talent to write and perform this kind of music.
Thrills, kills, and no-frills
The way the core mechanics reinforce the game feels clever. You face a variety of demons, from weak grunts to the all-powerful Siege Behemoths. Each forces you to fight in different ways.
Siege Behemoths lunge from what feels like miles away, so the side-step ability of The Unknown is clutch. Pulling off a successful maneuver like this, especially to the beat of an ass-kicking metal song, is one of the most satisfying feelings in gaming this year.
The Hounds, a set of long-range hand cannons, are my personal favorite of the weapons at your disposal. Since each weapon has a different rate of fire, it takes some practice when learning how to shoot them in time with the songs, but it is part of the fun. It is similar to learning a new instrument when you already know the basics. You are encouraged to experiment to learn the best times to use each of them because certain weapons work better on certain enemy types.
Bosses bombard you with projectiles like what you would see in a bullet hell game, but thanks to the way difficulty ramps up, it never feels like an impossibility. Many of them look like clones, but they have unique abilities. The only way to deal damage is to hit the Doppelganger Aspect boss’s real one. If you are not careful, the Wheel Aspect encounter can sweep you into the fiery depths of Hell. Every battle in the game will leave you wanting more.
Metal: Hellsinger is not something like that. Diehard metal fans will fall in love with it immediately, but the experience is satisfying and compelling enough to serve as a gateway into the metal genre for newcomers. It is a perfect representation of the passion, energy, and emotion that all metalheads share.
9/10
The review of Metal: Hellsinger on PS5 was written by Inverse. It is available for PS4, PS5 and XBOX One.
INVERSE VIDEO GAME REVIEW ETHOS: Every Inverse video game review answers two questions: Is this game worth your time? Are you getting what you pay for? We have no tolerance for endless fetch quests, clunky mechanics, or bugs that dilute the experience. We care deeply about a game’s design, world-building, character arcs, and storytelling come together. Inverse will never punch down, but we aren’t afraid to punch up. We love magic and science-fiction in equal measure, and as much as we love experiencing rich stories and worlds through games, we won’t ignore the real-world context in which those games are made.