Metal: Hell Singer Review
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need to know
what is it? You got your voice in my twilight!
Expected payment: £25/$30
release date: come out now
Developer: outsider
Publisher: Feng Kang
Comment on: AMD Aerith 0405 2.8 GHz, AMD Van Gogh 0405 GPU, 16GB RAM (Steam Deck 256GB)
multiplayer game? No, but there is a global leaderboard
Association: Official website(opens in a new tab)
The first time I listened to Swedish hardcore band Refused’s seminal 1998 album The Shape of Punk To Come, my brain leaked out of my ears. It’s a major reason why extreme music sounds like the 2000s, it’s the connective tissue between generations of hardcore and metal. Likewise, The Outsiders’ Metal: Hellsinger attempts to connect high-intensity first-person shooters and rhythm games with metal.
Rhythm FPS is a relatively new phenomenon, and it’s best described as a sinister marriage between apocalypse and necromancer crypts. Only a handful of (opens in new tab) games (opens in new tab) currently exist in this emerging genre, and it’s not hard to see that there are some striking similarities between them. What makes Metal: Hellsinger special is its soundtrack quality and slower, more thoughtful gameplay.
(Image credit: Funcom)
Each song was written and performed by Two Feathers, an accomplished musician duo and game music production company with previous work in Battlefield 4 and Warhammer: Plague 2. The tunes are rock solid and easily recognisable as metal, so if you’re worried the game might not be brutal enough, put your fears to bed. However, the main drag here is the guest voice.
Each track represents a different circle of hell and its associated torture, featuring a different famous metal singer. So, for example, you might be traversing the snowy wasteland of Voke and hear the growls and snarls of Mikael Stanne of Dark Tranquility; another level, Acheron, is drowned out by the voice of the Lamb of God’s Randy Bryce. Other guests included Dennis Lyxzén of Refused, Tatiana Shmayluk of Jinjer, Matt Heafy of Trivium and Serj Tankian of System of a Down.
The various metallic screams on this soundtrack cause the whole thing to take on a chameleon-like feel. However, the album has largely maintained its own identity, even as it took on a musical form well known by its guest singers. It’s a fun sampler and the most unique video game soundtrack so far this year. But how does the music fit into the gameplay?
(Image credit: Funcom)
Players will detect Doom’s DNA almost immediately in Metal: Hellsinger: a path to a grand arena where you have to kill everything to keep going; elite enemies that require more than just shooting to take down; waves after waves A cannon fodder that provides health and boosts to your ever-present rage meter.
beat them
Rhythm games also become a factor here, as you have to shoot to the beat to keep your combos alive and keep your fury as long as possible. Trying to go too fast will trip you up, while too slow will result in you being murdered by some random enemy. Instead, the game focuses on being deliberate, taking Doom’s “rip and tear” mentality seriously, and brutally ruling over any little demon that gets in your way.
After each battle through another circle of hell, players will have the opportunity to test their skills and earn new power-granting sigils in torment, and in single-player boss rush arenas, you can fight with wave after wave based on certain conditions. The enemy fights like you can’t heal but when you get hurt you get stronger. These tortures are not only fun, but useful, and doing all of them will make you very OP in the endgame.
(Image credit: Funcom)
If the story were as sharp as a laser. You play as an aggrieved lost soul – the unknown – traveling through the nine laps of hell on a war road of vengeance, armed with a sword, a talking skull, an infernal arsenal of demonic weapons and powerful ultimates. In your crusade, you will face the Red Judge, aspects of the devil himself, as she tries to stop you from tearing apart hell.
In theory, this works well as a narrative backdrop between murder fests. In practice, the story quickly becomes a myth of its own. It also tries very hard not to simply repeat Christian eschatology – for example, God is called “all things” here, the red judges have a valid agreement with heaven, and the whole game revolves around a man called “Hellsinger” The prophecy unfolds that will destroy heaven and hell, throwing the rest of the universe into chaos. It’s a promising setup, but told in a very unnecessarily complicated way. For example, it’s obvious that you’re the Hellsinger, but the game seems to pretend you’re not until the last second.
(Image credit: Funcom)
There are two voice characters in Metal: Hellsinger: Paz the Skull (Troy Baker) and Red Judge (Jennifer Hale); Ironically, Unknown/Hellsinger has no say in this game, letting her gun and Paz do All talk. Boy, hello Paz said a lot. He tells the whole game as if he’s telling you about cheap whisky in a dirty metal bar in the bad part of town, but mostly he ends up sounding like he’s supposed to be talking about a Ford built in 2007 Tough commercial. Meanwhile, Jennifer Hale’s performance as the Red Judge is excellent, but the bumpy drama of many of her lines is overshadowed by the sound effects they put on her. It’s a sour note, an otherwise totally brutal melody.
Is Metal: Hellsinger the upcoming form of rhythm FPS? Um… no. It’s a very good game with a lot of replay value, some clever ideas, a good soundtrack, and a silly story. The game craves greatness, and even if it doesn’t get there, if The Outsider makes a sequel, I’ll play its sequel.
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