Developer: Sluggerfly
Publisher: Sluggerfly, Thunderful Group, Headup Games
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: PS5
Hell Pie – Review
With Kao the Kangaroo getting a new lease on life and Klonoa getting a remaster, it’s clear that old-school action platformers still entertain many gamers young and old. Most of these titles from the past ended up being enjoyed by a fairly wide audience, and more than often these games had iconic mascots. We of course know Mario, Crash Bandicoot, Banjo & Kazooie, Sonic, and many others, but there was also Conker, who was very different than the others. Conker’s Bad Fur Day was a very unique title back when it was released, as it was rated only for adults. Conker didn’t shy away from being overly violent, peeing on his enemies, and swearing his socks off. We reckon this is why the furry protagonist is still very known to this day, and we also reckon that the foul-mouthed squirrel was the inspiration behind Hell Pie, an over-the-top violent and dirty-humored action platformer that was recently released. We were quite eager to dive into this one, and we were not disappointed by the end result.
Story
The story in Hell Pie is quite simple. You’ll be playing as Nate, the Demon of Bad Taste, who is forced to find the ingredients for the Devil’s birthday cake. As he is used to working at a desk, he will now have to venture out to find several unappetizing ingredients. The one to help him on his quest is a cherub by the name of Nugget, who will be chained to one of your horns while you wack him around as your weapon of choice. When exploring the different areas of the world, you’ll get treated to short and silly problems you’ll need to solve (or make worse). The overall presentation is simplistic but very appealing.
Graphics
Hell Pie is a very colorful game, very reminiscent of the 3D platforming games of the late 90s and early 2000s. The title does, however, have a lot of graphical content and it also sports a very adult theme. The game doesn’t shy away from showing a lot of blood and gore, and as stated above, it feels like an homage to titles such as Conker’s Bad Fur Day. We loved the overall silliness, and the enemy designs proved to be witty, original, and amusing. We never imagined taking up arms against a military of sentient turds. The different levels also have clear and distinct themes, making it fun to explore all the different stages.
All the above being said, the game is very rough around the edges at times. More than often we could run through walls, and we did notice many recycled character designs. This did take away a bit of the game’s overall charm, especially when certain NPC models get repeated several times, even though that location only has a handful of NPCs.
Sound
The sound design of Hell Pie isn’t bad. The background music is quite soft and fairly upbeat most of the time. As a whole, the soundtrack is very reminiscent of the old-school titles we have mentioned above, making it feel very familiar. There’s no real voice acting present in the game. Most characters will mumble a bit, but that’s basically it. The sound effects are decent, and you’ll be hearing a lot of squishy sounds when bashing your opponents.
Gameplay
Hell Pie is a fairly old-school action platformer in which you have to collect ingredients for the birthday cake of none other than the Devil himself. To do so, you’ll have to explore different locations in order to get the necessary ingredients. You can run, jump, and bash your way through the different sceneries, and the more you explore, the more upgrades you can find for both yourself and Nugget, who is attached to one of your horns.
Just like in the good old days, Hell Pie features a lot of collectibles, which will reward you with upgrades for Nugget, new horns for Nate, or simply the option to obtain snazzy new outfits. Exploring is key here, as each level does contain a fair few collectibles. Exploring the stages can be challenging, as you’ll need to time a lot of jumps precisely, and more than often you also need to make sure you chain your different skills together in order to reach certain areas. That being said, the controls are very responsive and precise. We only sometimes had a few issues with depth perception because the camera would occasionally reset to a forward-facing position when jumping.
This title does have a lot of minor and bigger bugs present. More than once we were able to walk through walls, and on several occasions, we also fell through the level forcing us to respawn at the last checkpoint. The latter proved to be quite annoying, and when it happened, it often also bugged out the enemies, making it so that they would only move at a few frames per second. Luckily, these bugs were often limited to small graphical hiccups, and safe for a few respawns, they didn’t detract from the overall fun to be had.
Conclusion
Hell Pie is a funny little action platformer with all the right components to entertain you for a few evenings. The game is a bite-sized experience, and it did still have a fair few bugs, but that did not take away from the overall fun to be had. We loved the silly and violent gameplay, while also enjoying the tried-and-true platformer gameplay from the late 90s, albeit in a modern package. If you like adult humor and some decent platforming, then you cannot really go wrong with this one.
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[…] has been a few weeks that Switch owners had to wait for the release of Hell Pie on their console. The game was initially released on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, […]