Developer: Volcanicc
Publisher: Grindstone
Platform: PS4, Switch, Xbox One, PC
Tested on: Xbox One
HELLMUT: The Badass from Hell (Xbox One) – Review
Immortality seems amazing to be bestowed, even if it’s an arrangement with Satan himself, but what if the deal goes sour? Sometimes we make a dance with the devil, but when terms are not as they should be, you will have to go to hell and back for revenge. In this retro-styled twin stick shooter you will follow the story of Hellmut and how his plans got foiled by evil demons.
Story
Hellmut is a mad scientist with only one goal, become immortal. He already had heavily modified his own body to be superior, yet this wasn’t enough for him. In his final experiment he opens the gate of Hell and makes a deal with the devil. This demonic leader isn’t amused with Hellmut awakening him from his slumber but decides to grant him his wish. Hellmut is turned into a skull and drops dead. Many monsters invade the world and start wrecking the lab. Moments later another demon enters the story, this one revives Hellmut and grants him his immortality. Now it’s time to take revenge on the hellspawn and take them all out one by one. Besides the intro movie there is no arching story to the game. As in most rogue-like games, there isn’t that much story, but it would have been cool to see some kind of ending. Guess you are doomed fighting demons for the rest of your days.
Graphics
Blasting demons is always cool, no matter in which kind of setting. To make the players’ experience as good as possible, the developers have opted to use a retro pixel graphical style. This old-school approach is a homage to popular shooter games from back in the days. Character designs are very nice and there are a lot of unique enemies. With Hellmut’s hectic gameplay you will have the screen filled for most of the time with enemies, bullets and blood.
Sound
A demon slaying game needs a kickass soundtrack and this game has it. While you are mowing down hordes of monsters, there will be a firm Rock soundtrack playing that will induce some serious headbanging. The sound effects for the different guns sound really cool, the sound effects when playing are great and the overall atmosphere that is created with the sounds just feels right.
Gameplay
HELLMUT: Ultimate Badass from Hell is a twin stick rogue-like shooter that will let you endure the trials of hell in the front seat. As your character opened a demon gate for selfish reasons, his plan did not turn out that well. Evil entities have taken over the world and it’s now up to Hellmut to kill every last one that’s roaming the earth. Hellmut has lost his cybernetic body and is reduced to a skull with a spine. Luckily there are some experiments still intact and this is where the adventure starts. Hellmut uses mutations in order to fight the many hordes of enemies. These mutations are monster bodies with their own stats and weapons. You start the game with only two mutations and after each completed playthrough, you will get a new one. This is actually a very high difficulty curve since the game is hard as hell. The two starter mutations are a tank that has a slow attack rate and a ranger that can attack a lot quicker but has lower health. During levels you can call upon your resurrector to do trials and unlock new mutations, which will serve as an extra life and we aren’t exaggerating when we say that these extra lives are needed.. When your body is destroyed, only the skull remains and if this form is killed your raid will end but just like in Dark Souls you can activate your tombstone to get back your stuff.
The game isn’t forgiving and it will take a lot of trial and error to reach the end. The road to success is hard but the game doesn’t feel impossible to beat at all. While everything can get very hectic, the controls always seem to respond perfectly. With only using your two sticks and two buttons, it’s a game that is easy to pick up and play, yet the difficulty shall separate the wheat from the chaff. During your adventures you will pick up coins and soul shards. Shards can be used to activate trials to unlock new mutations and coins can be used in the shop to buy weapons and items. During your adventures you will also find various weapons at your disposal. Sadly, the thing you need most, health pickups, aren’t that widely available.
Every few levels there is a boss fight, with mini bosses defending levels in-between. These aren’t that hard but the random enemies spawning in will make the whole encounter feel like hell. When you die there are no checkpoints and you must begin from stage one. Levels are randomly generated by seeds and you can always look up popular ones or generate them yourself.
Conclusion
HELLMUT: The Badass from Hell is a hectic twin stick shooter game that will kick you down each part of the way. It’s easy to pick up but hard to master. The difficulty feels fair and the mutations are nice, yet a bad run will result into starting from step one every time. Beautiful visuals combined with great music and good gameplay makes this a very fun game to play. The sad part is that there isn’t a story to follow but that might be better since the game is so hard that it will take a long time until you can make some progress.
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