Rhythm games are most certainly nothing new to the video game entertainment medium, but oftentimes, they exist on their own. There are exceptions like Crypt of the NecroDancer or the more recent Soundfall, and they will soon be joined by a first-person rhythm shooter in the form of Metal: Hellsinger. Developed by Swedish studio The Outsiders and published by Funcom, there is no better avenue to express your love for all things metal music and demonic vengeance.
In an early preview of the shooter, we took our first steps into the shoes of The Unknown, a being of, well, an unknown past, but is hellbent on a mission to defy the Red Judge of all Hells in order to get back what she stole, your voice. Essentially, that means ripping through all the hellish minions standing in your way, accompanied by rocking, thumping metal music.
That is presented in a twist on the traditional FPS experience, with The Unknown gaining access to a trusty sword, a talking skull called Paz that can shoot out fire, and a bunch of more familiar firearms like Persophone the shotgun or a pair of pistols. While players can fire at the on-screen enemies as and when they like, keeping to the beat brings a host of benefits in Metal: Hellsinger.
With multipliers hitting upwards of x16 with every successful hit in sync with the rhythm, The Unknown deals more damage while the music intensifies, with the impressive voice talent of the likes of Matt Heafy (Trivium), Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy), Randy Blythe (Lamb of God), Tatiana Shmayluk (Jinjer), and many more blasting through your speakers to the original music found in Metal: Hellsinger.
The reward of those amazing tunes goes further, as each weapon comes with its own Ultimate ability. Charge them up by staying with the beat, and not even the toughest of demons can stand in your way. This could be enhancing The Unknown’s sword-fighting by increasing the rhythm to a flurry of slashes, a powerful blast that tears through enemies from the shotgun, or putting down a copy of yourself that deals a ton of damage while distracting your enemies.
Once you are done with a level, you can pit your score against the rest of the world, with leaderboards and a Challenge Mode likely to drive insane mastery of the game’s systems and levels, which is exactly what will create a vibrant community of players.
Between staying in sync, making your shots count, and avoiding damage by dashing around the different levels of Hell, it is clear that Metal: Hellsinger knows what it is doing and is unabashedly proud of the way music plays into the whole experience.
From what we have played, it could have easily been just a run-of-the-mill FPS that takes inspiration from the motifs of a hellish journey, but instead, Metal: Hellsinger invites players on an adventure filled with blood, guts, and plenty of amazing metal music that is truly worth throwing up the horns for. Needless to say, we are impressed, and we cannot wait to see what the full game will deliver when it eventually arrives later this year on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
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Si Jia
