Metal: Hellsinger Review – Walk With Me In Hell

Metal music should be synonymous with first-person shooters, given that the original Doom is perhaps the most influential FPS of all time. That game’s frenetic demon-slaying was accompanied by the iconic sounds of 32-bit heavy metal riffs and high-tempo drums, but the marriage of the two never really caught on outside of shooters like Quake, Killing Floor 2, and Mick Gordon’s phenomenal work on recent Doom games. Metal: Hellsinger isn’t likely to buck that trend, but this rhythm-based FPS from Swedish developer The Outsiders puts metal front and center as the most defining aspect of its high-octane gameplay.

At first glance, Metal: Hellsinger may look like little more than an imitation of 2016’s Doom, from the general demon-slaying and Hell-inspired aesthetic right down to the searing pace of its action. Doom is an obvious inspiration and apt comparison, but Metal: Hellsinger adds an extra layer of depth to its take by structuring all its moving parts around music. You play as a demon fighting through hell on a revenge mission, and you deal more damage by shooting enemies to the beat of a song. The more accurate you are at keeping the rhythm, the more your Fury multiplier will grow, and the more your overall score and damage output will increase. To help you achieve this, there are pulsating icons on either side of the crosshairs that match the rhythm of the song. If you’re on beat, you’ll be graded with either a “Good” or “Perfect” attack, with the latter doing the most damage and adding more to both your Fury and score.

Beyond its mechanics, however, slaying demons in time to the beat of a song is incredibly satisfying. There’s an extra punch to the sound of your weapons when you’re on the beat, and increasing your Fury also has a direct impact on the music. As the multiplier escalates from 1x up to 16x, the music builds until it finally reaches a roaring crescendo as the vocals kick in and the song’s full arrangement is unleashed, blasting your eardrums with the kind of guttural vocals that perfectly match the game’s demonic aesthetic.

It feels like you’re the driving force driving the song forward for each kill, and reaching this point and maintaining it requires you to fall into a Zen-like flow where shooting to the beat almost becomes second nature . BPM: Bullets Per Minute scratched a similar itch, but Metal: Hellsinger refines the concept and is unlike anything I’ve ever played, especially when compared to the moment-to-moment gameplay of traditional first-person shooters. Instead of shooting at every possible moment, do it when it makes sense musically. Even dashing and reloading to the beat builds up Fury, as do Doom-like executions that reward you with health. You’re essentially rewiring your brain, but it’s so intuitive and responsive that when it all clicks, there are few shooters as gratifying.

Of course, it helps that the soundtrack absolutely shreds. All the music in Metal: Hellsinger is composed by the duo Elvira Björkman and Niklas Hjertberg from Two Feathers. Björkman and Hjertberg play bass and rhythm guitar on each track, while Dino Medanhodzic handles lead guitar and Adam Janzi (from the band VOLA) is behind the drums. There’s also an all-star lineup of metal vocalists lending their talents to Metal: Hellsinger, including Randy Blythe of Lamb of God, Alissa White-Gluz of Arch Enemy, Matt Heafy of Trivium, Serj Tankian of System of a Down, Mikael Stanne from Dark Tranquility, and my personal favorite, Tatiana Shmayluk from Jinjer, among others. Getting to hear new material from some of the best vocalists in the genre is a treat, especially when it’s so intertwined with the gameplay.

Each level has an original song attached to it, and they run with different styles and subgenres of metal. This adds variety, but also feels like a nod to the various vocalists involved. For example, Burial at Night – the song with Tatiana Shmayluk – has some prominent bass claps reminiscent of many Jinjer songs, while the Alissa White-Gluz track features harmonized guitars (and the catchiest chorus on the soundtrack). All the songs are excellent though, to the point where I would happily listen to the full soundtrack outside of the game.

The songs are somewhat limited by the game’s conceit, so don’t expect any thrash metal or tempo and time signature changes from the drums. Changing the consistent beat that runs through each track would make Metal: Hellsinger nearly impossible to play. However, your arsenal of weapons changes how often you can fire, lending each firearm its own kind of cadence. The Persephone shotgun, for example, has a slower rate of fire so it can only fire every other shot, while The Hound’s twin revolvers can fire every shot until you need to reload. This makes each weapon feel like an instrument in its own right, and the sounds they make – whether it’s the rewarding crunch that accompanies each perfectly timed shot or the musicality of each weapon’s reload – only reinforce this feeling. Every aspect of Metal: Hellsinger makes you feel connected to the music.

When you’re in rhythm, you’ll notice the pyro erupting from the floor like you’re in the middle of a Rammstein concert. And some of the enemies pulse with an orange glow along with the beat. These are nice touches that make the game world feel more reactive to your performance, but the level design itself is pretty formulaic. Each level consists of moving from one battle arena to the next until you finally face a boss. Perhaps deviating from this formula would have proved problematic given the rhythmic nature of the entire game, but it makes your journey through hell feel pretty uniform. The same can also be said for its boss fights, as each pits you against the same skeletal bat-like creature, with the only visual variations occurring on its head. Each pepper you with projectiles that you must dodge before summoning a wave of enemies, and while this is exciting the first time, it doesn’t take long for each boss fight to be little more than a bland footnote at the end of each level.

I completed Metal: Hellsinger in four hours, so at least these issues aren’t compounded by the concept being stretched too thin. Despite its short duration, the scoring system and the inclusion of leaderboards add a lot of replayability, especially since the game acts more like a dedicated rhythm game than a shooter with musical elements on it. It’s easy to fall into a rewarding loop built around improving your score and moving up the leaderboards, not unlike playing something like Guitar Hero. There’s also an interesting score breakdown at the end of each level that shows various stats, such as the percentage of the level you spent on 16x Fury, the number of kills you achieved on the beat, or the longest hit streak you mustered. This shows the areas you can potentially improve next time, but also factors in the game’s Torments, Sigils and Boons.

There is also a story told via static cutscenes between levels. It’s a tale of revenge that features warring skeletons, fallen angels and the Southern part of Troy Baker’s tale. The latter brings the narrative to life, and the illustrations used throughout make it feel like you’re traveling through a Dio album cover. It’s neither bad nor good, it just exists to add some meaning to all the wanton demon killing.

You know that rare moment in video games when your actions inadvertently match the music you’re listening to, whether it’s the game’s soundtrack or your own? Metal: Hellsinger bottles up that magical feeling and repeats it over and over without the satisfaction ever fading. The interplay between its chuggy metal soundtrack and high-octane gameplay is phenomenal and unlike anything I’ve ever played. It stumbles at times, and these issues hold it back from reaching Rob Halford-esque heights, but its execution of an idea and the way this turns the moment-to-moment action of a shooter into a rhythmic slaughter underpins any of its error. If Metal: Hellsinger is a metal album come to life, then I can’t wait for this band’s second effort.