When DOOM (2016) dropped, the aspect that intrigued me wasn’t the hellish setting or the gunplay but the music.
The masterful talent that is Mick Gordon crafted a soundtrack that showcased why heavy metal and gaming are so often lumped together. Just listen to Rip & Tear and tell us you don’t want to tear into some demons.
During the Game Awards 2021 we spotted a game that intrigued us. That game was Metal: Hellsinger and the official gameplay trailer is well, see for yourself.
Metal: Hellsinger is a first person shooter with a difference that’s coming to Xbox, PlayStation and PC on 15th September. You can just mindlessly lay waste to all manner of demons but, if you time your shots so that they match up with the beat of the music, you deal more damage and score more points. Players take on the role of The Unknown, and you collect weapons with infinite ammo as you play.
Much like DOOM, healing requires dispatching enemies with a special attack which drops green crystals that replenish your health. There are also green crystal outcrops that when shot will yield a small amount of healing.
We know this because there is a free demo available on all platforms the game will be availabe. The demo gives you access to the tutorial and the Stygia level which features the vocal stylings of Alissa White-Gluz from Arch Enemy.
The soundtrack is incredible and while we only have one song to slay to, the list of vocalists appearing is incredible. The vocalists include:
- Tatiana Shmayluk of Jinjer
- Serj Tankian of System of a Down
- Randy Blythe of Land of God
- Matt Heafy of Trivium
- Mikael Stanne of Dark Tranquility
But how well does Metal: Hellsinger play?
Truthfully, we encountered a few technical hitches where audio would glitch and turn into a cacophonous electronic screech. Movement and gunfights are very reminiscent of DOOM and once you get into the rhythm, the game becomes quite fun.
As you dispatch enemies you score multiplier goes up and the fervour of the track increases. Once you reach a 16X Multiplier the vocals kick in and the game shifts from fun rhythm game to an all out chaos fest. The down side of this is that these moments don’t seem to last all that long because by the time you hit that multiplier, most of the enemies are gone or you need to move to the next area.
Hopefully this is just something unique to the demo as the trailers we’ve seen so far showcase a far greater enemy density than what we saw in Stygia.
Boss fights – of which there is one in the demo – are incredibly spectacular. Not only do you have to time your shots to maximise damage, you have to manage your health, dodge projectiles and all while Alissa White-Gluz’s gutteral vocals cheer you on. It all comes together incredibly and we could help but cheer once we beat the boss.
You can of course experience this for yourself by downloading the demo on your preferred platform. If you’re a fan of heavy metal, we highly recommend you check this one out.
