$29.99Metal: Hellsinger Shoot demons on the beat
A first-person rhythm shooter where every shot lands in time with the metal, and the music rewards you for keeping the rhythm.
Is Metal: Hellsinger worth it?
Metal: Hellsinger is worth it if…
- you want a shooter you can play in short, loud bursts
- you like metal enough to want the soundtrack to react to how well you play
- you enjoy chasing scores, leaderboards and one more clean run
- you want something to unwind with between heavier, slower games
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Shoot on the beat, hear the metal build
Every shot, reload and slash lands harder when it lands on the beat. Stay in time and your combo climbs, and with each tier the music grows: what starts as a low riff swells until drums and vocals crash in at full force. Miss the rhythm and the song thins out, along with your damage. The guns themselves are tuned like instruments, each one firing on its own rhythm, so a shotgun and a crossbow pull you into different grooves. When your ultimate charges up, you pick which havoc to unleash. You do not have to be a rhythm expert to get through a level, but the louder the music gets, the better you are playing.
A vengeance tour through a thousand Hells
The Unknown is part human, part demon, and the Red Judge has her voice. Getting it back means fighting through the Infernal Planes, a union of a thousand Hells, each terrifying in its own way: from Voke, a world of ice, to Stygia, which has a way of getting into your head. Troy Baker narrates the ride between arenas. The story is a straight shot of metal album vengeance rather than a twisting plot, and the campaign is short, but it is staged with style, and the demon hordes, seraphim and boss manifestations of the Red Judge herself give you plenty to carve through on the way.
What is there to do after the story?
Is there anything to play after the campaign?
Yes. Each realm you clear unlocks Torment challenges with specific conditions, like killing in rhythm or landing special attacks, and beating them grants permanent upgrades. Then there is the Leviathan mode: waves of demons in hellish arenas that keep getting harder, where you make brutal calls about which upgrades to take and forge yourself into a headbanging machine of death. Your scores feed the leaderboards, so a clean run is always worth another attempt.
Who wrote and performs the music?
Every track was written specifically for the game by the composer duo Two Feathers, and the vocals come from metal singers including Serj Tankian of System of a Down, Randy Blythe of Lamb of God and Alissa White-Gluz of Arch Enemy. Because the songs were made for the game, they are built to layer in and grow as your combo climbs, which is the whole point.
Do you need a good sense of rhythm to enjoy it?
No. You can finish the campaign while ignoring the beat entirely; the rhythm is what makes you stronger, not what lets you continue. That said, the game is at its best when you lock in, and staying on beat through a whole arena takes real concentration. If you have any feel for timing at all, the loop clicks quickly, and the soundtrack rewards every step you take toward keeping it.
Can you play it solo?
Yes, it is a singleplayer game through and through: one story campaign, solo challenges and a solo wave mode. There is no multiplayer to worry about, and the score attack side means you are competing against leaderboard times rather than other players in the arena.
