Metal: Hellsinger Review

ign.com:

With the demon-rousing riffs of Eddie Munson’s Master of Puppets performance in Stranger Things still fresh in our social feeds, the timing could not be more ideal for Metal: Hellsinger to strut out onto the main stage and adopt an imposing power stance. Taking the love affair between Doom and heavy metal music and melding it into an official marriage, Metal: Hellsinger’s rhythm-based rampage through the fiery depths of Hell had me gleefully headbanging along to every heathen-seeking headshot. I couldn’t help but be disappointed, though, that much like the ethos of the musical genre that powers it, Metal: Hellsinger is here for a good time rather than a long time. When I rolled credits after roughly four hours of play I was left with the impression that while it’s undeniably heavy with metal, it’s also surprisingly light on features and content.

Part of that is in terms of its sparse story, and what little plot there is is mainly delivered by ubiquitous voice actor Troy Baker’s narration in between levels. Baker is doing his best Sam Elliott-style southern drawl as he describes our character, a lost soul known as The Unknown who must blaze a bloody trail of vengeance through eight levels of Hell, culminating in a high-stakes showdown with The Red Judge, none other than the Devil herself. I found much of the underworld imagery used in these story cutscenes to be quite striking, like gatefold album covers come to life, but Baker’s accompanying monologues are perhaps a touch too serious in tone. I’m not suggesting he needed to match Jack Black’s buffoonery from Brütal Legend, but a few jokes here and there could have provided a welcome counterbalance to the steady stretches of demon decimation.

Each level is accompanied by