REVIEW : Hellpoint: Blue Sun (PC)
For those who comprehend it, the Hellpoint: Blue Sun DLC explains the entire story of Irid Novo. Asmodeus, the dealmaker, is only interested in the best-skilled Spawns!
- Travel to the parallel realm of Blue Sun to discover a new layer of the story that uncovers the one genuine cause of the Merge cataclysm.
- Three new wide sections to explore and die in, enhancing the level design’s interconnectedness.
- There are numerous new armours, characters, and bosses.
- System of “contracts”
- Weapons with two hands
- A range of quality-of-life enhancements, such as stat respec and inventory management, are being developed in collaboration with the Hellpoint player community.
Blue Sun cannot be described in any other manner.
The most important thing (for me) in this wonderful gem of a game is the atmosphere; Hellpoint’s “vibe” is hard to describe, but people who play the game for a while realise how thick and impactful the game’s ambience, lore, and general presentation is (the only thing similar would be Event Horizon), and here the DLC nails it.
In terms of gameplay, the DLC provides what you would expect from a genuine content DLC: There are new monsters, new gear, new items, and so on; it’s quite meaty.
The DLC is amazing if a touch buggy and silly at times.
The new places have a more distinct vibe than the majority of the main game.
I had a lot of fun, as well as some frustration, and I ended up with some of the best and coolest gear and weaponry in the game.
I found myself referring to my persona as a space cowboy, Edward needle hands, and the phantom of the nova to allude to some attainable equipment.
The restricted contract system is fantastic, but it is buggy; it does not function as planned, but it is still usable.
A significant portion of the new gear is locked behind a crafting wall, with components being an uncommon drop from select opponents.
The worst aspect about the DLC is that those foes you have to farm include additional drops in their pool, such as base equipment needed to create a higher-end version or blueprint models you’ve already obtained a dozen times.
I completed the rough math while farming and killed the specific monster at least 200 times before I acquired the 12 components I was striving for; I did not continue farming to finish obtaining a different set that took the same component. But maybe I was just unlucky.
After the main game’s repetitious confrontations, I found the new monster design to be both refreshing and scary.
A few enemies sticking to the basics and just wanting to fisticuff you to death is almost delightful.
Bosses are incredibly unique and tanky, which was both infuriating and enjoyable given how easy most of the base game bosses were for me, and they don’t resurface as basic foes later on.
Another criticism is that when the alternative is aimless wandering, most people are incentivized to look up guides for how to access the DLC locations, and I’m sorry to say I was one of them. After all, where is the fun in running through locations you’ve run through a hundred times trying to find something different, and the game gives no real tips for where those initial access points are, so why not just look things up when there’s no joy in random wandering in hope of disco?
The new places have stories to tell, but the hoped-for reveal of mysteries as to the truth of the game world, in general, left me dissatisfied, and the DLC concludes with a scream, a boss soul, and a breach point to return home.
In the end, there are no words.
Having said that, the final boss soul grants you the most unique and my new favourite weapon in the game, so it was all worthwhile even if the story felt a little hollow on the side.
I’ve been talking a lot. Anyway, I’ll wrap this up.
The DLC is certainly worth the price (which, to be honest, is dirt cheap considering the content).
In my personal experience, it works reasonably well almost always (co-op may have more issues, I can’t say) I think what the DLC brings is a must-have for any hellpoint fan, you’d be hard pressed to find many base game armour or weapons better than what blue sun adds (but we all have our preferences and aesthetics eh?)
