REVIEW : Hellbound (PC)
Lately, few developers have resorted to the solution of the “old-school” experience to catch the eye of the public, but mainly those of older gamers. You see, the number of gamers who grew up with games of the ’80s and’ 90s is quite large and they still play fanatical games reminiscent of those times, considering that gaming today has changed tremendously compared to then. Why this might happen is another conversation that is not current.
The reason for the above introduction is Hellbound, an FPS creation of the Saibot Studios team, from Argentina, which is recommended as “a 90’s FPS 30 Years Later”. This is a game that has been under development for quite some time, certainly not since the ’90s, but we had only seen a few things from it. Finally, a few months ago Saibot Studios opened its papers with a nice demo and after receiving feedback, it decided that Hellbound was ready for release.
So paying tribute to the most innocent FPS of the nineties, in Hellbound things are simple: we control Hellgore, a huge, full of muscle type, which belongs to some a race that appeared millions of years on Earth before man and is the last of its kind. When demons first invaded Earth and levelled it, Hellgore was one of the demon victims. But, in an unspecified way, the homo sapiens managed to clone it, so that it could be the tip of their spear against the new invasion of demonic forces. And practically that is all. There is no hypothesis or even some kind of lore similar to what we saw in Doom Eternal, but you do not need something like that. It is enough to know where the demons are and to shoot them.
In the standards taught by the first Doom, Hellbound is a fast-paced shooter, but apart from Id Software’s masterpiece, it is quite reminiscent of Croteam’s Serious Sam, especially in the way it manages its arenas. Hellgore equipment is gradually enriched, starting with a simple rifle that does not cause much damage, but later we get the more powerful and effective shotgun, chaingun and finally a rocket launcher. Also, we acquire some melee weapons, which are of little use, as it is rather a feat to run out of ammunition, with so many drops available on each track. All weapons have a secondary function, such as zoom for chaingun or triple shot for the shotgun.
If you are short on weapons… you are not wrong, although in practice you will not feel that you are short of firepower. On the other hand, the real problem is the lack of variety of enemies: there are two types of horned demons and five variants of it. classic soldier guy, where they just hold a different weapon. Nevertheless, the enemies of the game counted on the fingers do not manage to become tedious, because the game ends… before it even starts!
Unfortunately, Hellbound is one of the shortest running games we’ve seen in years. The only six levels of the game, plus a seventh that just plays the role of the boss- fight, can be completed in less than two hours. I was surprised when the game saw the titles end and it’s a real shame because Hellbound targets most of the things it is trying to achieve. The shooting is fast, enjoyable and it never gets boring to exterminate the dozens of demons that foolishly approach us, while the design of the levels is implemented in such a way that it becomes neither chaotic nor linear.
Besides, the old-school element is pervasive in every aspect of the game: upgrades/levels and other “Flores” are completely absent, the weapons do not need reloading, the coloured keys are necessary to open all the doors, the secret rooms are indeed… secrets and a thorough search is required to locate them. Also, save whenever we want, there is no magic wand that automatically fills the amount of health and our ammunition after each level, while the arenas where they appear, literally flooded with enemies, composing some memorable sequences.
So Hellbound seems to be on a good footing and does most of the things right, always about what it stands for as an old-fashioned FPS, it’s just that everything’s very little. The impression is clear that the game is in a kind of Early Access, which may later manage to be enriched with more enemies, levels and weapons. Even the boss-fight seems to have been made on foot, as it is completely predictable and rather easy to complete, while for unknown reasons this level suffers from the incredible frame- drops, to the point that I thought the computer graphics card was damaged. Most likely this issue will be resolved in the future with a patch.
In terms of technology, Hellbound does not impress and does not fill any eye, as its graphics are just bearable and the background music is in shallow water, with typical metal riffs repeated over and over again. Sound effects are what you would expect, while a voice-over essentially does not exist, except for a few outbursts uttered by Hellgore’s heavy voice, which are strongly reminiscent of Duke Nukem.
