Review for Hellmut: The Badass from Hell. Game for Nintendo Switch and PC, the video game was released on 27/02/2018 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 03/05/2019
The dungeon crawler genre is experiencing a small "golden age", especially in the indie world. There are countless titles that, with some variations to the formula inaugurated decades ago by Diablo, alternate in a sector that is always in turmoil. Hellmut: The Badass from Hell therefore it belongs to the aforementioned genre, albeit with some small additions that certainly make it interesting and particular, both from a mechanical and more exquisitely stylistic point of view. But let's go in order.
Hellmut: The Badass from Hell is a dungeon crawler with roguelike elements, originally released on PC and then finally on consoles. The title, the first of the independent developers Volcanicc, is an example of a retro game made with a certain taste and a precise idea of the concept of "fun", which will lead to fully appreciate the overall offer of the title, which will develop over an arc playful lasting about 5 hours. The game, which uses a "top down" view (or a classic 2D centered on the protagonist, in The Binding of Isaac style), will see us involved in a "dirty" affair that has as its protagonist a scientist who decides to open a door to a hellish universe and… boom! His body is dismembered in moments. Our task? Go through that hell in search of the pieces of the mangled scientist.
The title will be based on rather classic and frenetic action / shooting elements, seasoned with a deliberately exaggerated cartoon “gore” soul and a spiritually close to the infernal universe seen in the Doom saga. Hellmut: The Badass from Hell will develop on a series of procedural levels stuffed with various and possible monstrosities, all interested in slaughtering us. The game, which will start us with the aforementioned scientist in a reduced version (skull and "hopping" spine) will allow us to access a series of different mutations of our character, which will offer different combative approaches. Despite a nice basic idea, the various mutations will be accessible rather slowly and we will find ourselves using very few of them for a good part of the adventure.
Each mutation will have two abilities, a standard and a more powerful one: each transformation will be understood as "life" and, therefore, every time we die we will involve transformation into transformation, up to the basic version of our character (skull and thorn dorsal), which will act as the "last life". Given the considerable overall frenzy and the good numerical availability of fighting stances, Hellmut: The Badass from Hell will never be boring and will surprise us all the time. As mentioned, the game will have a roguelike soul: in fact, death will be permanent and will force us to start over. Permadeath will be the icing on the cake of a game created to be difficult to digest, thanks to a rather high level of general difficulty. To meet us, as already mentioned, a fair possibility of customization of the character, who will have a respectable arsenal at his disposal to face the hordes of enemies.
In addition to the classic campaign mode, Hellmut: The Badass from Hell will also have one additional mode that will allow you to face endless hordes of enemies up to two players in local co-op. A mode that will not be particularly intriguing, but which, thanks to the cooperation and procedurality of the maps, will offer a fun "break" from the campaign. Technically speaking, the game will be a sure plus, both for the brutal and parodic artistic vein (although not particularly original conceptually), and for a general valuable work of technical translation from PC to console. The controls will in fact be precise to the maximum and the solid and constant fluidity, elements of primary importance in a frenetic roguelike like this. The only slightly dissonant note, a certain illogicality in the spawn of the enemies, which often the game will make us appear practically on us, and an artificial intelligence a bit wandering especially with regard to the bosses, which will be difficult to beat, but sin too simple to interpret at the pattern level.
Hellmut: The Badass from Hell is a fun and simple game in its extreme difficulty. The dungeon crawling + permadeath combination probably makes it difficult for casual gamers, but definitely worth trying for those who loved The Binding of Isaac and the like. A good game, not a masterpiece, at an overall honest price.
► Hellmut: The Badass from Hell is an indie-type game developed by Volcanicc and published by Grindstone for Nintendo Switch and PC, the video game was released on 27/02/2018 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 03/05/2019
