High hell Review - Volatile arcadeshooter with a spirited atmosphere

What if Doom did not play in the literal but the figurative underworld? That was probably the thought behind High Hell, a first person shooter of the people behind Heavy Bullets, Enter the Gungeon and Gang Beasts. The main character, however, does not make a trip to hell like the Doom Marine. Instead, the demons in High Hell are tightly packed and they work in skyscrapers of Pitchfork Corp.

High Hell clearly has an absurdist sauce. In addition to the many horned red devils in tuxedo, you face rehearsed monkeys, goats and miniguns samurai. Armed with a laser cannon and a thick boot stepping into your doors, you shoot everyone around and bang or kick you all over, while ragdoll physics create a slapstick effect. Your tasks range from 'save the monkeys' and 'destroy the routers' to 'beat Doberwoman'. These provide excellent service as a justification for the shooting action and mask the quickswitch that the tasks represent 'Destroy / Press' E on Object X'.

Hotline Miami

I strongly believe that High Hell wants to be a hotline Miami retroshooter version: short levels, short lifespan, constant motion and often restarting. With a few bangs you put the bite, health kits are scarce and you only get small pieces of life points by killing enemies. In addition, the enemies are clever enough to flank you. The message is clear: apply guerrilla tactics, be alert and above all: fast speed is always good. With every reboot, you'll get more open in the hurry of the hypnotic rhythm of doors, stopping around and never stopping.

There is the power of High Hell: small levels you will ideally be ready in a few minutes. You do not lose too much progress when you die and learn more about the level and positions of the enemies at each reboot. Here and there, however, High Hell threatens to step into the same pitfall as Hotline Miami 2: big open levels. They soon declined into Rainbow Six-like scenes due to your short life and the fact that you can be shot from anywhere. Centimeters for centimeters hurry through the levels, looking around you to see if you've ever been able to spot an enemy's excellent limb for this one. Because every hit shot is deadly, no matter where it hits.

Short but sweet

This slow, cautious play style is in line with what High Hell wants to be: a lively remix of classic first person shooters. However, it is not worthwhile to long for the life design. It is not an insurmountable smudge and the game clearly wants to keep up with it. With twenty levels you ideally spend in a few minutes, High Hell is easy to play in an hour. That's a good length: much longer and the lack of variation in weapons and enemies would start to run.

High Hell (Beast Cartel, Devolver Digital) is available on PC (€10, including Steam, Humble Store, itch.io).

Conclusion

Running, kicking, shooting, dying and restarting again: The philosophy behind High Hell is pure and therefore acts for adrenaline pumping action. Although the big open levels sometimes counteract this core idea, High Hell as a whole is a bumpy, volatile arcadeshooter with a spirited atmosphere that you play for a while.

➕ Short levels, smooth gameplay, smart AI

➖The larger levels do not match the gameplay, lack of variation

Thanks for your precious time.

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