Hyper Demon review: An eldritch bullet-hell FPS

Y’all know what Palantir is correct?

For those unfamiliar with neither JRR Tolkien’s books nor Peter Jackson’s films, the Eye of Sauron is one of the eerie, indestructible crystal balls littering the world of Middle-earth, and the Allows the eye to distort the mind of an unlucky fool.Take (*cough* Pippin *cough*) Unfortunately, one glance can steal its dark depths.

play hyper demonthe latest first-person shooter Devil Dagger Developer Sorath is like staring at one of them, but with rocket jumping and leaderboards instead of heart-melting horror.

Announced and released on Monday, hyper demon is not a sequel to Solas’ aforementioned 2016 bullet hell shooter, but it still represents an evolution of the core mechanics.of Devil Dagger, players take on the role of a mysterious protagonist who is forced to survive as long as possible against wave after wave of Hellspawn after sabotaging a mysterious dagger floating in space. It has aesthetics and mechanics that inspire comparisons to 90’s arena shooters. Doom When earthquake, Devil Dagger It has grown into a bona fide indie hit, garnering impressive review scores and slipping into many publications’ best of the year lists.

Now, more than six years have passed since the release of the previous work, hyper demon Like a Cenobite who has been released into the world and emerged from Hell, it presents such a spectacle. On the surface, the two games may look nearly identical in execution, but it’s only after putting yourself to the test again and again that the differences between the two become apparent. .

in the meantime Devil Dagger It was an endless FPS that fought against the devil’s onslaught for as long as possible. hyper demon It’s basically a twitch shooter that speedruns through hell itself. At the start of each game, a timer appears at the top of the screen and counts down every second. You get gems every time you kill a demon. Gems are added to a timer depending on the demon’s size, adding points to the final score.

The faster you kill an enemy, the faster they spawn. The faster you spawn, the harder the game. The higher the difficulty, the higher the score. Conversely, the slower you kill an enemy, the slower they spawn, making the game easier, but if the timer drops below his 0, you die and have to start over. It’s a different kind of intensity. Devil Daggerone that forces you to weigh every second as if it were life or death, as well as the swarm of monsters in front of you.

Image: Solas

It’s not even getting into the real meat of what you actually do conduct in the game. at first glance, hyper demon It may look like a simple twitch-based FPS, but the range of abilities that blossom from these modest elements is impressive. You’ll straf and shoot, switching between rapid-fire streams and short- to medium-range shotgun clusters, all while mowing down the writhing insect inhabitants of this particular circle of hell.

Importantly, you can also dash, which offers a wider range of maneuverability in the form of mid-air dashes, double jumps, and most importantly dodges. Picking up some gems will reward the player with the Alt-Fire Sniper Laser Shot. This can bounce off the floor and damage multiple enemies at once if aimed correctly. Choose from a myriad of tactics, from throwable bombs and shields to collectible “super moves” such as homing shots and laser storms.Gameplay is fast and frenetic Devil Daggerbut it gets more and more complex by the minute — more satisfying and impulsive to play.

But it’s all perfunctory. hyper demonVisuals are the most distinguishing aspect of While the art style of Devil Dagger Although it can be loosely summarized as a return to 90s shooters, hyper demon And… it’s something else entirely. As the on-screen action escalates, the game’s presentation steadily morphs into a stroboscopic fisheye perspective, bending the corners of the screen into her 180-degree sphere. The effect is nothing less than a hallucination. A prismatic tableau of screeching wails and piercing lasers that feels like staring blankly at the Eldritch equivalent of the Stargate sequence from . 2001: A Space Odyssey.

With each well-timed dodge and dash, the pin prick trail bends sideways across the screen, as if barely circumscribing the rim of the black hole. Every successful kill, every second of victory is filled with euphoria.And that doesn’t even mention the final boss encounter in the game. hyper daemon. But whether you live long enough to see it depends entirely on your wits, your reaction speed, and your resilience to retina-burning punishment.

As indebted as games may be to bones and supplies Devil Dagger, hyper demon It truly looks and plays like no other I’ve come across in 2022. neon white When Metal: Helsinger, hyper demon It reigns as an outstanding barrage shooter.