Axe and You Shall Receive
Cut to the heart of it, and every frst-person shooter lives or dies by its weapon selection. (Obviously, the same truth applies to you, the player trying to single-handedly take on hell.) If you want a snowball’s chance of surviving Metal: Hellsinger—a power-fantasy meets power chords and comboing—you’d best meet the tools that can meat the fools blocking your path to vengeance.
If one hopes to master this unique rhythm combat system, the devil is in the details. Fortunately, we’ve got the inside line on a shooter that’s been tuned to Drop D death by Creative Director David Goldfarb (Payday 2, Killzone 2, Battlefield) and his passionate team, The Outsiders.
Boomsticks, Guitar Licks
When you step into the half-human/half-demon hooves of The Unknown, dispensing gunishment becomes your business. That business will be booming with the right projectile weapon in your mitts. Also, with the combat in Metal: Hellsinger being uniquely tied to rhythm, you’ll need to deliver (literal) beatdowns with a wide arsenal of pistols, shotguns and beyond. While some of these armaments may seem familiar, there are some tricks to getting the most bang for your buck here.
Every firearm has its own personality, tempo-tied tactics and Demonic Abilities. Fundamentally, though, success is anchored to the double-kick drumbeat. Get surrounded by hellspawn, hastily yank your shotty trigger, and only one barrel will erupt. Yes, purgatory will have lost an ex-telemarketer, but you’ll probably still be on the menu for his friends.
Alternatively, sync your trigger to the beat, and that’ll mean two full barrels of buckshot and every available head gets turned into gazpacho.
Swording the Quick From the Dead
Installing blow holes from half an arena away is fun, but there’s always the opportunity to reach out and touch somebody in Metal: Hellsinger. The Unknown is gifted with superhuman abilities, not to mention Paz the skull and a bone sword.
Like a bloodthirsty chainsaw, the bone sword lets you enforce the boundaries of your personal space with extreme prejudice. Meanwhile, Paz the skull ensures you’re never without a ranged offensive option…or a friend. Voiced by Troy Baker, Paz emits death-from-above lightning and wry commentary in equal measure.
It’s also in your interests to leverage The Unknown’s hyper-mobility. Usually, that means dodging incoming fire. Other times, it’s about charging toward the next fray, in a timely, 4/4 fashion. Everything adds to that combo meter, friend.
Demon Skills and a Combo Heaven (In Hell)
The more you get the hang of this brutal bullet ballet, the more Metal: Hellsinger will give you. In a combat sense, you’ll earn the right to use weapon-specific Demonic Abilities like the self-explanatory Big Goodbye. And if you like your sadism showy, well, you’d be raven mad to pass on the devastating Murder of Crows ability.
Likewise, softening up larger foes, opens them up for dispatch via gruesome executions. The Unknown certainly knows how to reap the full benefits of an oversized scythe.
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Better yet, the pounding heavy metal soundtrack will layer in as you ascend through the sixteen-stage combo counter. Starting with a toe-tapping beat that’s more barebones than Paz, a steady stream of ultra-violence will turn your backing track into an epic head-banger.
Metal Hell Singers
Featuring the input of Trivium’s Matt Heafy, the soundtrack is as metal as they come. He’s flanked by Arch Enemy‘s Alissa White-Gluz, Lamb of God‘s Randy Blythe, Soilwork‘s Björn Strid, Refused‘s Dennis Lyxzén, voice actor and vocalist James Dorton, Jinjer‘s Tatiana Shmayluk and Dark Tranquility‘s Mikael Stanne, System of a Down‘s Serj Tankian, and more to come.
Whether you choose to raze Hell with dark magic or prefer a full metal jacket solution, one thing’s for sure—we’re all in for some face-melting fun. Plan to have an infernal affair with Metal: Hellsinger when it arrives on all platforms in 2022.
