The rhythm FPS is gaining momentum ahead of a global metal reckoning
As the massive gathering known as Gamescom 2022 continues to welcome visitors and guests from all over the world, fans of hard-hitting metal music were treated to an unforgettable night with the Metal: Hellsinger concert held in the confines of Hall 6 on August 25.
In the largest live concert ever seen at the event, several of the game’s vocalists, including the likes of Matt Heafy, James Dorton, Mikael Stanne, Dennis Lyxzén, and Alissa White-Gluz were on hand to perform their songs from the original soundtrack. Needless to say, it was one hell of a night with stellar performances from everyone involved.
The inception of the concert was also the perfect time to talk to David Goldfarb, Creative Director at The Outsiders, the folks behind Metal: Hellsinger, who was also in celebratory mood after bagging the Best Action Game and Most Wanted PC Game of 2022 awards at Opening Night Live.
“It’s wonderful to get some kind of recognition from people, also puts lots of pressure on us. So it feels good, but yeah, crazy!” shared Goldfarb.
The team does seem very well placed to handle the pressure, leading the way with an idea that works well both in ideation as well as execution. And it’s all thanks to the creative director’s taste in music while gaming, where shooting to the beat became “a good boost to the flow state of playing a first person shooter.” That idea got shelved for a good four years, before Funcom came along and Metal: Hellsinger became possible.
Another obvious draw of the game is the fact that it features plenty of well-known names in the metal arena, an outcome that didn’t come easy for the team developing the game.
“At the start, nobody knew anything about our game, we didn’t have anything to show really. So it’s very hard to just approach artists and be like, ‘there’s this thing that we want to do, would you be interested in it?'” explained Goldfarb.
“What ended up happening is Two Feathers, the people who made our music, I think was Nicholas, his mother happened to know Mikael Stanne, who’s the singer of Dark Tranquillity. We had an introduction, we brought him in, and he’s super great. Everything after that was sort of like a widening circle, now that he’s involved, there were other artists that wanted to be involved.”
From there, it was all about adding more layers to a solid, metal foundation. This meant the implementation of the Fury multiplier, which served to increase players’ score, but also up the ante in instrumentation as it goes higher. And at the top level, players were rewarded with the vocals of all these amazing artists.
By marrying engaging gameplay with a musical genre that isn’t usually on the mainstream’s radar, Metal: Hellsinger is certainly going the extra mile to cater to a hardcore audience while simulatenously inviting more to join in the fun, just like the concert. As September 15 gets even closer, many will be preparing to shred like never before, and that’s exactly what the metal gods would want.
