Hellbound: is there a new DOOM-esque shooter on the horizon?

From the small Argentinian outfit Saiboit Studios, Hellbound has been circulating since late last year and is expected to release mid-2019. The company has recently launched compelling gameplay trailers and an ambitious Kickstarter campaign to garner support for the self-proclaimed ’90’s First Person Shooter – 20 years later’. Accompanying the new funding campaign, the developer has also released a short teaser-demo for all players to enjoy on Steam. The aptly titled ‘Survival Mode‘ displays the games’ early mechanics and hellish look in a short endless enemy gauntlet.

Finding inspiration from DOOM, Duke Nukem, and Quake; the upcoming title aims to capture just that. A powerful focus on brutal gun play, intense movement speeds, crushing enemies, world design, and a bad-ass aesthetic.  Director, programmer, and designer behind the project, Tobias Rusjan, describes Hellbound as ‘the game [he] wanted to do since [he] was a kid’. It’s quite clear the team behind the game are passionate about achieving the old-school shooter rush that Doom (2016) was successful enough to accomplish. The difference is the latter had a much higher budget and a larger team to properly refine the final product.

Hellbound seems interesting enough; a dedicated-tightknit team of ardent gamers who know what they love and want to recreate it for the masses. It’s almost reminiscent of the motivation behind the development of Yooka-Laylee, which unfortunately fell to the faults that its predecessors passed on. The soon-to-follow Crash Bandicoot remasters absolutely buried Yooka-Laylee in a deep grave of ‘shelve and forget’. With the recent reboot of Doom and the rumoured sequel on the horizon, will Hellbound be able to evolve upon that of its 90’s grandparents and still stand out among the crowd? One thing is for certain, nobody is going to reject another shred and ripping opera of an FPS like Doom (2016). 

Be sure to check out the gameplay trailer below, try out the ‘Survival Mode’ demo, and head over to the Saiboit Studios’ Kickstarter campaign.