I’m a big fan of metal. I’m a big fan of video games. I’m also a big fan of shooting demons and ripping them apart. Metal: Hellsinger combines all these qualities into one tight package I never knew I needed. Clearly, people like me were on the minds of developers The Outsiders while concepting Metal: Hellsinger. Look at it from one angle and it appears as just another demon-blasting shooter romp, but look from another angle and Metal: Hellsinger is a creative, engaging, arcadey experience that gripped me from start to finish. In Metal: Hellsinger you play as The Unknown, a nameless protagonist hellbent on dismantling the overlord demons of Hell, and are joined by the talking Skull of Paz (voiced by Troy Baker), who serves as narrator and guide through the game’s lore.

The game’s FPS mechanics truly are lifted straight out of the DOOM and Wolfenstein playbook; smooth movement and fluid animations glide the player through shredding down demons. Progressing through the game unlocks new weapons and perks for The Unknown, and scales up your battle options as the difficulty gradually scales.

Therein lies my favourite thing about Metal: Hellsinger: the way the music reacts to your performance through gameplay. As that multiplier increases, layers are added to the level’s soundtrack until you are blasting away at a 16x multiplier while a monstrous heavy metal track is thundering through your speakers, complete with vocals, guitar solos, and insane drums; building the intensity sonically while the chaos builds gameplay-wise. The perfect blend of two of my great loves.

Speaking of the soundtrack, all the music is originally composed for Metal: Hellsinger and crafted in a way to adapt to your performance during play. Not one section feels incomplete or lacking regardless of what level of multiplier you’re on; lower multipliers have a droney, drum & bass feel, whereas higher multipliers are a full-on destructive symphony of riffs, blast beats, and harsh vocals.

While coming from a lesser-known developer, the game’s performance and visuals really hold up. Some of the cutscenes and story-board style sections make the game feel a bit mid-2010s at times, but in the moment-to-moment gameplay, Metal: Hellsinger can stand toe-to-toe with some of the bigger, AAA shooters. The hells are appropriately dank, demonic, and threatening, and many levels would sit right at home in DOOM (2016) or DOOM Eternal. Towards the end of the game, however, the assets and rooms start feeling all too familiar, so maybe some variety or unique items scattered around hell could have helped keep things fresh.

Beyond just running through the campaign, there are side missions and challenges to flesh out your arsenal and combat options, increase your multiplier bonuses, and unlock unique perks for your character. There’s a lot of replayability and optional content to expand your playtime with Metal: Hellsinger.

My criticisms of the game are few, but to be nitpicky, I found the game’s narrative pretty stock-standard stuff, and the option to rely on the comic book storyboard presentation style for all the story beats fell flat for me; I wasn’t engaged, and would have preferred to see these events unfold in the rich, visceral world that the game exists in rather than drab, bland static frames.