Rising Hell - Initial Thoughts

First off I want to thank Chorus Worldwide for an early access copy of Rising Hell! This has been my first experience with a “review copy” of a game and boy, was this is a good one! I’ve only spent about 10-12 hours trying to rise out of hell, but my time spent decimating enemies and powering up my characters has been a blast! (Literally if you use Sydna). If you can’t tell already I love this game and highly recommend it, but let’s get into some of the reasons why!

Rising Hell plays like a dream, and I can’t think of any game, offhand, that handles it’s vertically focus combat like it does. The Hellsbane gives the characters the ability to bounce from enemy to enemy mid-air and not only does big damage, but is the main mode of travel outside of standard 2D platforming (Double jump, wall jump, etc.). In addition, each character has different stats / abilities that will determine jump/run speed, health pool, and damage output. There are also artifacts that can be purchased that grant various abilities / buffs which allows the player to develop different strategies for progressing depending on what character / artifact combination they use. The Hellsbane has a few tricks up its sleeve as well, as enemies sometime drop power ups that will change the characters attack in different ways.

Visually I was blown away at the detail in all of the environments and the polish of the animations and effects. This place is hell, and it sure looks like it! Pulsating flesh vines, rusted sawblades and spike traps, a plethora of grotesque enemies, and highly memorable boss designs create a vision of hell that is fresh and totally metal. Topping this off are the smooth character animations and brutal weapon effects and kills. Even with all of this happening on screen, I didn’t find it difficult to keep up which was impressive.

Oh the soundtrack! The dev / publisher has been putting new tracks up in their youtube playlist for a while now, but as a few days ago is now complete. This music is downright amazing! “Heavy metal / symphonic metal riffs with a retro touch is how I would best describe the songs. Throw in the occasional chanting and opera vocals and holy hell, I could listen to this all day!

I still have a whole bunch to unlock and see, but in all good time. Meanwhile, if you’re reading this, you need to go pick this up. At least give the demo a try to see if it’s a good fit for you.

Rising Hell is releasing TODAY on PS4 with other consoles being released each day this week!