Hellpoint preview: This fun horror Souls-like game shows promise

Hellpoint Source: Windows Central

I had the chance to spend three hours in Hellpoint and I adored nearly every infinitesimal of information technology. This upward and coming sci-fi horror Souls-like shows serious promise and might end upwards beingness one of the amend titles in this sub-genre. I dove correct into the preview build that nosotros were provided and from the outset, I was presented with a dark sense of foreboding, a feeling of powerlessness, and overwhelming dread.

Each cautious step forrard took me further and further into the depths of the in-game world, which slowly introduces its grotesque horrors. Any fan of Dead Space will notice some similarities here, only that'south not all that Hellpoint does to differentiate itself from its predecessors.

I was presented with a dark sense of foreboding, a feeling of powerlessness, and overwhelming dread.

You play every bit a Spawn, a humanoid created to solve the problems of Irid Novo, the space station upon which the game takes identify. Your typical Souls-like staples are hither, including stamina management, currency you collect from enemies and item drops that you lose upon decease, watching for patterns in combat, and enemies that tin kill in yous in one or two hits. Most chiefly, it gives an incredible sense of achievement with each victory. Hellpoint presents the actor with a challenge, for certain, but with caution and precision, yous can master the early game levels and bosses. However, that'south not all that the game offers.

Hellpoint takes place on a space station orbiting a supermassive blackness hole. Circling this behemoth can twist the game world in subtle ways, like opening paths that were closed before. Twice a "solar day," the station hits a point in its orbit that creates accession storms. These spawn hordes of enemies at various points and here the difficulty spikes considerably, even for a Souls veteran.

Die and effort, try over again

When you dice, you will respawn at the concluding checkpoint, which looks a lot like humanity sprites from Dark Souls. Still, since the premise of the game revolves around a convergence of multi-verses, your grapheme comes back to life in a new reality since yous died in the previous ane. That means that things tin can exist very subtlely different as you're running dorsum to where you died, though I didn't notice annihilation in a couple of hours I had to play.

As yous can probably approximate, your healing items are quite limited, merely you can recover them simply by hit enemies often enough, especially during dominate battles. While yous should nevertheless be careful and use them sparingly, information technology's squeamish that the developers include a means by which you lot can get them back over time without having to dice or rest at a checkpoint.

Other than adding some twists on the formula, Hellpoint has improved drastically since news of it start hit the scene a few years agone. Back then, the animations looked pretty bad and the lighting and shadows ruined any sense of dread that information technology might otherwise convey. Now, it has a lot more smoothen and looks a whole lot better.

While I loved the piffling bit I got to play, there are a few things that I'd like to see addressed, if possible, before the final retail build launches. When the histrion grapheme is running, it's like he'due south floating a few millimeters above the ground. While the boots clank on the metal flooring, the anxiety themselves don't seem to connect.

Hellpoint Source: Windows Central

Role of a Souls-like, beyond the resources management and combat, is the exploration. Hellpoint has ane key difference from many others hither: a dedicated jump button. That's correct, yous can jump on boxes, leap over lower obstacles, and otherwise reach college places. That's fantastic, only I often discovered jumping and climbing puzzles, conquered them, and found nix for my effort. In the Observatory, for example, you can climb all the mode to the height and there's nothing in that location equally a advantage for making it there. This was certainly frustrating and I promise it'south but down to the fact I was playing a preview build and not the full version.

For the most part, the couple of boss battles I got to play were fun if not incredibly easy. Granted, I just got to play the offset few areas, just the bosses were a pushover. Of the 3 I fought, ii could exist duped just by staying in shut and circling — their attacks just couldn't reach me. The Arms, the worst of them all, was completely vulnerable if you circled behind him. None of his attacks could hit yous and you had basically free reign to whittle downwardly his huge health pool. I kept expecting a new attack where he protected his dorsum, but he but kept charging forward to reorient himself. A couple of dashes and I back to whittling downward his wellness pool with carelessness.

Boodle was plentiful, just there were mostly soul items (Axions, equally they're called in Hellpoint). I stumbled across some weapons and armor, only those were either on or very, very nigh the beaten path. As I mentioned in a higher place, I'd like to come across fashion more rewards for exploration and puzzle-solving in the final game.

You tin fail whilst look spectacular

Hellpoint Source: Windows Central

Hellpoint does a good job setting up a diversified build organization with a typical arrangement of Forcefulness, Dexterity, and Intelligence. There's a quaternary: Noesis, which governs your use of ranged weapons. I typically go for a Quality build in Souls-likes — which is an even mix of Strength and Dexterity — and Hellpoint has options for that, besides.

Finally, the Mode Souls looks like it'll be strong in this game. The armor that I collected looked pretty good, but the sets we've seen in the trailers expect nifty. This is a sci-fi game after all, and I'thousand excited to run across what the team at Cradle Games has cooked up to brand our Spawn look crawly.

Considering that I played the preview build, I was impressed with how stable the game was. I noticed some bugs, like visual glitches when sprinting upstairs, simply information technology was a genuinely great gaming experience. The development team highly recommends that you apply a controller if you're playing on PC and I second that. The default layout is very similar to Dark Souls', and then you should experience correct at domicile if you've played those games.

Hellpoint is due out April 16 for PC, Xbox One, PlayStation four, and Switch.

Horror Souls

Hellpoint

A new Souls-like

Hellpoint is an upcoming sci-fi Souls-like with strong horror undertones. Adult by indie studio Cradle Games, it's due out on April sixteen and it'southward sure to print. Though the preview build has room for improvements, Hellpoint shows serious hope.

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