Hello everyone! Our Rhythm FPS, Metal: Hellsinger, coming very soon on September 15 for Xbox Series X|S and available from day one with Game Pass. Before that happens and we unleash you all on the demonic hordes of hell, we’d like to share what we think makes Metal: Hellsinger a uniquely intense experience, and how we got to where we are today.
In Metal: Hellsinger you embark on an infernal vengeance through the eight Hells. Most basic actions are performed to rhythm, so when you shoot, sprint or finishers perform to rhythm. This adds to your “fury” multiplier. The higher your multiplier, the more intense the music gets and the more damage you deal, and at maximum fury, the vocals come out for the full metal experience.
A range of evil weapons intermingle the way you handle the beat. For example, the shotgun lets you exterminate demons with a heavy half-note finality, while the dual guns send enemies with a quick quarter-note staccato. Each weapon also has an ultimate ability, mixing things up even more, giving you an even wider range of options for how you want to play. Even storms and reloads have their own importance in your symphony of destruction.
You control the music
While the music itself beats at the heart of the game, and we feel privileged to have an incredible original OST performed by legendary metal artists, it’s you who power the whole infernal machine.
In Metal: Hellsinger you drive the song, not the other way around. The purpose of this is to make you feel more connected to your performance, the game world and the music. Everything flows from the rhythmic impact of demons hitting the ground to your relentless advance. You are the song incarnate. You feed the metal, and the metal feeds you.
The beat goes on
By playing the game itself, we noticed something odd. A visit to the studio kitchen reveals developers smashing their coffee machine selection to an imaginary beat in their head. From my desk I hear colleagues clicking and typing in rhythm to a beat that doesn’t exist.
The rhythm of the game just keeps going. As I walk around all day, I find myself unconsciously continuing the metronome or humming favorite bits of the song I just played. We hope the same happens to others, this kind of musical hypnosis inducing flow and rhythmic play.
While we know the game is unusual in its own right, there was never a meeting where everyone sat down and thought, “How do we make this different from other games?” We took elements of games we loved and combined them. Shooters, metal music and rhythm games, with the conceptual idea of making this game about a demon fighting its way out of hell.
Some of the people on the team had done shooters before and many of us had listened to an awful lot of metal, but a rhythm game that combined all these things was new, so there was a lot of research and simply figuring out what worked for us and what felt good to play. .
We focused on the shooter aspects and balanced it against what we thought would reward rhythmic gameplay. In a game that is all about timing and flow, we knew everything had to be extremely accurate and responsive. If the player performed well, they needed to know. Our solution: When you hit the full score multiplier, screaming vocals blast your ears through the screen. But in a good way.
Getting the right feedback for actions on and off the beat, the scoring structure, making the UI feel integrated into the experience, all of this was a long back and forth process.
Like playing a metal album
Each level in the game, a slice of hell, is set to a song fashioned into a layered and reactive soundtrack. The level selection screen resembles a string of records, and in the deepest pit of hell awaits the final showdown with the red judge, set to “No Tomorrow” performed by System of a Down’s Serj Tankian. The result is – we hope – a game that feels like playing a metal album come to life.
We hope you have fun playing Metal: Hellsinger when it comes out on September 15 for Xbox Series X|S and day one with Xbox Game Pass.
Metal: Hellsinger
funcom
Part human, part demon and obsessed with revenge. Become The Unknown and fight through the fiercest domains of Hell. Destroy the demon hordes and their leaders to prepare yourself for an epic showdown against The Red Judge himself.
Every legend has a song. And yours is one of metal, revenge and destruction.
Beat to the beat
Metal: Hellsinger is a rhythm FPS where your ability to shoot to the beat will enhance your gameplay experience. The more in sync you are with the rhythm, the more intense the music will become and the more destruction you will cause.
demonic arsenal
Defeat the demon hordes with a skull-coated blade or a wide variety of murderous weapons. Each weapon has its own ultimate ability, such as Murder of Crows or The Big Goodbye.
Epic Story and Challenge Mode
Play through an epic storyline narrated by award-winning actor Troy Baker. Then conquer the leaderboards or challenge your friends to beat your score in Challenge Mode.
Fight through fire, ice, metal and madness
Though commonly known as Hell, The Infernal Planes is really a union of a thousand Hells, all of which are terrifying and diabolical in their own way. To dethrone The Red Judge, you must fight your way through the most savage corners, from the icy world of Voke to the maddening world of Stygia.
From the chief designer of Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Created by an experienced FPS team at The Outsiders, Metal: Hellsinger is the passion project of David Goldfarb, Game Director on Payday 2 and Lead Designer on Battlefield 3 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
Original metal soundtrack
Each song is specially crafted for the game with vocals from metal icons such as Serj Tankian (System of a Down), Matt Heafy (Trivium), Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquility), Randy Blythe (Lamb of God), Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy ) and Tatiana Shmailyuk (Jinjer).
0 Comments