![]() Note that player two must create a Spawn of their own before joining a co-op game. Hellpoint supports full online and split-screen cooperative multiplayer, which is an unlikely and outstanding contribution to the sub-genre. Furthermore, the game introduces a mysterious "Black Hole Hour" with its own secrets. Twice per orbit, during the "Accretion Storm", Hellpoint spawns Hordes across Irid Novo. Throughout the game a meter sits in the top left of the screen that tracks the station's orbit. So what novelties does the game introduce? The first revolves, quite literally, around the black hole. Most disappointingly, several rank-and-file monsters are repurposed as bosses, or vice versa.Ĭlearly, Hellpoint has studied at the foot of Dark Souls. Other bosses are fine but mostly forgettable. What's especially interesting about these encounters is that under the right circumstances you can commune and align with a god, and take on a mission on its behalf. The best of the lot are the three divine bosses, with amazing names like Undisturbed Defas Nemundis and Ozyormy Goija, the Master of Puppets. On the subject of bosses, Hellpoint provides an adequate assortment of big bad guys. ![]() There are definitely "brick wall" enemies, particularly bosses, but an hour of grinding will probably make you strong enough to survive. Still, reading enemy tells, taking advantage of elemental weaknesses, and slaying powerful demonic entities is consistently fun and rewarding. You'll also find some breathless platforming on the underside of Irid Novo, but - pro tip - be sure to equip a spacesuit before entering the vacuum of space.Įnemy encounters are similarly satisfying, although hampered somewhat by uneven hit detection. Here you can climb what feels like a mile upward and downward to collect some valuable gear. The game also has a bit of fun with vertical level design, especially in the observatory, the closest thing Hellpoint has to a hub. While the levels look a bit artificial - the halls, spires, and catwalks of Irid Novo seem like video game constructs and not lived-in environments - they offer plenty of secret rooms, shortcuts, and loot. This is very standard stuff, but Hellpoint does the template justice, more or less. If you die before reaching the safety of a Breach, your accumulated Axions will remain at the spot of your untimely death you'll need to march back into the fray to reacquire them. Amidst this hellscape, you, a "Spawn", are brought into existence by the "Author", an unidentified being that asks you to collect data on what went wrong.Īs a Spawn, you'll explore Irid Novo according to a standard Souls-like loop: set off from a Breach (think bonfire) explore interconnected environments fight monstrous enemies collect gear, blueprints, and Axions (experience points) and then return to a Breach and spend Axions to improve your statistics. Bodies litter the halls and chambers of Irid Novo, and demons, gods, and monsters stalk its walkways. Everything takes place on the space station Irid Novo, which orbits a black hole and has become, in the words of one NPC, "a Swiss cheese of interdimensional breaches and wormholes". Unlike many Souls-like games, which unfold against a medieval backdrop, Hellpoint embraces a sci-fi setting that's part Dead Space, part Event Horizon. By embracing the tenets of the sub-genre - deadly combat, rewarding exploration, and a gameplay loop designed around learning from failure - and adding a couple interesting additions, it delivers an experience that's decent, if a little generic. The cottage industry of Souls-likes continues with Hellpoint, a modest action-RPG from developer Cradle Games. By Evan Norris, posted on 15 August 2020 / 4,073 Views ![]()
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