![]() These subtle tweaks and changes manage to give Hellpoint's core combat and exploration its own unique flavour while remaining close enough to the genre's tried-and-tested formula that fans will immediately feel reassured.Īs you discover breach points scattered around the Irid Novo, you can also raise or lower the difficulty of the surrounding area in order to either make things slightly easier or line yourself up for greater rewards by battling tougher foes – something it took us an age to figure out how to do due to the cryptic nature of just about everything going on here. Defeated enemies won't reappear when you hook up to a breach in order to level up either, instead re-emerging after a set amount of time – unless you happen to die, in which case areas will immediately repopulate. ![]() It's a nice little wrinkle that enables you to pull yourself right out of a hole on occasion, battling back from near death to restock your health charges fully and give yourself the energy necessary to clear immediate threats with a barrage of laser fire from your trusty marine rifle of daemon cannon. In another twist on the usual Soulslike gameplay mechanics, both the energy gauge to which your weapons and magic attacks are tied and any health refills you've currently got at your disposal are recharged not by resting at a breach, but by causing damage to your enemies. we mean breaches, you can raise your reflex stat in order to reach a point at which you can handle railguns, rifles, cannons and something known as the Mouth of Filth, a weapon which breaks life down at a molecular level and is therefore probably best handled with care and pointed away from your body. As you level-up your character by hoovering up Axions from defeated enemies and trading them in at bonfir. Where Hellpoint does mix things up a little with regards to its slow-paced scraps is in the successful introduction of guns. ![]() You'll attack foes with light and heavy swings of various brutal melee weapons, block incoming damage with your trusty shield and make heavy use of an exaggerated roll manoeuvre which, like everything else you do, is tied to a stamina gauge. ![]() Your standard day out in space, basically.įans of FromSoftware will immediately feel at home with the core gameplay loops here as the basic rhythm of combat is essentially identical to the good old Dark Souls series. The general gist though, if we've managed to pull the sparse shreds of evidence together in any way properly, is that you've been created by a mysterious AI known as The Author, who requires that you "collect data" by fighting hordes of hellish space demons in order to save the Novo, which is currently orbiting perilously close to a supermassive black hole in the aftermath of a cataclysmic event known as The Merge. ![]() The story here, in true Soulslike fashion, is a cryptic thing that you'll need to piece together haphazardly as you traverse the innards of the Irid Novo, the enormous derelict space station onto which your character is birthed at the beginning of the game. It should be a success, it should an easy recommendation – especially for Soulslike fans – however, a Switch port that massively downgrades graphics while introducing some pretty serious technical issues results in a sci-fi action-adventure that feels like it's bitten off quite a bit more than it can chew – on Nintendo's hybrid console, at least. Yes please, we like this, we want this, sign us up! Cradle Games' Hellpoint has got a great premise, a fantastically atmospheric setting and gameplay that unashamedly pilfers ideas and mechanics from FromSoftware's superb back catalogue while adding a few little twists and tricks of its own. Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)ĭark Souls crossed with Dead Space? Bloodborne set within the bowels of a great big derelict space station? Yes. ![]()
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