It’s been some time for the reason that final Shadow Hearts sport, and extra particularly, about 20 years since Shadow Hearts: Covenant, typically thought-about the top of the collection, got here out outdoors of Japan. Creator Matsuzo Machida and firm are presently engaged on a non secular successor, Penny Blood, which is hotly anticipated by Shadow Hearts followers. Within the meantime, now we have Penny Blood: Hellbound, a prequel spinoff. Spinoffs taking over a totally completely different style from their extremely well-liked siblings has been a development the previous few years. Sadly, lots of them acquired the dreaded “just for completionists” label. Penny Blood guarantees to be a extra conventional RPG expertise, however can Hellbound, an motion roguelike launched earlier than the primary sport, keep away from that label?
The eccentric characters of Penny Blood: Hellbound immediately steal the present, one thing Shadow Hearts was identified for; those that know are in for a deal with at any time when we lastly get Penny Blood. Although the story is extra restricted within the roguelike format, it appears like we’re barely on the shore of some weird character depths. These personalities are so highly effective they’re threatening to start out an entire revolution singlehandedly. Regardless that you solely get a sampling of your social gathering’s character, the magnetic pull of a reanimated pregnant noblewoman and a depressed-possessed magician was so robust that I wished their full tales instantly.
Even the parents you meet randomly whereas trudging by the Hellhounders’ unusual scenario are fascinating sufficient that I’d need a full story about this Scotsman decked out in an Egyptian neme and the others like him. I don’t even know that these are the identical individuals who star in Penny Blood. I simply know I would like extra of all of them — much more. Judging by Penny Blood: Hellbound, the primary sport must be Shadow Hearts in all however identify in the perfect methods. The one challenge is that Hellbound appears to count on some participant familiarity with these characters. Clearly, the primary sport hasn’t been launched but to know for certain how a lot prior information Hellbound expects.
It’s unlucky that, whereas there’s a lot to unpack from the scant scraps of story in Penny Blood: Hellbound, you received’t get many satisfying solutions to your burning questions. Upon discovery by the rebellious Hellhounders, they dub the amnesiac protagonist “Clara.” The Hellhounders are a group of revolutionaries who’ve discovered themselves caught in an odd underworld within the sewers of 1920 New York, trapped there by a rival group wanting to place a cease to the chaos the Hellhounders are accused of. The oddest half is that demise is not any escape from this place, and upon revival, the Hellhounders merely discover themselves again at their hideout, appropriately named Purgatory.
That’s a narrative that lends itself to a roguelike format, and you’re taking management of “Clara” and the Hellhounders as they bash, shoot, and blast their approach out of this predicament. Fight on its face is pleasing, although slightly repetitive, and typical for a roguelike within the vein of Hades. The distinguishing characteristic of Penny Blood: Hellbound is your bloodsurfing capacity. As you defeat enemies, the extra overkill injury you do to their corpses, the extra blood splatters the bottom, permitting you to skate throughout it and get round rapidly to achieve an assault increase. This offers the battles a fast-paced kinetic really feel, and bloodsurfing by itself is sort of a day at a bloody seashore. Other than that, you choose up new talents on every run at pushing by to the ultimate boss, discovering favorites, and attempting to place collectively a very good construct to get you thru to the tip.
The Hellhounders present a complete of six characters you possibly can run by the dungeons with, although solely 4 can be found at the start. It’s good that you just get to take a pair of fighters on every run, however until you’re enjoying co-op, you received’t uncover the extent of what this permits. Nonetheless, the AI is especially succesful supporting you in fight, and it takes no injury whereas managed by the pc. The range in your fighters isn’t instantly obvious, however as you choose up everlasting talents, their fight personalities start to department out. The distinction between melee and ranged characters is like enjoying an entire completely different sport with every. Melee resembles a typical motion RPG or roguelike, whereas ranged is extra like an additional gory model of Galaga.
Fight is fast, however working by battle after battle will get stale, particularly since you’re going by the identical rooms and managers each run because of Penny Blood: Hellbound’s roguelike nature. Fortunately, the sport throws occasional curveballs to spice it up. The range in degree design is welcome, as there are sometimes interactive objects within the surroundings forcing you to take a special strategy from simple bashing. As an illustration, some rooms have spikes on the partitions and bouncy cushion-like issues that ship you or enemies careening into these spikes. There are additionally challenges, like having to outlive waves of enemies for 45 seconds. The range helps to alleviate the sameness of every run. There’s extra selection when digging into the huge variety of everlasting upgrades obtainable to your characters again at Purgatory. Every Hellhounder has three weapons that behave in a different way, although two of these begin locked. Whereas it’s good to select up new equipment or weapons to shake up your experiences, it takes many runs to achieve entry to all the things.
The roguelike elements are the place Penny Blood: Hellbound falls brief essentially the most. The obvious challenge is that you just typically see all the things the dungeons have to supply — from enemies to momentary talents — in a pair runs, if not your first one. The optimistic facet of that is that you would be able to rapidly determine and get comfy with expertise to study what you need as a part of your builds. Nonetheless, it was additionally simple to rapidly dismiss talents I wouldn’t ever choose. That feeling of discovering one thing new on each run that we love roguelikes for is dispelled nearly immediately upon beginning Penny Blood: Hellbound, making ending it a chore. Whereas the number of everlasting talents at the very least offers you one thing new to check out on each run, having to run by all the similar dungeon a number of instances to get the perfect ending ultimately will get previous.
The type of Penny Blood: Hellbound is simply too cool, sharply evoking a melding of Roaring ’20s America with trendy sensibilities whereas additionally drawing from many bizarre subcultures from all through the world and lots of factors in historical past. It’s half noir, half Indiana Jones, half steampunk, and a lot extra. Although characters’ wealthy personalities sing out with each little bit of dialogue, they’re evocative of their mere look alone. Machida and his band of creators have been unleashed, and it’s wonderful.
Past its stylish fashions, Penny Blood: Hellbound is visually beautiful. Whereas I count on characters in the primary sport to be extra realistically proportioned, the chibi variations listed below are lovely sufficient to face on their very own. Battles are chaotically dazzling, with hearth and lightweight results popping off on the common. The lighting specifically is fairly, tinting the characters with purple results from reflections off the blood all around the flooring. The large band-styled music is equally superior, energetically drawing from many kinds that had their heyday within the ’20s, like swing and jazz. Voice appearing is used solely sporadically, however it’s robust when current. The controls are tremendous for essentially the most half, as they make bloodsurfing easy and enjoyable. Nonetheless, there are situations the place I’d should press a button greater than as soon as and as much as three or 4 instances to get a capability to activate. Not very best for an motion sport.
Total, Penny Blood: Hellbound presents a world I’m wanting to make my residence deal with in (at the very least in a online game sense), with neighbors I’d prefer to get to know higher whereas remaining totally terrified all the time. The roguelike gameplay might be enjoyable, however its finest options are but mired in balancing points. Although its character is magnetic, as a roguelike, it doesn’t stack up nicely towards others prefer it. If the purpose of releasing Penny Blood: Hellbound was to whet the urge for food for Penny Blood, then it’s served its objective. That’s good for now, however as soon as Penny Blood correct is launched, I believe Penny Blood: Hellbound will in the end be for completionists.
