EDIT: Spoilers are open

Welcome to the Unsanctioned Unofficial Game Pass Game Club. Our 22nd game is Inside. The target completion date is November 28, 2022.

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What is Metal Hellsinger?

An FPS heavily influenced by the recent Doom revival but with a rhythm game element.

How long is Metal Hellsinger?

How long to beat lists it as 4.5 hours long.

Assuming things like “unlockable guns” and “featured artists on songs” are spoilers, I’ll save my thoughts on those until the spoiler embargo ends. Until that point, I really wish this game had a Neon White-esque quick restart on the bonus levels. I find myself getting super impatient when I’ve failed one, and several times I tried clicking through to restart but instead quit the mission.

I think I like this game more than Doom Eternal? It’s an inevitable point of comparison.

I played this when it came out and liked it a lot. I'm not super into retro style shooters these days, but the music and rhythm aspect was more than enough to keep my interest. Still waiting for the soundtrack to go on spotify though.

The game hit an absolute fever pitch for me around the second or third level, right around the time you unlock the third ranged weapon. Unfortunately, an enemy type introduced shortly thereafter really put me off of it. I still intend to push through at some point.

I appreciate how the animations of both the enemies and environment are “on beat” to help you keep the rhythm, but I still tend to dance (as in strafe slightly back and forth) as I move through combat to keep a decent streak. It works really well, especially on a gamepad.

Sill got a ways to go, but I find I have to tap my foot to the beat in order to stay on rhythm. It's worth it to keep that combo up though - it's a glorious feeling when the vocals kick in.

I love Doom and metal and rhythm games but man, I hated this game. Finished the first level and couldn't go on. I was absolutely terrible at it and constantly felt like I was hitting a wall with the gameplay.

If a big Doom: Eternal fight felt like a choreographed danced, me playing this game felt like QWOP.

I beat the final boss last night, albeit after reducing the difficulty to easy. I’m coming away from this game with a positive experience, and I think there’s a solid chance it ends up in my top 10 of the year. The best part of the game was its soundtrack, which is currently sitting near the top of my list of 2022 albums. I would be stunned if this game doesn’t get a sequel with a bigger budget, and I’ll looking forward to it for sure.

So I didn't come close to finishing this, really only played the first true level (some real life stuff cropped up) but I think I really hate this game. Like viscerally loath it. I thought it would be for me because I like metal music (though not particularly THIS metal music) and I like the new Doom series, but everything the designers did just feels unpleasant to me.

For one thing I have a long history of liking rhythm games but not liking games that implement rhythm elements into other genres. It just feels like one too many things to keep track of and it comes off as annoying more than anything else. Oh you want me to jump around and fight stuff but also keep the beat? Why? That's stupid and unpleasant.

For another this gets rid of a ton of what I actually liked about the Doom games. There's no exploration or secrets to speak of, no real resource management except for life and beat (which isn't a resource), the enemies are super boring, the atmopshere is sterile, and the level design is bland.

Not only that but every area in the level is an endlessly boring arena with wave after wave of goons. So i addition to having to focus on the beat and moving ad shooting you just have dudes teleporting in behind you without good notification and also have no idea how many endless waves of mooks you'll have to deal with before you finally get to move on to the next boring area where they throw guys at you non-stop. This happens sometimes in Doom too, but those arenas tend to be designed for hypermobility and with lots of powerups and ammo and interactive elements to mess with. Taking most of those things away (there are the dumb exploring shard things) just leave you with monotony, and since I don't like the core game play it feels like actual torment to try and play this stuff.

Usually the way I deal with games I find boring in one way or another is by putting on a podcast or something, but haha this game requires you to focus on the beat so no escape!

I not only hate the game but I think I actually hate the people who made it. I've never met them and technically they didn't do anything wrong just by making a game that caters to other people's tastes, but I think that the the things we enjoy in games are so diametrically opposed that I would probably find it unbearable to spend any time around them.

"You know what's fun in games? When you beat the third wave of guys in a bland and boring arena and then you get to face a FOURTH wave of the same guys in the same bland boring arena! It's like doing homework but in a video game!"

If I'm doing annoying boring tasks over and over I want some real world benefit.

Anyway I'm glad some people really liked it and I'm glad I tried it for the pass, but I just am not in a place in my life where I'm going to force myself to finish games I really am not enjoying.

ETA: Oh and I forgot some of my least favorite parts! All of this and with no mid level saves (want to play a little and take a break? No can do! You have to finish all your homework assignment in one go!) and the decision to limit lives and use score to punish people who aren't really 'getting' the game to make the experience worse. Just a whole lot of "play the game the way we want!" energy, and boy do I dislike it. No mid-level saves is a MASSIVE no no in my opinion. Let me play for as long or as little as I like, I have other things going on in my life.

Hate!

I really wanted to play through more of this game than I did. Rhythm games are usually not my thing, but the music selection was so up my alley that I not only recognized, but actively listen to almost everyone in here (especially Tatiana from Jinjer!).

I was merrily headbanging my way through the levels, even doing all the bonus stuff - which is not typical for me in games - until the introduction of the ****ing shield enemies. Just an incredibly annoying obstacle that requires such specific tactics to take down that every time they showed up I instantly became annoyed. Their ability to block shots really threw me off my rhythm (literally!) so hard that it took me out of the experience completely. I haven't played Doom Eternal, but the comparisons are not encouraging.

Maybe one day I'll do like someone above and drop it down to easy, or maybe even use cheats, just to experience the soundtrack in the interactive way is was intended, but with so many games competing for our time these days, it's not likely - and that makes me sad.

@bigsocrates: Honestly, while I'd say that the first level or two did a poor job selling me on the game (aside from its music getting stuck in my head), you've probably identified all of the game's flaws that persist through the final boss. The bosses especially suffer from a lack of variety, even down to the soundtrack (until the end). If you didn't enjoy the bit you played, there's absolutely no reason to revisit it and torture yourself.

I bumped a couple challenges, and also the final level, down to easy just to not spend too much time on the game. I recommend at least mainlining to the final level, because the two best songs on the soundtrack are there, in my opinion. It warms my blackened heart to hear Serj still doing Serj things.

Oh and those stupid shield assholes? The Hellcrow weapon shreds them pretty well since it boomerangs into their exposed backs. If you hate using them, then you pretty much have to use a special attack, which is lame.

@allthedinos: Thanks for the tips mate, I'll give it a go.

Sometimes I have weird misgivings about playing on 'easy' mode, but that of course is very silly - especially in a case like this, where the aesthetics are the real draw rather than the gameplay.