GSY Preview
PC
PS4
Xbox One
Switch
At Gamersyde we're always on point with current news events, so because this week will see the yearly return of Valentine's Day , what better game to preview than Hellpoint, a demanding title in which your survival skills will be out to the test. Quite the allegory for any type of love story wouldn't you say?
Verdict - Preview
If the Souls genre has indeed become a genre on its own, it's obviously because From Software has set a new successful standard among players. That being said, not that many games have tried to repeat the same formula, at least fewer than during the DOOM-like era. Titles like The Surge, Nioh or Ashen have proven it's possible to offer players more of those experiences, but Lords of the Fallen or even Code Vein remind us that making a good Souls game is clearly not a given. For now, though still perfectible (animations are a bit stiff, especially the jump one, camera needs a bit of polish against bosses sometimes and art style hasn't offered us any wow moments just yet), Cradle Games' title seems to be shaping up well enough to deserve people's attention. To begin with, its lore and atmosphere are intriguing enough to make the game quite engaging right from the start. You play the role of a newborn creature created by the Author and your goal is to uncover what happened in a space station going by the name of Irid Novo and much like in Dead Space or DOOM, all hell seems to have broken loose and humans have been infected by some kind of nightmarish phenomenon. Then there are also a bunch of original ideas that make Hellpoint a bit more than a mere copy of a From Software game, like the fact that the station orbits in real time around a black hole, which can affect the world in a positive (secret doors can be unlocked) or a negative way (mini bosses may appear), or that the healing system uses a regen gauge which fills up every time you hit an enemy. Also interesting is the fact that enemies do not respawn when using breaches (the Hellpoint equivalent to bonfires) but that they eventually will be back after a certain amount of time has passed. It makes exploration a bit easier as a result, but it also means it's not as simple to resort to grinding to upgrade one's character. Moreover, breaches don't automatically allow you to travel from one to another as you first have to find a specific item to create a bridge between them, which will force you to choose which checkpoint you wish to be able to reach thanks to fast travel. Last but not least, cooperation is possible locally, not just online, so you'll be granted the possibility to ask a friend of yours to join in to help you progress. It will even be possible to invade other players' games and take part in 2v2 fights. In short, though not 100% original, Hellpoint appears as a possible new contender for the genre, but we'll still need confirmation to see if it's capable of surprising us and providing us with enough memorable sequences to make it legitimate alongside Dark Souls, Bloodborne and the others. We should find out pretty soon as the game is planned for release on April 16 on PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One.
Patreon
All comments (2)
Commented on 2020-02-11 22:33:48I love Souls genre (I also appreciated a lot Nioh), but I didn't like at all The Surge. Do you think I could like Hellpoint?
Do you already know the price for console version?
Thanks!
Commented on 2020-02-11 22:44:56 In reply to stopper10