Along with that the font treatment is TINY and very hard to read. It wouldn’t be unfair to compare this Switch version with the XBOX 360 as harsh edges are smoothed and muddied. The boss design isn’t distinct enough, and that is accentuated by the graphical downgrade that’s been taken here. Unfortunately, Hellpoint doesn’t succeed in that category. Progressing through the story takes less time than your average Souls-like, with my final count coming closer to 20 hours, but that should also mean the bosses and story would need to be more unique. Experiencing a “Hellpoint” was rare (especially if you put the system into sleep mode frequently) and an explanation is hardly provided, at least one that isn’t just confusing. This represents the position of the black hole, and depending on the positioning the titular “Hellpoints” can open up spawning waves of enemies posing a forever threat, which also can be largely ignored, funny enough. Throughout your play, there is a secondary glyph image near the lifebars that changes over time.
HELLPOINT RATING SERIES
New players to the Souls series may be confused as it’s not well explained until later. This can spice up the action or severely inconvenience you away from your current task.
HELLPOINT RATING SOFTWARE
Taking a page from other From Software games, players can invade your game to cause chaos and attempt to kill you. Handling two enemies at a time seems unfair when you also have to deal with frequent framerate drops.Įxploring the maze-like halls of the not-so-abandoned space station is made more treacherous with its in-game invasion and black hole system. The Switch cannot handle the action and it shows very early on. Trying again hardly feels like a chore, but doing so after an unfortunate casualty caused by game stuttering is frustrating.
Death is the leading mechanic, with every new try feeling like another opportunity, but now new knowledge has been gained. There’s a life bar and an energy bar as well for more magic-based maneuvers, but each is precious as the main healing injector only refills on landed hits or death, lending a risk/reward feel to combat. These all use up stamina, a finite resource that recharges over time. Dodges and rolls are utilized heavily while swings of the weapons lock in animation, making each one feel like a risk. The action is a balancing act of precise movements and committed attacks. These visual elements definitely make navigation an issue, but the sections are at least separated by title cards and load screens so that can be a saving grace when backtracking. Other than that, the environments blend together and the same greyscale metallic background makes up most areas with little variation. You will encounter a cavalcade of bosses that require a lot of precision and skill, or the occasional bugged positioning where they get stuck in one spot. The story is told from sparsely strewn messages and NPCs with cryptic dialogue that rarely feels direct.
The previous inhabitants have all gone mad from a cosmic event called the Merge. The story starts by giving you a general message that you are a Spawn, a faceless entity created by the Author whose purpose is to explore the derelict space station Irid Nova. Even though it does its best to stand out, Hellpoint rarely does enough to feel anything other than generic. The differentiator here is the sci-fi mixed with hellscape motif, a mysterious story of cyber gods, and a looming insanity infection.
With it comes the staples of the genre: hard as nails combat, precise movement, refillable health items, epic larger-than-life boss battles, and shortcuts that connect to bigger areas. Hellpoint is the newest Souls-like to come to the Nintendo Switch.
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