I used to be impressed by the trailers for Hellscreen (opens in new tab), a boomer shooter with a hanging teal and crimson colour palette and distinctive twist—a “rear view mirror” in your prime heart display displaying what is going on on behind you at any given time. However on the similar time I believed “oh, that is a cool trick, nevertheless it’s most likely only a gimmick, proper?” I made a decision to offer Hellscreen’s free demo from Realms Deep 2022 a attempt, see if it had anything occurring.
Hellscreen would not want anything occurring. The rear view mirror is what is going on on.
It isn’t only a software for situational consciousness—proper click on and you will hearth backwards, with a bit gun and reticle popping up within the mini display (which may be blown out and toggled again down with the shift key). To incentivize utilizing the function, Hellscreen provides you double harm whereas transferring and firing ahead, when you get quad harm whenever you transfer ahead and hearth backwards. I felt like I used to be grappling with a completely new realm of 3D motion on the order of They Got here From Dimension X (opens in new tab)‘s gravity-defying firefights, and it is supremely satisfying to drag off sick Annie Oakley, Buster Scruggs (opens in new tab) mirror photographs.
Hellscreen additional leans into its foremost mechanic with enemies and hazards that may solely be dealt with in rear view. Some foes are solely seen and susceptible on the second display, whereas one space within the demo blocks out your foremost view utterly, demanding you navigate in reverse. Spiritually, it jogs my memory of the very best Nintendo Wii and DS video games that squeezed each little bit of innovation and enjoyable out of these bizarre management inputs, and certainly Hellscreen would most likely be proper at residence on an alternate universe Nintendo 4DS.
My one caveat is that you need to most likely steer clear of Hellscreen in case you get movement illness. I’ve by no means even had points with VR earlier than, and but I positively felt my abdomen drop like I used to be using a curler coaster at instances. A promoting level for me, however one thing to pay attention to.
Hellscreen has been within the works for a number of years—we first reported on its trailers (opens in new tab) and Kickstarter (opens in new tab) marketing campaign again in 2017 and ’18, nevertheless it actually appears like the additional time within the oven has helped it come collectively. Hellscreen is ready to launch in early entry a while earlier than April (Q1, 2023), when you can try the demo for your self and wishlist Hellscreen on its Steam (opens in new tab) web page.
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