This is just one of the many ways in which Hellpoint changes things up, which is always refreshing.Īnother way in which Hellpoint switches the formula up is its weapons system. Similar to spirits in Dark Souls, this ghost will try its darndest to kill you, and will fight as if controlled by an esports player, so you might have to work hard for your lost Axions if you want to retrieve them again. Sometimes, a green AI-controlled “ghost” of your character’s avatar can be seen wandering around the area where you died. Firstly, while regaining your Axions seems like an easy feat, it might not always be as straightforward as one might think. While most Souls-like veterans will be very familiar with this gameplay loop, there are various elements that set Hellpoint apart from the usual. Early on in the game, you’ll uncover the Observatory, the game’s main hub, where you’ll be doing most of your upgrading and augmenting by spending Axions and materials found across your playthrough. And of course, die and you’ll lose all Axions you’ve earned up until that point, and have to backtrack to the area where you perished to continue your progress, or simply start from scratch and get those hard-earned Axions all over again. The typical gameplay loop for Hellpoint is as such: explore the level, kill various enemies that roam the area to earn Axions (the game’s main currency), open various doors and shortcuts, eventually make your way to the boss room, defeat them to unlock the next interdimensional Breach (this game’s version of the classic Bonfire checkpoint), and rinse and repeat. The slightly minimalist aesthetic of the levels themselves does add to the melancholy atmosphere of the game, which does play to the scenario posed by the narrative. There is just something harrowing about walking across a massive, empty hallway with a lone enemy sitting by in the corner. While this isn’t exactly the most horrific of sci-fi horror, what Cradle Games has done here is more atmospheric horror rather than the cheap jump-scare variant. The juxtaposition of just a single life form against the Irid Novo’s many empty, sprawling hallways evokes a melancholy note. Imagine being the only living or sane person in a space station designed to house a small colony of people (okay, to be fair, a lot of films explore this notion, but it’s not exactly the easiest feat to pull off, but Cradle Games seems to have gotten the formula right). It is up to the player to explore its various facets, clearing out the various monster-filled halls, all in an attempt to reclaim the Irid Novo and return it to its former glory.Īrguably the strongest point of (heh) Hellpoint is its atmosphere and tone.
In Hellpoint, players take on the role of the Spawn, a creation of the Author, an AI that resides in the now-derelict space station, the Irid Novo. And with what little budget the Canadian dev had in its coffers, it still managed to put out a decent, if slightly flawed, version of the formula that made the genre so beloved. Developed on the back of a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2017, this sci-fi take on the genre aims to give players that same intense, balls-to-the-walls, die-and-try-again difficult gameplay experience as seen in the original games by FromSoftware. And for developers aiming to take the Souls-like genre to greater heights, there seems to be a certain pressure when it comes to making a new title and keeping it fresh, without seeming like too much of a repeat of the original.Īnd with a game like Hellpoint by Cradle Games, the pressure to deliver big on the Souls-like genre has never been greater. This also applies to the games within the genre borne out of FromSoftware’s iconic legacy. However, it also has become somewhat of a tired phrase to keep calling something “the Dark Souls of” a certain medium or genre.
There is a certain appeal when it comes to playing notoriously challenging games in the same mould as Dark Souls.
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