Hellbound (2020)

 PC
User Score
6.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 28 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 28
  3. Negative: 9 out of 28

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  1. EnigmaXtreme
    Aug 5, 2020
    4
    In the 90’s the term “DOOM Clone” was given to First Person Shooters following the runaway success of iD’s Demon Slaying Magnum Opus. It wasn’t always used negatively though as this era saw many great titles including Heretic, Blood and of course Duke Nukem 3D. Hellbound however is a DOOM Clone in the sense they actually tried to clone the game but something was contaminated in the testIn the 90’s the term “DOOM Clone” was given to First Person Shooters following the runaway success of iD’s Demon Slaying Magnum Opus. It wasn’t always used negatively though as this era saw many great titles including Heretic, Blood and of course Duke Nukem 3D. Hellbound however is a DOOM Clone in the sense they actually tried to clone the game but something was contaminated in the test tube.

    Hellbound wants you to think that it is a game inspired by the shooters of the 90’s, with all the twitchy finger, devasting weapons and bloodlust they were known for. But playing the game, I felt as far away from the 90’s as possible and just saw a game that was seriously trying way too hard.

    It starts with the title screen that isn’t even pretending to be a ripoff of the DOOM logo, but I will give them one point, the game does play just like a 90’s game in one sense as there is no, I repeat NO CONTROLLER SUPPORT. In this day and age, especially with how cross platform game development is, there really is no reason whatsoever to exclude this feature.

    On the gameplay side of things, you have level design seemingly taken from the cutting room floor of DOOM Eternal, I’ll be with a little less jumping and a few uninspired one-liners, so digging into Duke’s rubbish bin while we are at it, seemingly dropping F-bombs as much as other people use a comma. If a game like Hellbound was released in the 90’s it would undoubtedly be promoting itself by calling DOOM weak, they have a Double Shotgun? well, we have a TRIPLE Shotgun!

    But that’s the thing, while promoting itself as a game inspired by the 90’s there is really nothing about this game that reminds me of that era. Shooters of that era were always fast paced with a trove of weaponry to play with, health and ammo littered everywhere so you could continue blazing through. Here, your main TWO guns really lack any sort of punch with them even having issues with the smallest enemies. The game promotes itself on its difficulty, but it is more cheap, with a lousy checkpoint system than difficult.

    Performance wise, the game is even more of a nightmare. I wouldn’t say I have the beefiest rig, but I’ve been playing games on it now for several years with barely any issues. But with Hellbound, the game is continuously pausing for moments at a time and I found the only way to make the game run properly on my rig was turning down the visuals wayyy down. I’m talking graphic quality that would make the Switch cringe, and that’s just the graphics, load times are a real hassle with the game taking forever to load a save file, might explain why the game doesn’t utilise a Quick Save button.

    That’s probably my biggest issue with Hellbound, just how much of a poser it wants to be. It wants to be DOOM so badly, it will give us the gruff protagonist but give him no personality whatsoever outside of saying **** a lot. Halfway decent hellish inspired levels that are marred with graphical and performance issues and just the most generic metal music playing over it all as you plough through one of 5 different enemies. It wants to think its from the 90’s, but what shooter from then had ironsights? The only saving grace this game has is that it’s over quickly with a wet fart of an ending.

    This game would like to think of itself as “Unapologetically 90’s” but really it just owes me an apology.    … Expand
  2. SRKNZ
    Aug 12, 2020
    1
    I was at uni when the original Doom games came out. This is quite frankly nothing like them. It vaguely apes the look and feel of the original but in terms of game play its got it all wrong.

    The original games were, for starters, not this hard. The game physics were generally better and there was always tons of health lying around if you took a pounding. They were fast run and gun    I was at uni when the original Doom games came out. This is quite frankly nothing like them. It vaguely apes the look and feel of the original but in terms of game play its got it all wrong.

    The original games were, for starters, not this hard. The game physics were generally better and there was always tons of health lying around if you took a pounding. They were fast run and gun shooters whereas this thing is has more in common with the new Doom (which I detest). It slows down the momentum of the original by making it too hard and inserting aggravating Super Mario Brothers style jump sequences.

    Weapons handling is loose and aiming is horrible. Everything requires distance when the original game was up close and personal.

    Newcomers may be fooled but vets like myself know better. Played for a short time and walked away. Thankfully it was not too expensive. My advice try a port of the original and see if you don't agree.    … Expand
  3. Apakungen
    Dec 19, 2020
    2
    About one hour of gameplay, maybe add 30 minutes due to bugs and loading screens. Your average 90-s fps demo had more content.
  4. adamflame7
    Jun 3, 2022
    3
    An attempted DOOM clone experience that is short, but not sweet. It feels more like a bad Serious Sam game than any attempt at a DOOM game. The weapons lack satisfaction and there's only 3 different enemy types. At $15 and a completion time less than 2 hours it is also not a good value proposition.

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
61

Mixed or average reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 21
  3. Negative: 2 out of 21
  1. CD-Action
    Oct 15, 2020
    55
    Hellbound offers some old school fun if you enjoy putting your aim and reflexes to the test. It’s a shame the developers stopped at seven levels, one boss fight, a handful of monsters, and six weapons (of which two are useless and some lack an alternative fire mode). What would have been merely a first episode in a 90’s shooter, pretends to be a whole campaign in Hellbound. If you’re experienced with the genre, you’ll finish the game in around two hours. [10/2020, p.82]
  2. Shacknews
    Aug 27, 2020
    70
    The team at Saibot Studios have made exactly what they promised to their Kickstarter backers, but I was left wanting more. This doesn't make Hellbound a bad game, but it certainly feels like there were a few things left on the cutting room floor as I finished the game. After a somewhat slow start in the campaign, I was happy to finish the fight, and any fan of 1990s FPS fans could do worse than slaying demons in Hellbound.
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  3. GamingTrend
    Aug 26, 2020
    65
    Hellbound is a fun shooter that’s got all the hallmarks of what made the 90s FPS genre so great. Unfortunately, just like the 90s games before it, it’s pretty dated in both optimization and graphics. There’s a large number of bugs and game-breaking glitches to be experienced, all of which tarnish what is otherwise an incredible experience.
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