Down to Hell

”We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.” -Jim Rohn

***Special thanks go out to my significant other for proofing this review for me.

Down to Hell (DtH) is a two-dimensional hack-and-slash centered around a champion purportedly fixated on destroying demon hordes “to save the mysterious girl that previously saved him,” reported by Red Dev Studio S.A.’s store page. The developers boast a soundtrack that is ultimately deprived-though not entirely absent-of the heavy metal music assured, as well as a slew of other complications in regards to gameplay, general aesthetic, and overall design, described in further detail below. I must state that I received a keycode for this title from the developers for review purposes, and have no connection positive or negative beyond this to the development or publishing teams.

Here are just a few topics of contention regarding this title:

Gameplay - The premise of DtH is fairly straightforward as the player controls an armored knight objectively tasked with slaying infernal adversaries while progressing through platforming challenges. From my experiences, enemies accommodate almost no semblance of intelligence or tact, and instead charge forward without regard. I have encountered numerous times demons spawning in front of me and instead of attacking, simply walk away as if they held no purpose. Combat is substandard with the elementary tactics of bombarding one side of the screen with the basic attack, then switching to the other side being all that is required to succeed in most instances. The only obstacle to this is the controls, which appear to be almost entirely unresponsive for controllers and outlandishly corpulent for keyboard. There appear to be an immense amount of balancing issues in this title as well, especially regarding boss fights and how the dashing dodge command-while described as essential-retains a sluggish cooldown. I understand what it is like to play a game that is considered by the populous to be difficult, but Down to Hell’s difficulty lies in feuding with its core mechanics.

Design - Down to Hell presents an array of bugs and inconsistencies that should rightfully disregard its play. I have personally found that subtitles tend to push the heads-up display (HUD) upward from the bottom of the screen, then fixate in place to obscure combat and platforming. Said platforming also suffers severe setbacks as the player must leap blindly toward perceived progression at times considering the screen does not reveal the next section. Even the subtitles themselves falter substantially as they skip entire sections of dialogue at a time, and may stay on screen even after the conversation has ended. Events may re-trigger when journeying back into a section of the map, trapping the player in passages that have already been cleared and subsequently causing the player to endure the same tedious combat segments repeatedly. Unfortunately, when the title does operate adequately, the animations are mediocre at best.

Aesthetic - The environment is bare to say the very least, and textures appear inconsistent between the character models and platforms. The soundtrack is relatively bare of the promised Heavy Metal backing, spare a boss fight, but even the minute presence does not save the experience from general depravity. Color palette mixing tends to sodden the visuals and constrict gameplay even further as models and actions bleed together into a dull mesh.

TL:DR - To be truthfully blunt, I do not believe this title should be considered a full release out of Early Access to this date. Down to Hell suffers from so many complications on the surface and technical levels that I could not begin to recommend this title. From the gameplay to its accompanying design and aesthetics, this title is-put simply-a mess. I wish the studio luck in its future productions. Thanks for reading.

Do you feel this review helped in any way? Feel free to visit my Curator Page at Spearpoint Reviews.