HELLESCAPE - Demo

Finished the demo. Honestly this isn't half bad, solid art, music, and bullet patterns in battle. Bugs aside though I think this is just far...FAR too derivative of UT/DR and related fanworks. Look, I'm not the kind of person to trash on a game just for being derivative or a clone, but most good games with that label add in some twist, or just try to execute the original's ideas in a better way.

This game just feels a little too sloppy atm, everything here has been done better somewhere else. The most unique things in the game are probably the setting and the battle system. I think the warioware esque mini games, while cute, eat up so much more time compared to being a pacifist in deltarune. Being violent gives access to neat skills, but with only one party member and not too many options it's hard to appreciate the flexibility of such a system (All I did in this demo was spam that star attack).

As for the story, I like the setting being in hell with rings but it doesn't really feel like it's leaned into as much as it really should have. I also wasn't really a fan of how the intro is just gaster, Akuma feeling like a flowey clone, or Llya being this weird Toriel/Ceroba fusion with awkward dialogue and a rushed arc. I admit I'm not really a Christian mythos nerd or anything but when I play this game It doesn't feel like a significant amount of time went into researching the actual mythos and referencing it in the game via setting/characters/enemy design.

In general I just think you need to do some more research, play more RPGs, read more books, watch more shows, anything to fill your head with lots of different inspiration, and then draw from it to create something new and unique. As is I think it's a shame to have the skills to make a solid demo like this but no courage to create something only you could envision.

"Stories can be retold. They can be changed... That's what I believe." - Gerson Boom

Hiya I finished the demo and made an entire playlist for the game

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_rClTt39XvQYhwPkXG026Z3oZLYOcy4w&si=H90PEbmgrP_Z7Bog

This was a fun time with this game.

I'm doing the equivalent of the genocide route in the game (idk the official name) and, when i reloaded my save, all the enemies reappeared as an encounter, and in the booths area (where the fish lady is) they are saying I sealed them? Idk if this is a bug or not, principally because it happened after I reloaded the game and got the mono-slash.
btw, good game!!! I'm having a lot of fun playing it.