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.

I just beat Hellescape and I gotta say...it blew all my expectations out of the water. This strikes me as the kind of work that knows that knows it has rough edges yet wholeheartedly pushes forward and it's beautiful because of that.

I love how the characters feel real in this, like even the background characters just milling around felt like they had a depth of character that showed they had personality outside of the scene you introduced them in. Imagine my surprise when the characters you interacted with actually had fears and concerns about dying and that influenced their behavior. There was a melancholy air to it that didn't feel forced. I was exploring the graveyard and my friend pointed out there sure were a lot of people there. It never said as much, but of course it would weigh heavier on everyone's minds as it settles in that they're all going to die. Details like this make the game feel so much more alive. Also the people rushing to find romance because they thought they were going to die soon felt so real haha. I NEED more of this game so I can see more of the romance with hyper macho roach girl (I think she's a girl) and her new boyfriend because you can't just tease that kind of development and not do anything with it X ]

Llya's character felt erratic, disorganized, and overall her actions weren't very well thought out...and SHE FELT SO MUCH MORE HUMAN BECAUSE OF IT (I get that she isn't but whatever). It communicates a feeling of despair that is shockingly close to reality. When there isn't any hope life turns miserable, but when you see a solution everything seems to brighten up. Importantly, this holds true when the "solution" is a tragic and horrible one. People who are looking so desperately for an escape can be led to some really dark places and I saw this reflected in that.

Akuma became my favorite character in the whole series after spending more than 3/4 of the game as my least favorite main character. "Secret bosses" always feel like they have to exist outside the main game and it breaks some invisible rule to talk about it, so I was shocked when this little imp just talked about it straight to my face in a cutscene that I had to go through to progress.

At the same time he teased a depth and nuance I can't dare to hope about in a game. Its a game's responsibility to make sure the main character can save everyone, and yet to my great surprise when I went to the evil area and the game said it didn't feel right to be there and I went deeper there were consequences for that.

I picked up on the Dante's Inferno vibes, and was sold completely on it at this final interaction with Akuma. With the idea that we are in the outer reaches of Hell and these are generally the nicest people we will meet the entire game, it leaves a chilling thought of what evil lurks in the depths.

9 is the best companion I could ask for. I love him to death >: ]

I have more thoughts about why I love certain characters/this setting but this is already getting kind of bloated. I didn't know anything coming into this other than it probably took a ton of work to make, but I was genuinely blown a way. This game is simple, and what makes it good isn't surface level, but this is a real gem.

Your game is my diamond in the rough Spoofymaru.