While waiting for the review, which will arrive shortly, we give you our first impressions of Hell Clock. Fast-paced title, action roguelite and with Diablo-like elements.
Welcome to the first pre-review article. In fact this is a first look at the Hell Clock title.
With this format we want to share the first impressions of the title, still in progress, and then come out with the actual review.
You can also download the demo of the game which will be officially released on July 22nd on STEAM, so you too can get an idea of the title.
Based on a historical event
Rogue Snail reworks the Canudos war in an action key and with a narrative based on the revenge story.
A historical event in which the Brazilian army and the inhabitants of the Canudos settlement fought. In the State of Bahia, the religious community of Canudos had Antônio Conselheiro as its spiritual leader.
Canudos rejected the authority of the newly formed Brazilian Republic. This resulted in 4 clashes where the small town resisted strenuously and routed the troops of the new Brazilian republic. Unfortunately, the fourth clash was fatal for Canudos and its inhabitants who were exterminated, with the city destroyed and now abandoned to itself.
From this historical event, we take on the role of Pajeù who will have to descend into the underworld to recover the soul of his mentor who fell during the battle.
Timer and the descent
In Hell Clock we have to progressively go down all the floors until we reach our goal. What will make everything difficult, in addition to the enemies, is the timer. In fact we will have just over 6 minutes to complete the route.
Obviously we will have to increase our power and other features in order to be as fast and efficient as possible.
Fortunately, the timer will freeze during boss fights and other moments in which we will choose which upgrades to take.
However, the idea of a time limit to manage seems like a good idea for now.
Loot, relics and references to Diablo
There are many aspects that for now recall the atmospheres and mechanics of the classic Blizzard. Just think of a level design and map design very similar to the first chapter of the series, even in its linearity. We will also encounter shrines that will give us bonuses and chests to open scattered around the map.
The enemies are many and fierce, they waste no time and their A.I. it’s definitely aggressive. They drop relics that vary in color and rarity. These are equipped immediately and replace the previously worn one if it is superior.
Some creatures we encounter are elite (another similarity) and have richer drops, including equipment.
Equipment is also added automatically during the game.
Bosses drop relics and rare materials that can be used as upgrades in subsequent runs. A peculiarity of the relics is that they are equipped and chosen by the player, in equipment slots identical to those of Diablo.
Character and roguelite elements
The character has a mechanic that recalls, for now, a lot to that present in Diablo. Consumes mana with special attacks and can be refilled with basic attack.
In addition to loot and money, enemies also give experience. At each level done, we choose between 3 random upgrades, so as to improve our build.
We can equip up to 4 skills that can be chosen at the beginning and later purchased.
In fact, once the time runs out or we are defeated, we return to the central Hub. Here we use the material taken to improve a skill tree that seems very vast.
Furthermore, we can buy new equipment and assign relics that synergize with certain skills.
Waiting for the review
For now Hell Clock seems to be interesting and seems to mix the cards it has at its disposal well. I’ll have to see later if there is variety in the aesthetics of the levels, how powerful the builds will be, and how breakable the game will be.
Understand the validity of synergies especially when we have hordes of enemies.
To understand if and how much the player’s skill matters compared to the parametric development of the characteristics.
Meanwhile, if you want to get an idea, there is a demo available on STEAM.
