Rising Hell is a fast paced, heavy metal vertical platformer developed by Tahoe Games and published by Another Indie and Toge Productions. Being in Early Access, this roguish game brings a lot of potential and fun.

Starting off, Rising Hell being in Early Access by no means should be a deterrent, because if you are a fan of rogue-lite games and heavy tunes, this game is right up your alley. The game has no tutorial but like most similar games, the controls are really easy to get the hang of but tricky to master. It was great to see it can be played with either a controller or mouse and keyboard, but both are just as comfortable and smooth.

As you begin your journey into this procedurally generated, depth of hell environment, you are given no real backstory other than a variety of demons that stand between you and escape. As you cut,claw and pummel your way through a variety of enemies, including mini bosses and main bosses. You have the ability to upgrade your chosen avatar throughout your journey after each area or even with randomly found vendors spread throughout the stages.

These are sorely needed as your enemies come fast, plentiful and powerful. Be careful though as the upgrade talent system only allows one talent to be chosen at a time at the end of each area, with your well earnt souls being the currency system to purchase such talents.

Not always linear, the game lets you choose your own path after an area. But be quick and don’t even think about taking your time as a wall of fire will force you to keep going, which is a shame as the animated art style is amazing, especially with all the background details.

It is good to also outline that when your avatar dies you can’t just pick up from where you left off, you have to start from the very beginning, even if you make it to the second world! To help things along the way, artifact weapons can be picked up with abilities like chain lightning or laser beams, however like most power up they only last a short time.

With the game being in early access, it does have its drawbacks for the time being, with the choice of only two characters to choose from being a severe limitation. It can be especially challenging when one has to be unlocked to be able to play. Also with currently only having 2 game modes to choose from, one being the quest mode and the other challenge mode, your options are quite short. In saying that, the current unlockable character is definitely a must to try, especially with his mega man like canon and demon look.

The heavy metal music throughout is an awesome complementary to the gameplay style and works really well with the fast paced action of the game. Those guitar riffs really amp up your mood when slaying all the demons!

Overall, Rising Hell may be an early access game but it shows it has lots of potential and an expected road map of more unlockable characters and game modes. What’s not to enjoy if you like kicking demon butt to insanely sick guitar riffs?

Written by: Simon Hayward