Do you have what it takes to survive a trip to Hell? Developed by Mixed Realms and published by Vertigo Games, the highly anticipated Hellsweeper VR has finally arrived. It’s time to clean house in this first-person action-combat game that will have you descend into the depths of Hell.

Traverse the demonic dimensions with unparalleled freedom of movement, wield weapons with deadly precision, unleash the destructive force of telekinesis, and muster mystical powers to wipe out your twisted enemies. Reap your rewards, upgrade your skills, and choose your fate as you experiment with unique combat variations, and discover what being a Hellsweeper means to you.

Before we can head out and conquer the demonic forces, we must first learn the bare basics in the obligatory tutorial level, and once completed, players will open up the main hub level. Here you are able to customise your avatar with a variety of cosmetics that can be purchased with your hard-earned coin, or hone your craft in the practice area and learn more advanced combat and movement mechanics.

I highly recommend spending some time in the practice area getting comfortable with the more advanced mechanics, especially the flipping, as this can be quite jarring. Even with hundreds of hours racked up in the VR space, I struggled to find my VR legs with this mechanic. With a bit of practice, pulling off a slow-motion flip and unleashing a flurry of attacks on your enemy from above will start to feel second nature. Finally, embark on Roguelike runs, challenges, and cross-play co-op multiplayer.

Each run consists of three acts, which are broken down into five levels with various challenges and modifiers to clear before finally facing off against the boss in each act. Upon completion of each level, the player is offered a selection of traits and blessings but choose wisely, as you can only bring one along for the ride. Blessings are rare boons that grant the player a range of different status effects that they will keep for the duration of a run or lose upon death, whereas traits are buffs that are available for each weapon and ability.

Traits can also be purchased and swapped out at the shop. I have yet to experience a run that has been identical to the last, which helps to provide a fresh challenge with each and every session. At the end of each run, or upon death, the player will earn XP, leading to levelling up, growing stronger, and unlocking new weapons and spells.

Combat feels like one big giant expression session, the only limitation here is your imagination. Get up close and personal with the hack-and-slash melee weapons, attack your enemies in a flurry of bullets and arrows with the ranged weapons, or unleash your inner sorcerer and use magic attacks. At the moment, while I’m still experimenting and developing my own playstyle, one thing has remained constant – enemies are relentless and will stop at nothing to ruin your run, and boss fights kick things into a higher gear. Not only do you have a giant boss to take down, but you also have the extra challenge of surviving the onslaught of ever-spawning minor enemies.

This hellscape feels heavily inspired by Japanese Oni folklore with its twisted and terrifying enemy designs and heavy use of Japanese architecture throughout the levels. The incredibly gruesome combat is brought together beautifully with fantastic destructive elements, dismemberment, and blood effects.

Slicing the limbs from an enemy and beating them to death with their own arms certainly is a sight to behold. Avatar calibration looks a little bit off, often leaving the legs looking as if they are bent too much for somebody who is standing. Hopefully, this will be addressed in the future graphical updates that are slated for Q4 2023 and Q1 2024.

Audio is a fairly well-rounded experience across both PC VR and PSVR2 versions of the game, though I feel as if there may be a few things missing. Weapon sounds are very much on point and manage to satisfy the itch, hearing the crimson rivers of blood burst their banks as my sword cuts clean through an enemy’s neck.

Casting magic and ripping rocks out of the ground with telekinesis sound as powerful as they feel, and the more you level up the spells and telekinetic powers, the better it sounds. The only thing that I feel let down the audio experience is that there seems to be a lack of audio cues from the enemies, making it feel as if I’m lacking some awareness, often ending up taking surprise hits from behind.

Sadly I haven’t been able to experience everything that Hellsweeper VR has to offer. I was unable to have a successful co-op run without frequent disconnect issues, which are currently being addressed. Overall, this gory, visceral, frenetic trip to Hell is a fantastic addition to your VR library. It’s highly focused on expressive, fluid, and challenging combat, and it has huge replay value that will challenge even the toughest of VR veterans. Discovering your own play style and mastering your weapons is pure joy, and I look forward to the challenges that still lay ahead in the upcoming content. Available now on PC VR, Oculus, and PSVR2, I’ll see you in Hell.

Written by: Gary Nielsen