Ophelia Payne

Precision platformers are generally not my friend. While not specifically designed to be a ‘rage game ’, they often make me rage. Whether it’s my lack of attention, my aging reflexes, or simply a ‘skill issue’, I will blame all the above for the words that escaped my mouth while playing Hellbound Inc from Templo and Rewilder.

They are also a tricky genre to get just right. The way a jump arcs, the way buttons respond, the way mechanics react with the level design- each of these things can make or break a game like this, and how a player will feel about a game like this. Since this genre is so vast as well, it will be nearly impossible to make every gamer happy while playing your game.

You play as a courier who is killed within the first moments of the game, and you are dropped into Limbo, where you now work for a hellish delivery service.  Your job is to deliver parcels in each of the circles of Hell, which are also departments of the company, while you climb your way out of Hell (the company).

Spanning 47 handcrafted levels, the art style is delightful, and I loved that each of the 8 ‘departments’ had its own changes in colour scheme, theme and lighting. The departments are loosely based on Dante’s 9 circles of Hell, and are extremely well done.  The second department, Lust, was a bit of an eye-opener with its level design.  It’s a bit of a ‘spicy’ place, and while I’m not one to clutch my pearls, it feels like a level you may want to keep younger eyes from spying, unless you’d like to answer questions about the springy phallic platforms that go from flaccid to stiff. The humour is geared towards an adult audience and reminded me a little of the show Big Mouth.

Where I really struggled was the actual platforming. The jump height is charged, depending on how long you hold the button. When you let it go, you don’t have much in the way of control other than bouncing off walls. This means that your starting position and arc are the key, and I struggled with this a lot. Timing a perfect jump and a perfect throw to get a parcel in the correct bin simultaneously wasn’t always easy either.

While you will respawn, there are certain levels that have a maximum number of deaths too. There were many times I questioned if I was truly bad at this game, so I watched someone much better than me play, and their struggle and frustration confirmed I was not alone. Again, there is nothing inherently wrong with this design choice or style of game. Every game isn’t for everyone, and at the risk of being mocked, I would like to see some accessibility/difficulty settings potentially put in place in future.

Each room is its own form of an escape room, determining how to collect and deliver each parcel, as well as collecting the special items to deliver in the hub and then finding your way out of the level. While the earlier levels were manageable, as I progressed, different mechanics just became more complex on top of different platforming challenges, like a level where it’s only partially lit.

Determining patterns of enemies to avoid felt unpredictable at times, and sometimes I found it difficult to see which parcels went to which location. Old eyes perhaps?

At the end of each department/room, you get a ‘performance review’ showing the time it took you to finish the level and how many times you died. I also loved the cheeky satirical writing and the jokes at the expense of the faceless corporation.

The game is priced well, at under $10 USD, and if you love a platformer, it’s worth a buy. Even if just to support the lovely devs who I have had nothing but fantastic experiences interacting with.

I loved the demo of Hellbound Inc when I played it, and the devs have been incredibly interactive and responsive to questions. I couldn’t wait to dive into the full game, but I’ll be honest…I didn’t even come close to finishing it.  As the game progressed, I got to a point where the frustration just outweighed my fun. Now, that’s not to say this isn’t a great game for the right player, and I refer to my opening paragraph…it might be a skill issue on my part. I would hope that eventually I get to a point where my frustration becomes a drive to master the game, and perhaps it will over time.

Until next time…be good to yourself and be good to each other.

**Special Thanks to Templo and Rewilder for the review code**