Hellrule is a game about smacking demons, rats and other monsters with an umbrella. It’s an auto-running platformer that feels like it was built for YouTube reaction videos, mainly because it’s frustratingly, often incomprehensibly difficult. Our umbrella wielding hero automatically …
Hellrule is a game about smacking demons, rats and other monsters with an umbrella. It’s an auto-running platformer that feels like it was built for YouTube reaction videos, mainly because it’s frustratingly, often incomprehensibly difficult.
Our umbrella wielding hero automatically moves from the left to the right of the screen. You’ve got buttons that let you last out with your deadly brolly, leap in the air, or crouch down and halt your momentum. Press the jump button twice and you’ll perform a double jump.
With these limited skills, you need to make your way through hordes of creatures intent on killing you. And some spikes, holes, angry fish and loads of other things too. Basically, everything in Hellrule would be much happier if you died. And, after an hour or so of bashing your face against the game, you’re likely going to be of the same opinion.
Everything in the game is super difficult. It’s going to take you a few goes just to get past the tutorial level, and that shows you when to push the buttons. Things get tougher and tougher and tougher as you play, leaving you swearing and jabbing at your phone in teeth-grinding rage.
We’re all for challenging games here at Gamezebo, don’t get us wrong, but Hellrule is so hard that it sometimes feels a bit silly. It never lets up – you’ll scrape your way through a tough section, only for something to pop up and kill you before you’ve had a chance to react. Checkpoints are few and far between, which makes things even more annoying.
There’s a nice idea here, but it gets lost as you fail and fail and fail again. There’s no sense of release when you complete a level, because you know you’re just going to have to do something even more difficult in the next section. In the end, it all starts to feel horribly unfair.
If you’re looking for a game that’ll make you pull your hair out and leave you weeping on the floor, then Hellrule certainly ticks those boxes. If you’re not a masochist though, it’s better to give this one a wide berth.
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