I used to be impressed by the trailers for Hellscreen (opens in new tab), a boomer shooter with a putting teal and purple colour palette and distinctive twist—a “rear view mirror” in your high middle display exhibiting what is going on on behind you at any given time. However on the identical time I assumed “oh, that is a cool trick, nevertheless it’s most likely only a gimmick, proper?” I made a decision to offer Hellscreen’s free demo from Realms Deep 2022 a strive, see if it had anything occurring.
Hellscreen does not want anything occurring. The rear view mirror is what is going on on.
It is not only a device for situational consciousness—proper click on and you will hearth backwards, with a bit gun and reticle popping up within the mini display (which might be blown out and toggled again down with the shift key). To incentivize utilizing the characteristic, Hellscreen offers you double harm whereas transferring and firing ahead, when you get quad harm once you transfer ahead and hearth backwards. I felt like I used to be grappling with a wholly new realm of 3D motion on the order of They Got here From Dimension X (opens in new tab)‘s gravity-defying firefights, and it is supremely satisfying to tug off sick Annie Oakley, Buster Scruggs (opens in new tab) mirror photographs.
Hellscreen additional leans into its principal mechanic with enemies and hazards that may solely be dealt with in rear view. Some foes are solely seen and susceptible on the second display, whereas one space within the demo blocks out your principal view utterly, demanding you navigate in reverse. Spiritually, it jogs my memory of the most effective Nintendo Wii and DS video games that squeezed each little bit of innovation and enjoyable out of these bizarre management inputs, and certainly Hellscreen would most likely be proper at residence on an alternate universe Nintendo 4DS.
My one caveat is that you need to most likely keep away from Hellscreen should you get movement illness. I’ve by no means even had points with VR earlier than, and but I undoubtedly felt my abdomen drop like I used to be driving a curler coaster at instances. A promoting level for me, however one thing to pay attention to.
Hellscreen has been within the works for a number of years—we first reported on its trailers (opens in new tab) and Kickstarter (opens in new tab) marketing campaign again in 2017 and ’18, nevertheless it actually seems to be like the additional time within the oven has helped it come collectively. Hellscreen is about to launch in early entry a while earlier than April (Q1, 2023), when you can try the demo for your self and wishlist Hellscreen on its Steam (opens in new tab) web page.