
However, it’s basically impossible to do that intelligently without a map for planning. Finding a random key card that grants access to crucial new zones five hours later is par for the course.Ĭheckpoints (called Breaches) are scattered everywhere, but you’ve got to use an extremely rare “synchronization” item to open them up for teleportation between one another, so planning out which ones you want to use for fast travel is key. Every single boss I fought, essential item I found, or critical path I discovered, was entirely by accident. Granted, it’s more or less standard for Souls-likes to not have a map screen, but here that omission makes Hellpoint seem more aimless than usual. More so than is typical for this type of game, the station is an absolute labyrinth of interconnected passages and regions that are dizzying to explore and there’s little to no indication of where you should be going. A lot of love and care clearly went into the world building from a design perspective and it makes me immensely curious to see and learn more – which underscores the lack of a real story, as a side effect.Ī lot of love and care clearly went into the world building.During my approximately 20-hour playthrough I kept swinging back and forth between adoring the surreal, occultist-inspired atmosphere and getting utterly frustrated at the sheer lack of direction and communication. And yet, despite the dramatic swings in color palettes and lighting, it all feels consistent and cohesive. At one moment you could be exploring a nearly pitch-black hallway with enemies lurching at you from around corners and then it’ll feel like you’re walking across the bifrost to Asgard. Interiors are similarly stylized with bright, popping colors that contrast the dark and decrepit tone incredibly well. When I’d exit a walkway and emerge onto a terrace that overlooks a sea of stars and spiraling colors I’d legitimately just stop and stare for a few minutes. Much like Dark Souls, it’s a world rich with palpable tension and mystery that lead you to pose questions constantly, even though it seldom gives you answers.'


There are some books you can skim over, message terminals to read, and a handful of prompts at control stations here and there to peruse which add some flavor, but the majority of Hellpoint’s storytelling is suggested by its environments and enemies. That’s the entire plot, basically, which feels like a waste of the potential for this immediately intriguing sci-fi universe. It’s all here, for better and for worse, but its elaborate sci-fi setting gives it some character of its own and a strong combat system made suffering through the extensive bugs largely worthwhile.Īt the very start you’re plopped into a cloned body on a massive space station with zero explanation, left to fend for yourself against demonic entities and godlike beings. While the more massive weapons are slower, you can continue to utilize your shield and parry away.If you were to create a checklist of what makes a game a Souls-like, meaning it follows in the footsteps of FromSoftware’s massively popular Dark Souls series, you’d get bullet points that look nearly identical to Hellpoint: respawn checkpoints in a labyrinthine world, the loss of all currency on death unless you can retrieve it, slow and methodical combat with light and heavy attacks, as well as challenging encounters punctuated by enormous boss monsters. There are several options available to you.
Hellpoint tips how to#
You have several options available to you, depending on your playstyle.įor those who want to use a heavier, strength-based build, think about how to best use the larger weapons in Hellpoint. The idea of not having any two-handed weapons was to ensure players had access to their off-hand in combat, allowing you to block any incoming attacks or parry them away. You won’t use a two-handed stance to use them. The two-handed weapons are considered to be the larger, big weapons that rely on strength. Instead, there are heavy weapons that take up this slot, but players have to plan on usually have a shield or another item in their off-hand during the game. Unlike other Dark Souls-like games, Hellpoint does not feature two-handed weapons the same ways they do. Many players who have played the game for a few hours start to become curious about when they will see a weapon they can hold in both of their hands.

Some of them are more effective than others, and you may even prefer a specific type based on the stats and attributes it uses. Any weapon you find in Hellpoint is a useful tool when fighting to hordes of enemies.
