From the very moment you launch the game, you're hit with pure style. The menu music is already sick, the protagonist reacts to your selections with animations, the narration is pretty corny but really fits in with the metal vibe. Then you perform your first slaughter (execution kill) DOOM-style and every bit of that animation follows the beat. It all fits together for a strong experience.

Obviously the soundtrack needs to be talked about. If you like metal, it's incredible frankly. A lot of music-based games that aren't literally "play a well-known song" like classic Guitar Hero style rhythm games have a problem where the music just doesn't feel full. I haven't played BPM, but I've heard the soundtrack and while it's good from a pure musicality standpoint, it's just missing some production elements or instrumentation that gives it that full sound. Metal: Hellsinger's soundtrack feels professionally recorded, mixed, and mastered the whole way through and can absolutely stand on its own as a true metal album rather than something that feels like it was produced for a game. And of course, there's some extra joy from hearing some of your favorite vocalists (and finding a couple new ones that I'll have to check out).

This is definitely a short game, even getting 100% of the achievements on hard (which you don't need to do, you can earn them on an easier difficulty, I'm just stubborn) took less than 10 hours, and some of that was spent tabbed out in menus/level select. Despite that short time, it was more than worth my money in sheer density of enjoyment.

The gameplay is great, and each weapon interacts with the beats a bit differently. The shotgun is on 2 and 4, or 1 and 3; the pistols are best hit on every beat; there's a weapon later on that's optimally 1 and 2, followed by 4 and 1, 3 and 4, 2 and 3, and so forth which is pretty neat. However, there are a few rare things that can break the flow, like getting stuck on an environmental object. And I've only run into one or two bugs really, one of which is great for speedrunners :P

Lastly, the devs really nail the idea of using the music to add to the feel of the moment; I have to draw attention to the last moments of the last song and how it so clearly fits with the solemnity and desperation of the final boss's last set of attacks.

From the very moment you launch the game, you're hit with pure style. The menu music is already sick, the protagonist reacts to your selections with animations, the narration is pretty corny but really fits in with the metal vibe. Then you perform your first slaughter (execution kill) DOOM-style and every bit of that animation follows the beat. It all fits together for a strong experience. Obviously the soundtrack needs to be talked about. If you like metal, it's incredible frankly. A lot of music-based games that aren't literally "play a well-known song" like classic Guitar Hero style rhythm games have a problem where the music just doesn't feel full. I haven't played BPM, but I've heard the soundtrack and while it's good from a pure musicality standpoint, it's just missing some production elements or instrumentation that gives it that full sound. Metal: Hellsinger's soundtrack feels professionally recorded, mixed, and mastered the whole way through and can absolutely stand on its own as a true metal album rather than something that feels like it was produced for a game. And of course, there's some extra joy from hearing some of your favorite vocalists (and finding a couple new ones that I'll have to check out). This is definitely a short game, even getting 100% of the achievements on hard (which you don't need to do, you can earn them on an easier difficulty, I'm just stubborn) took less than 10 hours, and some of that was spent tabbed out in menus/level select. Despite that short time, it was more than worth my money in sheer density of enjoyment. The gameplay is great, and each weapon interacts with the beats a bit differently. The shotgun is on 2 and 4, or 1 and 3; the pistols are best hit on every beat; there's a weapon later on that's optimally 1 and 2, followed by 4 and 1, 3 and 4, 2 and 3, and so forth which is pretty neat. However, there are a few rare things that can break the flow, like getting stuck on an environmental object. And I've only run into one or two bugs really, one of which is great for speedrunners :P Lastly, the devs really nail the idea of using the music to add to the feel of the moment; I have to draw attention to the last moments of the last song and how it so clearly fits with the solemnity and desperation of the final boss's last set of attacks.