Metal: Hellsinger is by metalheads for metalheads. Assembling various renowned metal musicians, the heavy beats slowly thumps up and builds upon itself in a crescendo towards a symphonic celebration that is absolutely metal. Many of the tracks are bold and charismatic with fantastic, passionate performances delivered by several of the artists. It inexplicitly and inevitably causes the listener to bop their head to the beat and amps them up until they're headbanging their way into wanting to slay some demons. With its hellacious score, Metal: Hellsinger definitely puts one into an energetic kind of groove. It is virtuosic, primal, and loud! The epitome of metal.

Rating: Metal / 10

Oh and also, every copy of Metal: Hellsinger comes with a free rhythm game too! ♫𝅘𝅥𝅮

Playing Metal: Hellsinger feels less like learning a shooter and more like being handed an instrument that only accepts one song.

I want to be clear about where I am coming from. This game was bought for me by someone very close to me who genuinely thought I would enjoy it. They have bought me rhythm games before. Games that treat timing, feel, and musicality as play. One of them was a dungeon crawler with 16-bit visuals, a top-down perspective, disco lights, and a surprisingly strong soundtrack built on resynthesized synthesizers. It later inspired remixes from both the community and the developers themselves. That game understood groove more than precision.

When I first played Metal: Hellsinger at launch, I bounced off it almost immediately. What you are reading now was more or less my initial reaction. I wanted to like it. I expected to love it. Instead, I felt constrained by how rigid the rhythm felt and disconnected from what the game seemed to think musicality was.

So I put it down.
I let it sit for over a year.

Coming back to it now, the first thing that struck me was how samey it felt almost immediately.

The tutorial music is not a strong introduction if you are already familiar with the genre. It is competent, but generic. Fleeting riffs, background energy, and performances that never quite demand attention. It functions, but it does not announce itself.

As someone who listens to metal actively, not casually, I want the music to leave a mark. I want moments where everything locks in. Sudden drops. Shifts in rhythm or texture that change how a section feels. Passages that land and stay with you. Those are the moments that define records in this space.

Metal: Hellsinger gestures toward that kind of impact, but it rarely commits long enough for anything to imprint. Even when I am playing well, staying on rhythm, and building momentum, I rarely walk away remembering a specific phrase or passage. In a game where music is meant to be the reward, that absence matters.

I am a musician. When a game tells me it is about rhythm, I want to play the game and the music, not just tap my finger along to it. Metal: Hellsinger does not fully give me that.

🎨 Graphics & Presentation

Visually, Metal: Hellsinger is confident and readable. Environments are stark, hostile, and functional. Enemy silhouettes are clear, arenas communicate intent, and visual effects support timing rather than overwhelm it.

The art direction is good enough because it knows it does not need to do more. This is not a game chasing realism or spectacle. It understands that the primary feedback loop is auditory, not visual, and it builds its presentation around that fact.

🔊 Sound Design

The music is solid. Production quality is strong, performances are committed, and the mix is aggressive without being muddy. Layers build as you perform better, and the soundtrack clearly reacts to player success.

The issue is not quality.
It is agency.

Metal: Hellsinger treats rhythm as a binary state. You are either on the beat or you are wrong. There is no room for swing, push, or pull. As a result, the music does not feel like something you play. It feels like something you are allowed to trigger if you behave correctly.

🎮 Gameplay

Mechanically, the game is straightforward. Arena combat, fast movement, punchy weapons. None of this is bad.

The rhythm system is where everything hinges. Shooting on beat increases damage. Staying on beat sustains momentum. Dropping the beat is punished immediately.

For many players, this clarity will be the appeal. For me, it still feels limiting. I do not feel like I am performing. I feel like I am being evaluated.

🏃 Movement

Movement is consistent and predictable. Dashes, jumps, and repositioning exist to keep you aligned with the beat, not to encourage improvisation.

🎵 Music

The soundtrack is good, but it rarely leaves me with a specific memory. It supports play rather than defining moments. That matters in a game where music is meant to be the core reward.

What I Wish They Had Been Braver About

Some of this may simply be a matter of where the genre is right now. The tech, the tools, or the realities of production might not fully support what I am imagining yet, and that is fair. It is also very possible that the way the music is structured and reacts is already doing exactly what it needs to for most players.

A lot of what follows comes from my own background. As a musician, I naturally want more variation, more response, and more room to interpret what I am hearing. That does not make the current approach wrong. It just shapes where my mind goes when I think about how this foundation could grow over time.

Metal: Hellsinger commits to precision, but it rarely trusts expression.

The rhythm system rewards accuracy, not interpretation. You are encouraged to stay aligned, but not to shape the music in a way that feels personal. No matter how you play, the song resolves the same way. That consistency is impressive, but it limits identity.

I kept wishing the game treated rhythm less like a timing test and more like a performance. Not by abandoning structure, but by letting feel matter. Small variations in phrasing or emphasis could have changed how a track breathed without ever losing cohesion.

Even small imperfections could have been meaningful. If I come in late on a note, let the guitar chug drag for a split second. If I rush a hit, let it bite a little early. Let the song feel briefly unsettled, then recover. Those tiny moments of instability are where music feels human, and where performance starts to matter more than correctness.

That idea could have culminated in moments of release. A brief window where the game stops grading and starts listening. Where everything you have been locking into comes out at once, louder and looser, with the music and visuals responding to how you choose to play in that moment. Let the guitars scream harder, let the vocals strain, let the scene push back just enough to make it feel dangerous. Not a power fantasy, but a performance. Something that makes each run feel memorable and unrepeatable because it belongs to how you played, not just that you played well.

That same restraint shows up in the presentation. The visuals do their job, but they rarely participate. Environments remain largely static, even when the music is asking for impact. At times, the world feels like a stage built to host combat rather than an instrument responding to it.

Certain enemies and moments hint at something more expressive. Changes in gravity, tempo, or flow feel like natural opportunities for the space itself to react. I wanted moments where sound, space, and action briefly aligned. Not spectacle. Not chaos. Just cohesion.

The best metal records are remembered for moments. Sudden shifts. Crushing entries. Sections that arrive and leave a mark. They also push the genre forward and inspire what comes next.

Metal: Hellsinger has the foundation to create those kinds of moments. I just wanted it to reach a little further and take a few more risks in that direction.

Overall Verdict

Metal: Hellsinger is a confident, well-made game with a clear thesis and the discipline to execute it.

I recommend it for what it is. A tight rhythm shooter with strong audio feedback and clear rules.

As a musician, I wanted to play the game and the music, not just tap my finger along to it. That difference shapes my experience, and it may shape yours too.

Is it perfect?
No.

Is it good at what it sets out to do?
Yes.

Did it give me the musical agency I was hoping for?
No.

And that is the difference.

Written by Ohmpyre

A lifelong musician, stealing moments meant for practice to chase games instead. Focused on game systems, music, and audio design, with an eye toward pushing genres forward rather than repeating the past.

Funcom Closed the Studio behind this Game

Risk of Getting Removed? Yes