Agony Reviews

Undercooked in all the key places, Agony is just a 10 hour trip through increasingly edgy content that isn't actually fun to play.

Back in 2015, indie Kickstarter project Agony (then called “Sacred Agony”) gained a lot of attention by promising to take us on a first-person journey through Hell itself. Since then, screens and videos have only stoked the infernal fires of player interest with their fascinating, sometimes-disturbing teasers of what the final product would look like on launch. If you’ve been – like me – waiting to get your hands on Agony, then your Satanic prayers have been answered, but beware: you can indeed finally go to Hell, but you might find that the pain and suffering of eternal torment are not as much fun as you had hoped.

Ever since becoming old enough to understand good and evil, we have always been told that if we do something bad, we will go to Hell. Literature, art and even video games tried to give the most horrifying representation of Hell, but none did it as well as Agony. Hellish is the only definition that can be given to Madmind Studio's horror, and not only due to his excellent presentation, as the gameplay experience, sadly, it's extremely flawed.

Agony is one of the biggest disappointments this year. Its excellent atmosphere is butchered by frustrating and repetitive gameplay and an abysmal technical performance.

When you’re finished with the campaign there are two additional modes to sink your teeth into if you really want to be a masochist. The first is succubus mode that (as you can expect) allows you to play through the campaign as a succubus demon. It’s a bit of a power fantasy mode where now you’re the one on the offensive, instead of hiding from monsters you’re actively seeking them out but honestly the thought of trudging back through that campaign is torture enough. The other mode in the game is called agony mode and there’s a bit more to it than the previous one. This is a highscore focused mode where you’re tossed into randomly generated environments with tasks such as finding a certain amount of items and making it to the exit without dying. When you do reach the exit you have the opportunity to release a demon and go back through the area to accomplish objectives that only a demon could do like killing a certain amount of demons. It’s interesting to say the least, but if you’re not a highscore junkie then there’s not much incentive to deal with the clunky mechanics of the game a second time.

Agony has a solid foundation, but Madmind fails to build on it in any meaningful ways. Some gorgeous visuals are bogged down by poor game design and tasteless sexual content.

Seasons in the abyss.