Hellbound

Sometimes, all I want to do is play the most straightforward game possible. A game that’s fast-paced, over-the-top, and meant for you to pick it up and play it without ever asking questions regarding lore or morality. Sure, there’s Doom Eternal, which is still my favorite game of 2020, and possibly this entire console generation as a whole, but I’d never say no to a game that’s clearly inspired by Id Software’s current and previous outings. Let’s tackle Saibot Studios’ Hellbound...

The team at Saibot Studios have made exactly what they promised to their Kickstarter backers, but I was left wanting more. This doesn't make Hellbound a bad game, but it certainly feels like there were a few things left on the cutting room floor as I finished the game. After a somewhat slow start in the campaign, I was happy to finish the fight, and any fan of 1990s FPS fans could do worse than slaying demons in Hellbound.

Hellbound is a fun shooter that’s got all the hallmarks of what made the 90s FPS genre so great. Unfortunately, just like the 90s games before it, it’s pretty dated in both optimization and graphics. There’s a large number of bugs and game-breaking glitches to be experienced, all of which tarnish what is otherwise an incredible experience.

Hellbound has potential, and will surely find an audience for both its nostalgia and its challenge. While the story is almost completely unnecessary, it's a real shock that the whole narrative focus appears to not be concluded in the game, though. Just as the story gets going, and the first big boss is defeated, the endgame credits roll, leaving Hellbound feeling unfinished. That feeling is compounded by the fact that the main reason for returning comes from the score-based survival mode which is still available as a free download on Steam. Hellbound is not big, nor is it clever, and in all th...

An earnest but empty love letter to Quake and Duke Nukem 3D that never gets around to doing anything to call its own.

Hellbound has really good movement and the texture quality looks nice, but it's insanely short, the level design is mediocre, and there's nothing here that FPS fans haven't seen done better for decades.

Don’t be fooled. Hellbound doesn’t straddle the line between inspiration and imitation. Instead, it dives headfirst into the shallow end. There’s enough marketing and nostalgia on the surface to lure you in. But once you start playing, you’ll just be thinking about how you could be playing Doom instead.