Hellfire Review: A Unique Journey To Hell

An interesting gimmick can take a SHMUP a long way. I’m a massive fan of the genre, but there’s no question that many of its more mediocre titles can tend to blur together. Thanks to its unique attack style, however, there’s no risk that you’ll confuse Hellfire with other shooters out there.

You also won’t mistake Hellfire for the other games in this latest batch of Toaplan releases from Bitwave Games, not only because of its unique weapon system but because, unlike the rest of them, this is a horizontal shooter instead of a vertical one. While I love both styles, Hellfire largely works so well for me because it takes advantage of the entire screen, giving players much to think about.

Assault On All Sides

Instead of picking up a variety of different weapons throughout the game, Hellfire gives you the option to shift your main attack into a variety of different patterns. You can fire forward, backward, above or below you, or diagonally in all directions, though that attack doesn’t do as much damage. Constantly shifting your attack allows you to attack enemies in a wide variety of ways, and Hellfire thankfully takes full advantage of this by building levels that force players to engage with enemies in all directions.

That means enemies will be coming at you from above, below, and from all sides. Many enemies will have shields or structures around them, meaning you have to attack them in a specific way to take them out. Bosses also have weak points on all sides, making you really use the space on the screen and move all around in a way that too many SHMUPs don’t encourage. This allows for a lot of strategy when it comes to how you want to approach these fights and how you want to plan your attack.

Enemies aren’t the only way Hellfire makes players consider the full space of each level. While it’s certainly not the only horizontal SHMUP that makes you dodge the environment and move through difficult areas while dealing with enemies, it does so in exciting ways with obstacles that are constantly moving and making players react. The visual design of some of these areas is fantastic, and I love the way it keeps evolving as you progress through the game. Hellfire also features an amazing soundtrack, the sort that really allows you to lose yourself in the action.

Keep Yourself Alive

If I have any real issue with Hellfire it’s that at times, particularly later in the game, its difficulty can shift from challenging to absurd. That’s because the combination of enemy attacks and environmental challenges doesn’t always sync up well. You’ll find yourself pushed into certain areas of the stage, unable to get out, but that can often leave you without reasonable options to deal with the game’s enemies. I consider myself pretty good at SHMUPs, and I’ll admit that without the rewind feature included as an assist option here, I wouldn’t have been able to see the end of this one. In playing with other assist options, I also found that, unlike the other games Bitwave released from Toaplan today, you will definitely not want to use the automatic dodging feature. It almost immediately started pushing me into the environment and killing me. It seems to only react to enemy attacks and not the environment as well. That’s fine in many SHMUPs but not so much in one like Hellfire where the environmental obstacles are everywhere. This is a feature that would have been better left out of this release.

The other useful options included in various Bitwave Toaplan releases are still here, though, and they’re handy. Hitbox adjustment, difficulty changes, version changes, and background options, I love messing with these in these releases as they give you a ton of freedom to create the version of the game that’s right for you. With these options, anyone can explore the full game, no matter their skill level, and those crazy enough to think the base game isn’t hard enough can make it even more difficult.

Conclusion

Hellfire is an incredibly engaging SHMUP with a unique weapon system, exciting environments to traverse, and plenty of challenge. Its fantastic soundtrack and interesting look make it a memorable experience that I would encourage any fan of the genre to check out. Just be prepared to die. A lot.

Final Verdict: 4/5

Available on: PC (Reviewed); Publisher: Bitwave Games; Developer: Bitwave Games, Toaplan; Players: 1; Released: August 24th, 2023; ESRB: N/A; MSRP: $7.99

Full disclosure: This review is based on a copy of Hellfire provided by the publisher.