2D vertical action roguelite Rising Hell from Toge Productions, Tahoe Games, and Chorus Worldwide Games is a challenging but fun option on PS4. Learn more in our Rising Hell review!
In 2D vertical action roguelite Rising Hell from Toge Productions, Tahoe Games, and Chorus Worldwide Games, your goal is very simple: you have to escape hell. You’ll do this by making the most of the bestial arm you now have since it can deal damage to and destroy the demons on your path. Destroy every demon, every monster, and every boss in your path, and you’ll win your freedom, exiting hell before it’s too late.
Once you’re ready to go, you’ll be able to play Rising Hell either in Conquest or Gauntlet Mode. Conquest is what you’d call the Story Mode in other games since it allows you to learn more and more about the lore surrounding the Rising Hell universe as you try to battle your way through the different realms. Gauntlet Mode is a bit more difficult than Conquest Mode, and it will offer a series of challenges for you to complete. While Conquest Mode only has three realms that would normally take you around 30 minutes to complete, you won’t be able to go through a full run during your first try since you won’t know what you’re going to be up against.
You’ll move with the left analog stick or the D-Pad, jumping and double jumping with the X button. You can attack with the Square button, and your double jump will also make your character attack if you press the Triangle button at the right time – or you can set this attack to be automatic. You can dash with the R1 button to try and quickly move out of harm’s way and can interact with things with the Triangle button. When you begin, you will only have access to one item to take with you on your run, but as you collect more blights, you’ll be able to unlock new ones that can give you some pros and cons to consider, such as increasing your movement speed and jump power, while increasing the damage you take from spikes by 25%.
You’ll first start only Arok the Fallenborn unlocked for playing but can unlock two more characters by obtaining enough blights. They are Zelos the Rogue Fiend, and Sydna the Phantasma. Each of the three characters will have different stats in Durability, Power, Agility, and Speed for you to consider. Arok is the one with the most Durability, which is why he’s the character that is unlocked right from the start. Zelos will favor Agility and Speed, while Sydna will have more Power and Agility than Arok.
As you climb on your quest to escape hell, you’ll be able to collect the souls of your fallen enemies. Souls are important since they’ll act as the in-game currency, allowing you to make purchases at the stores you’ll find during your climb. The items available for sale will give you a much-needed boost. They could, for example, boost your attack damage by 25% when you have 50% life or more, make it so that every third enemy you kill drops 50% more red souls, or increase the radius of attraction for your character to collect souls from a bigger distance.
If you manage to reach the final level of a chapter, you’ll end up in a boss fight… but not before dealing with a mini-boss along the way! If you’re lucky, you’ll have an artifact monster pop up during a mini-boss or a boss fight, which will help you defeat your opponents. For instance, if you do have an artifact monster pop and you get the special claw that deals chain lightning damage to nearby enemies, you could be damaging the mini-boss or boss while dealing damage to its minions, or the other way around. Slay a boss, and you’ll get to pick a reward so that you can carry on with your quest. You could restore some of your lost health, collect some extra blights, or gain extra red souls so that you can purchase an upgrade.
As you take on each realm, you’ll get to battle against the small, medium, and large opponents running around the floor, creeping on the walls, flying through the air, or clinging strongly to a wall as they, say, spew out deadly venomous poison. After you destroy each of these enemies, as well as the mini-bosses and bosses you’ll battle, they will be added to the Grimoire. You can find the Grimoire on the main screen, from where you will be able to learn a bit more about each one of them.
Rising Hell includes a full trophy list with a Platinum at the end of the road. It’s not going to be an easy task since there are trophies for beating each of the mini-bosses and bosses in the game and for completing each of the three chapters in Conquest Mode without using the special Hellbreak attack you can trigger during a double jump. There are also trophies for using the special artifacts to burn and shock hundreds of enemies. The rest of the trophies will be tied to completing the different challenges the game will throw at you in the Gauntlet Mode.
Rising Hell was a pleasant surprise. It’s a fun 2D vertical roguelike with easy-to-understand gameplay mechanics, a handful of artifacts to unlock, two characters to try out which chance how you approach each fight, and different upgrades to unlock during each run to make each one feel different. Rising Hell is out on PlayStation 4 with a $9.99 asking price, making it an easy one to recommend on Sony’s console.
Disclaimer
This Rising Hell review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by Chorus Worldwide Games.
