Hell is Other Demons

Hell Is Other Demons goes the distance in its refined and frantic gameplay that captures the nostalgia of 8-bit arcade shooters.

87%Game Brain Score

music, gameplay

story, grinding

92% User Score Based on 227 reviews

Critic Score 65%Based on 9 reviews

Platforms

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About

Hell is Other Demons is a single player arcade platformer game. It was developed by Cuddle Monster Games and was released on May 20, 2019. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and very positive reviews from players.

Hell is Other Demons is a frantic, highscore driven, four-color, Bullet Hell Platformer with pixel art.

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92%

Audience ScoreBased on 227 reviews

music54 positive mentions

grinding3 negative mentions

The game features fast-paced, fluid, and responsive gameplay with tight and smooth controls, delivering an exhilarating bullet hell platformer experience.
Visually striking pixel art with a unique retro aesthetic combined with an outstanding synthwave/electronic soundtrack that greatly enhances the atmosphere and immersion.
Multiple game modes including a campaign with boss fights, arcade mode with leaderboard competition, and a challenging lava climb mode, providing excellent replayability and substantial content.

The control scheme, especially the aiming mechanics, can be frustrating and unintuitive, with issues such as move and aim being bound to the same stick on controllers and awkward default keyboard bindings.
The game's small arenas, limited field of view, and heavy visual effects can lead to difficulty in reading the action, with some enemy attacks feeling unfair due to off-screen spawns and cramped play areas.
Short campaign length with limited story content and grindy progression for weapons and perks, which might reduce long-term engagement for some players.

music
76 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
71%
25%
4%
The music is widely praised for its exceptional synthwave, dark electro, and catchy tunes that perfectly complement the fast-paced, arcade-style gameplay. Many reviewers highlight the soundtrack as a standout aspect, often calling it addictive, adrenaline-pumping, and worthy of a separate purchase. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a key element that enhances the game's atmosphere and replayability.
- “The music is just fantastic and pumps adrenaline.”
- “This in combination with the absolutely stunning soundtrack make for an exhilarating and immensely satisfying game.”
- “Music: probably my favorite part of this game, dark, synthy, awesome.”
- “Simple concept, ok soundtrack, however everything feels very precise and clean.”
- “The music never feels like it's stopping and starting inappropriately when you're dying often and restarting the levels.”
- “+ when restarting a level the music goes on and does not reset (I hate when games reset the cool music).”
gameplay
69 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
55%
4%
The gameplay is praised for its fast-paced, fluid, and addicting arcade-style action with smooth controls and a variety of weapons and upgrades that add depth. While some find the level design and scope limited or repetitive, the tight mechanics, balanced difficulty curve, and replayability make it highly enjoyable. The blend of simple platforming moves and bullet-hell elements, alongside effective risk/reward systems, ensures an engaging experience that caters to both casual and skilled players.
- “Each level is an arena where you have to fight through waves of enemies. The shop provides a lot of upgrades that may drastically change gameplay and even make you overpowered.”
- “Gameplay is fast and easy to pick up, while the visuals and audio are a feast for the senses.”
- “Gameplay: arcade, bullet hell perfection with extremely smooth and responsive controls and fair, balanced gameplay.”
- “Very polished, but the gameplay and level design are underdeveloped at points.”
- “It's more akin to a mobile game with its small scope and arcade-like gameplay, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the game doesn't do much with it and lacks anything to make it stand out.”
- “Between the constant particles, moving/claustrophobic camera, and lack of animation, the bullet-hell gameplay can be exhausting to look at.”
graphics
59 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
66%
29%
5%
The graphics of "Hell is Other Demons" are widely praised for their unique, vibrant pixel art style that blends retro aesthetics with modern polish, creating visually striking and engaging environments. While some find the visuals chaotic or occasionally hard to read during fast-paced action, the overall art design is considered a standout feature that enhances the game's kinetic, arcade shooter experience.
- “Hell is Other Demons is a technically incredible arcade game, from how everything is drawn while being limited by a 4 colour Game Boy palette to how colours flow and mash both in the background and foreground, and with gameplay as fluid as this, it's very difficult to comprehend that the devs were able to keep graphical fidelity as this title shows.”
- “I could go on and on about the graphics: the pixelation effect is blended masterfully with other more modern effects, producing a hybrid level of detailed smoothness very conducive to hyper-fast gameplay.”
- “The visuals are well done with clear cut enemies and outlines on the necessary objects.”
- “Hell is other demons is a technically incredible arcade game, from how everything is drawn while being limited by a 4 colour Game Boy palette to how colours flow and mash both in the background and foreground, and with gameplay as fluid as this it's very difficult to comprehend that the devs were able to keep graphical fidelity as this title shows.”
- “I could go on and on about the graphics: the pixelation effect is blended masterfully with other more modern effects, to produce a hybrid level of detailed smoothness which is very conducive to hyper-fast gameplay.”
- “The visuals are well done with clear-cut enemies and outlines on the necessary objects.”
story
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
54%
23%
The story is generally viewed as weak or minimal, with some players finding it lacking in progression and depth. However, the captivating premise and mission-based structure provide enough content for basic skill progression, while the game's strength lies more in its arcade mode and gameplay rather than narrative. Overall, the story is not a major focus or highlight of the game.
- “The premise of the story is captivating, though at times story progression feels slow. I hope it's not a storyless game or like a Souls-like narration where you have to pay attention to hidden details while dodging bullets at high speed.”
- “A truly fantastic arena game which features a robust arcade mode and a mission-based story mode, both with tons of unlockable content that give a nice feeling of progression even when you lose.”
- “In the story mode, you can explore a small map with road forks, buy upgrades, and fight bosses.”
- “The premise of the story is captivating, however I am at a point where I feel the campaign is almost at an end and I haven't seen much story progression. I hope this is not a storyless game or a Souls-like narration... paying attention to hidden details while dodging bullets at high speeds doesn't sound reasonable.”
- “Story is almost non-existent and once you get past the controls (not bad, not really good either), the game is kind of fun and you get this 'one more level' kind of vibe.”
- “Writing/story: little to no story.”
replayability
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
43%
14%
Hell is Other Demons offers strong replayability through its arcade rogue-light mode, multiple challenges, and endless levels, complemented by engaging visuals and soundtrack. While some players find the alternate modes motivating for repeated play, others feel limited reasons to replay beyond high-score pursuits. Overall, the game provides substantial replay value supported by varied modes and enjoyable mechanics.
- “Hell is Other Demons has a crunchy and rich visual style, great replayability, and a suitably diabolical level of difficulty.”
- “It has great graphics, a great soundtrack, simple and fun mechanics, and a great deal of replayability.”
- “Replayability seems high with several modes and challenges in addition to the basics of clearing levels.”
- “Replayability: there are some alternate modes and challenges to get high scores for endless levels, but other than that, there isn’t any reason I can find to play through the game again.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game features a noticeable grind to unlock weapons and perks, which can limit the opportunity to try all the weapons early on, though the arcade mode provides access to many better options. Despite this, the grinding aspect doesn't detract from the core fighting experience and fits well with the game's synthwave, industrial style.
- “I do have one con about this game and it's that getting the weapons and perks are just very grindy to get, but nevertheless it doesn't ruin the main fighting part (well technically you do lose the trying out all the weapons aspect of the game, but the arcade mode gives most of the better weapons).”
- “Encourages grinding past levels for gems.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game features a distinctive and memorable atmosphere that blends demonic and cyberpunk elements, enhanced by detailed visuals like weapon projectiles and exploding enemies, creating an immersive experience.
- “The unique atmosphere ensures the game stays unforgettable.”
- “The game has a great demonic/cyberpunk atmosphere, with exceptional attention to detail in everything from weapon projectiles to exploding enemies.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game exhibits some stability issues, particularly with buggy physics that can affect the overall experience.
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's optimization for controller use is lacking, as combining aiming and movement on the same stick significantly hampers performance, making it less comfortable compared to keyboard and mouse controls.
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor is characterized by a playful and lighthearted tone, with a focus on amusing characters and situations that contribute to an overall fun experience.
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users appreciated the game's art style and character design, indicating a visually appealing and well-crafted presentation of characters, though specific details on character development were limited.
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional feedback highlights a minor frustration with the game's mechanics, specifically the need to press a button to pick up weapons instead of automatic pickup, which slightly disrupts immersion and fluidity.

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65%Critics’ scoreBased on 9 critic reviews

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Frequently Asked Questions

Hell is Other Demons is a arcade platformer game.

Hell is Other Demons is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Windows and others.

Hell is Other Demons was released on May 20, 2019.

Hell is Other Demons was developed by Cuddle Monster Games.

Hell is Other Demons has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked Hell is Other Demons for its music but disliked it for its story.

Hell is Other Demons is a single player game.

Similar games include Downwell, Star of Providence, Monolithic Christmas Night, Jet Lancer, Akane and others.

Hell is Other Demons

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