HELLSEED

About

"HELLSEED is a Horror Action game, offering approximately 7 hours of single-player playtime. Players take on the role of a detective investigating a missing doctor at a psychiatric hospital in 1980s Italy. The game is powered by the S2ENGINE HD and is currently available for Early Access with free updates for those who purchase it."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

73%

Audience ScoreBased on 146 reviews

story8 positive mentions

optimization6 negative mentions

The game offers a terrifying atmosphere and is comparable to other well-known horror titles like P.T., providing a deeply immersive experience.
Despite some bugs, the gameplay is engaging and requires thought, making it rewarding for players who enjoy exploration and puzzle-solving.
The graphics and sound design are praised for their quality, contributing to the overall creepy and unsettling environment.

The game suffers from numerous bugs and performance issues, including crashes and unresponsive mechanics, which can hinder the gameplay experience.
Many players find the lack of direction and guidance frustrating, leading to confusion about objectives and progression.
The game is not well-optimized, causing issues even on decent hardware, which detracts from the overall enjoyment.

story
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
67%
9%
The game's story, set in 1980s Turin, is described as captivating and filled with intriguing clues about the disappearance of Dr. De Santis, though it suffers from significant bugs that hinder progression. While the first part is particularly terrifying, some players feel the narrative is unnecessarily prolonged with excessive area jumping, and the connection between the monsters and the story is unclear. Overall, opinions are mixed, with some enjoying the plot and atmosphere, while others find it lacking coherence and plagued by technical issues.
- “The story is set in the '80s in Turin, one of the main cities in Italy.”
- “The first part is the most terrifying for sure, however the second part is still enjoyable, even because you discover a lot of clues about the real story behind the disappearance of Dr. De Santis, but still not the whole truth...”
- “Riveting and captivating storyline.”
- “Hit a spot that is completely broken and can't move forward with the storyline.”
- “Restarted the story twice - hit major critical bugs both times.”
- “Also... the fact that it's only 'part one' means I cannot give its entire story an honest review.”
atmosphere
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
53%
38%
9%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its immersive and captivating qualities, enhanced by realistic graphics and sound design that evoke a sense of nostalgia and dread. Reviewers appreciate the focus on artistic direction over jump scares, creating a thick, eerie ambiance that effectively contributes to the horror experience. However, some mention issues with sound placement and gameplay mechanics that detract from the overall experience.
- “Developers scanned real apartments and furniture from the '80s, immersing players in the charming atmosphere of the past.”
- “The thick atmosphere is not based on jump scares but on wise artistic direction and a good sense of narration; there are very few jump scares throughout the whole experience, which is greatly appreciated.”
- “[b]hellseed[/b] is a masterfully crafted indie horror game that stands toe-to-toe with AAA titles, featuring 6-9 hours of enthralling gameplay, breathtaking atmosphere, and a meticulously polished experience that captivates players from start to finish.”
- “The atmosphere is quite loud (easy fix to turn down), the load up feels like it takes forever.”
- “Scary atmosphere, feeling of abandonment, something demonic lurking.”
- “The gameplay: I don't get scared when playing these games but the atmosphere in this one is creepy.”
gameplay
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
62%
13%
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with some praising its immersive atmosphere and engaging mechanics, while others criticize technical issues such as frame rate drops and janky controls. Players appreciate the game's length and variety, noting it offers a satisfying amount of scares, but some find the mechanics flawed, particularly in high-pressure situations. Overall, it presents a compelling experience, especially for an indie title, but is marred by software bugs and performance inconsistencies.
- “It's priced right, you get a lot of gameplay for it, there's enough scares and scary situations to satisfy your need to be frightened.”
- “[hellseed] is a masterfully crafted indie horror game that stands toe-to-toe with AAA titles, featuring 6-9 hours of enthralling gameplay, breathtaking atmosphere, and a meticulously polished experience that captivates players from start to finish.”
- “◦ Richly varied and sophisticated gameplay mechanics.”
- “Still good looking game but I experience about 30-40fps with sometimes freezes up to like 5 seconds during gameplay.”
- “The game mechanics are a bit janky at times.”
- “This flawed mechanic could cause a lot of deaths if you were hypothetically being chased and had to duck and turn through a vent, etc. There is inertia that you can't turn off.”
graphics
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
54%
13%
The graphics in the game are widely praised for their quality and atmospheric design, showcasing the developers' capabilities with their custom s2engine HD. However, players have reported performance issues, including stuttering and graphical glitches, even on high-end hardware, which detracts from the overall experience. Despite these technical challenges, many users remain optimistic that future updates will enhance the game's visual performance.
- “Love the graphics and atmosphere here.”
- “They are very good developers; they developed their own S2Engine HD capable of very realistic graphics. Plus, Hellseed won several indie awards before the release and was even selected by Red Bull Indie Forge.”
- “Graphics are very well done and original, which is impressive for a smaller dev team.”
- “Even with the lowest settings selected, it doesn't work (which also gave a red screen that was only fixable by going up one graphic setting).”
- “The graphics stutter a lot (I am running a 3080 and Ryzen 5900, no reason for my PC to stutter anything).”
- “I have one very important question: watching walkthroughs on YouTube, I see that my graphic settings are not the best. I tried to turn on triple buffering only for this game, checked the wait for retrace option, set every setting to the best option (3070 graphic card), and gave it 3840x2160 resolution for windowed mode, but still, I see a sort of film grain that ruins the graphic detail.”
optimization
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
36%
43%
The game's optimization remains a significant concern, with many users reporting persistent bugs, performance issues, and crashes, particularly on lower-end PCs. While some improvements have been noted for those with decent hardware, the overall experience is marred by poor optimization and a lack of autosave features, leading to frustrating gameplay. As the game is still in early access, players are hopeful for future enhancements.
- “Most of the bugs and performance issues are resolved as long as you have a decent PC.”
- “With the graphics as good as they are, the performance is well acceptable at times.”
- “I assume that it's because the game is a work in progress and performance will be addressed.”
- “Although the game is well written and could be enjoyable, it is definitely not optimized, even in 2024 for PC.”
- “The poor optimization makes this a big nope for me; I'm not even going to try to finish it until the work is done. I get it, the game is in early access, hoping to see some improvement.”
- “Poorly optimized and full of bugs that require restarts, sometimes not even autosaving, and you die and have to replay the last 30 minutes.”
stability
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting significant bugs, low frame rates (around 30-40fps), and occasional freezes lasting up to five seconds. While some users have experienced smoother gameplay, the overall consensus suggests that the game is poorly optimized and in need of further patches to address these issues.
- “Still a good looking game, but I experience about 30-40 FPS with sometimes freezes up to like 5 seconds during gameplay.”
- “I do think the game needs a few more patches and work; the frame rate seemed low at times, audio for characters seemed a bit broken, and the game was a bit buggy at times too.”
- “Terribly optimized, no direction, turned my PC into a space heater, buggy and disappointing.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
16%
17%
The music and sound design are highly praised for creating a terrifying and immersive atmosphere, effectively enhancing the spooky elements of the experience. While the soundtrack is well-placed and contributes to the overall dread, some users noted issues with directional sound placement, making certain effects feel disorienting. Overall, the combination of music and sound effects significantly elevates the haunting ambiance of the game.
- “The house feels alive and possessed by demonic forces; let me advise you that the experience is not for the faint of heart, especially because of the very good light and sound effects and the terrifying soundtrack.”
- “Atmosphere is pretty top tier, music is placed perfectly, fairly quiet with a creepy, dark, and dreadful ambiance (however, directional sound placement is not the greatest; banging and noises sound like they are coming from everywhere when they're supposed to be from one place).”
- “Music and spooky elements were great.”
- “The house feels alive and possessed by demonic forces; I must advise you that the experience is not for the faint of heart, especially due to the impressive light and sound effects and the terrifying soundtrack.”