Unique Shoot Em' Up Masterpiece! Hellsinker In-Depth Review

Unique Shoot Em' Up Masterpiece! Hellsinker In-Depth Review. The term "hidden gem" is very overused these days, but if there was one shoot em' up (shmup) that fits that description, it is absolutely Hellsinker. A Japanese indie shmup that was originally just distributed at a gaming convention and as freeware on the internet finally made its way to steam in 2019 and I cannot recommend the game enough. If you are a fan of character action games like Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, and Ninja Gaiden and you are a fan of shmups like Touhou, Radiant Silvergun, and Cave, then you will appreciate the beautiful blend of genres on offer in Hellsinker. The game is complicated, but using this review you will have a basic overview, guide, and tutorial of how the game functions and plays.
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#shootemup, #hellsinker, #review

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Be sure to sub to TwilightEX's channel! He helped out a ton with this vid including capturing some gameplay! kzbin.info/door/6e7KOlKO_rhND9uEmlfdcA

[@broken1394]

Praise be the some Dude in Japan. ♥️

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Ha the mysterious overmind, couldn't find a pic of him

[@orbajo]

My first ever 1cc, took me 50 hours, this game will always have a special place in my heart! Thanks for making this so more people can hopefully be interested in giving it a try! Keep your dignity.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Oh that s really cool! Yes I hope this vid helps introduce the game to more people :-)

[@KuroOnehalf]

As someone who's been obsessed with this game for many years, I think it's a decent review. :p Personally I don't relate with the difficulty thing. While the game is more complex, in terms of raw difficulty I thought it was relatively easy, on par with easier Touhou games. In addition to the generous 7 lives option, there's several points in the campaign where you can farm lives and get back into shape if you screw up. Mistakes don't haunt you the whole game like they do in most shmups. And also, the dismembering system (would've been a cool thing to mention!) makes it so you can speed kill a bunch of bosses by prioritizing their weak points. Granted, Dead Liar is not an easy character. I think you'd have an easier time playing Minogame for 1CC survival at first. But 1CC with Dead Liar doesn't have to be too bad. In a lot of cases you can put your mistletoe at the top of the screen and let it do most of the work while you hang back. Anyway I'm rambling. Cool vid!

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Glad you liked it!! Definitely a daunting review to undertake

[@FarAwayTimesGames]

Spent a couple weeks learning the Dead Liar 1CC last year, this is just one of the most inventive and joyful shmups I've ever played. I love how it regularly tosses one-off bosses and setpieces at you that're more creative than most entire shmups can come up with.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

I know the game has some serious mojo!

[@TheRestartPoint]

Reminds me of bands that can fit more ideas into one song than other bands put into an entire album. This is the prog rock of shmups XD

[@FarAwayTimesGames]

@@TheRestartPoint Totally! I've used "prog rock shmup" as shorthand for these games with friends. Hellsinker, ZeroRanger, and RefleX are my goto examples, I love this kind of shmup to bits. I really need to play Radiant Silvergun, I keep seeing my favorite games compared to it xD

[@MrElbowsmash]

I have this on Steam but honestly, I've been sitting on playing it, because that cluster of mechanics is intimidating. I hope your video will help me figure things out!

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Me too! That s one of my goals for sure

[@bombadbombad1584]

Wonderful review, did a great job of capturing why I (and many others) love this game so much. I'm sure you already know, but for those that don't, Hellsinker is basically a spiritual successor, or even a straight up sequel, to Radio Zonde (by the same developer). As it turns out, Radio Zonde established a lot of the features that would later appear in Hellsinker, like the various unique playable characters and their complex movesets, enemies, general game design, and even music. Would definitely recommend Hellsinker fans to check it out.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Yes great point!!!

[@robertrogers6487]

No g, this shmup has been my favorite shmup since playing the alpha comiket demo release back in 07. Then that English patch back in 2012 and then the steam release? *Chefs kiss*

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Yes thank the shmup gods for the English patch!

[@LixeiraDoFrost]

Hellsinker is my second favorite shmup of all time and I gotta tell you man: loved your review. Still, gonna give you a heads up: Hellsinker is actually tough to learn, but once you master its mechanics fully, it is a pretty easy clear. I also main Deadliar and I just gotta tell you: it ain't that hard. Hellsinker feels more like a game you have to "explore" than actually do hardcore routing. All these mechanics are there to help you. Try using the Shrine of Farewell to get more lives. You just need to kill the bosses quickly if you are aiming for survival, you'll probably get a shitton of extends just by winning and your lives are impossible. Then, get to the center-top of the screen and get your mistletoe to the center down. You'll get ALL THE CRYSTALS. Use the training mode and speedkill most of the bosses. You don't need to score much, the game is very generous with extends. Hellsinker scoring is insanely deep but definitely more optional. Try different mistletoes formations. I see you tend to put it to the center too much. While that's great for maximum front damage input, you'll want to hit different parts of the screen very frequently. Diagonal formations tend to allow you to damage more parts of the screen simultaneously and also damage bosses just fine. Try breaking different boss parts. You can cheese them easily if you know which parts make the game get easier. The only hard stage in the game essentially is Level 6, but it's totally doable. Do it! I can't wait to see your post 1cc impressions. Legit amazing game. Keep up the good work.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Thank you so much my dude!

[@source_decay]

Have been fence-sitting about whether or not to get this for some time, this convinced me to finally pull the trigger. Enjoying it so far, great review/overview!

[@76mmM4A1HVSS]

I love HELLSINKER so much

[@TheElectricUnderground]

It s awesome!

[@matteste]

Ah, finally, the mythical shmup gets some well deserved attention. I suck at this game and yet it holds a really special place in my heard, just being so unlike anything else out there.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Yes, and it was a really daunting review!

[@rollanddev]

Oh god, this game is my all time favorite!! YEARS later and I'm still playing this one and finding new things. Still figuring stuff out story-wise. Still finding better scoring routes. Still praying for another game like this. :) So much love to you for giving this game love! [Instant subscribe.]

[@dixiesama]

Got into your channel recently from your fighting gaem stuff. I've pretty much ignored the shmup genre outside of occasional casual play for a long time, but your passion for them raised my interest a lot! Ended up buying Hellsinker, Like Dreamer, and Sophstar. Hellsinker in particular has captured me, and I feel like I'll grind in the long term for a 1cc with each character/equipment.

[@soratheorangejuicemascot5809]

Goodluck with your playthrough.

[@dixiesama]

@@soratheorangejuicemascot5809 I got the dub with Minogame but that character is almost like cheating at times 😂 Actually learning patterns is hard!

[@soratheorangejuicemascot5809]

@@dixiesama I suck at using Minogame. Everytime I hide under that circle of his/her/it/wheat, I always ended up dying. Learning the pattern ising character without much like Kagura 4 can be tough though. Game is mixed with dense slow bullet, fast ones that can be slowdowned and then red/blue needles which I consider to be the hardest ones to dodge. I already spent 169 hours on Hellsinker but I cant stop playing it with Fossil Maiden for some reason. Its weird that I formed a sense of comfort in this game to the point I attempted score chasing.

[@sudarshangopinathan5904]

Thanks for the review, the planets seemed to have aligned as when I checked steam it was on a 50% sale, immediately bought it.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

That s really cool ha

[@HotPocketHPE]

I love this game, it's just bursting with creativity. It's like one of those albums that came out decades ago but feels cutting-edge when you listen to it. Got the full sequence order 1cc with Fossil Maiden, so fun to play. Great, great game.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Yes exactly!!

[@then1533]

Yep, looking forward to this.

[@soratheorangejuicemascot5809]

11:40 reason why I stick with Fossil Maiden is because all of her shots got different movement speed. The only bad thing about her movement is that her slow move isn't slow enough.

[@hooksnfangs6006]

Ah Hellsinker. It's the first SHMUP to make me ask, "What the hell am I doing?".

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Yes exactly ha

[@ArcLi7e]

Awesome review Mark, this game is so intimidating to try to learn but this inspired me to give it another go. BTW, any plans to take a look at the new Arcade Archives GunNail release on ps4/switch?

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Glad to hear it!!! Possibly, just have to get caught up on some other vids first :-)

[@EMMA-GAMES]

Are you interested in Alternative Sphere Mark? Thanks for this review because I've been trying to dig into this game here and there. Thank you for the insight :D

[@brightsuperstition]

I'm perfectly fine with strictly limited credits as long as a training mode exists and makes all levels and bosses accessible in training mode from the start. That's fair. This approach still respects the player's time by allowing him to practice the harder sections at his own leisure instead of it being a situation where the only way they can practice harder sections is to get to that section and maybe lose all credits within less than a minute because of how hard it is, forcing him to start all over again and hope he can reach that hard section again and maybe survive a little longer. If it's something like Super XYX that doesn't have training mode, then that's bullshit.

[@sakarain]

I wonder how a VS mode would look like in this game. Hearing how each character is unique and there is meter, I think of fighting games. I don’t think there’s a lot of VS shmups; the first thing to come to mind is 2hu 3, 9, & 19.

[@HeavyMetalfps]

Oh nice, Hellsinker. :D

[@Coreagrus]

I fell deeply in love with this game. There's just nothing quite like it. I appreciate any and all coverage of it. I just don't know what exactly a 'Character Action' game is, despite being a big fan of the given examples. In this context I think 'mechanically complex, deep and nuanced' would mean basically the same thing, and it would be accurate about Hellsinker. You mention how Tonnor disregards labels, then describe the game with a relatively recent, I think poorly defined label. Some say Doom Eternal is a character action game. I don't get it. Oh well, that's a pet peeve of mine. I don't wanna invite a semantical debate. 'S all good. Strangely, I'm fine with the mentioning of Dark Souls despite how much of a tired meme it is, because yeah - the scarcity of checkpoints is a deliberate old school design decision - in place since the original Demon's Souls. I respect limited continues in much the same way. Btw, you actually lose your one and only continue if you go to the shrine of farewell. I think it's both because that place is a graveyard, so 'The Death' is now very close, and because the aftermath of the shrine can result in a lot of extends, so it kinda fulfils the same purpose. Thought that was a neat design choice. I'm a bit ashamed that I haven't done a 1CC either. I was very close once, then got distracted, but I will go and do it eventually, and so should you. Sometimes I feel like writing long, rambling comments. Thanks in advance if you indulged me. Cheers!

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Awesome comment! Yeah I do plan on getting a 1cc in the game soon :-) I want to make more content about it for sure

[@PedroFerreira-sx2gd]

Hellsinker is the odyssey of Homero concerning shoot em Ups. I have never understood all the game mechanics (believe me i try).in fact many of them i only found by trial and error. The most amazing thing is that all complexity is natural and Logic. There is only One thing i hate in the game. It is very easy to select no in the continuity screen. I AM not a 1 CC player and i would love to see the game design of the later levels. Not because i wanba beat the game, but because i have fascination to see what new ideas appear . Great review.the soundtrack is amazing

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Yeah that default no is pretty troll ha. The soundtrack is awesome! Super overlooked

[@tx7300]

if you get to stage 8 (continue or not) you unlock an option in the menu called SHORT MISSION that lets you play the game with only 5 stages instead of 8, but if you 1cc that it still counts as a full 1cc and you get to see everything the game has to offer. if you continue in stage 5 you will skip stage 6, if you continue in stage 6 you will skip stage 7, so you can strategize where to die so to speak so you can get to stage 8 in the safest way in order to unlock SHORT MISSION. personally i find stage 6 to be the hardest in the game, mostly because of the boss, so might wanna die in stage 5

[@JuanRoosterbeard]

This is La- Mulana of Shmups....

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Hellsinker is one of a kind. Crazy game ha

[@jackylee5850]

I'm pretty sure the developer of this game are the guys who did Radio Zonde, no other game I know uses this Sol/Luna/Stella mechanic, or with intentionally vague HUDs

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Ha yes the UI in this game is pretty mysterious

[@niroe82]

Tonnor made both games yeah, there is even a remixed track from Radio Zonde in HellSinker it's dope af

[@jackylee5850]

You're right, found this detailed interview of the guy on shmuplations and he mentioned it

[@Zenon00007]

Bring it..❤️

[@Ishmokin]

Hi! Nice review! Looking into digging in this game. Did you use extral rapid fire apps for acade stick? Do you have any recommendations?

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Antimicro for sure!

[@docsavage4921]

On sale now for 5.99. I JUST bought the Ginga Force and Natsuki Chronicles pack, how often does this go on sale? Might just get it now, I did only just learn about this and was planning on getting it at some point.. Just wasn't thinking it would be quite this soon after a purchase.

[@scienceandmatter8739]

CANT3WAIT FOR THIS MAN

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Took a lot of time to put this together :-)

[@scienceandmatter8739]

@@TheElectricUnderground man what a Gift , you should really continueing man i See a blazinz futureeeeee

[@scienceandmatter8739]

I only have the Switch now for shmups but man Theres so few coming from Steam etc. THATs really sadening

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Yeah gotta get on the PC scene somehow

[@elseifgames129]

So I want to get into Hellsinker, but I play shmups primarily on keyboard. Is there a program to set up autofire macros directly to keys instead of on a controller? Or is it even necessary, since my current tries have been with Minogane, and she doesn't seem to have the same mash requirement?

[@LixeiraDoFrost]

I have the 1cc and I played only with a keyboard. Not that hard tbh, hope you enjoy it

[@tippidink]

masterpiece

[@iananderson292]

Finally someone can explain it to me

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Hope it helped!!!

[@Arandui]

Just one day after this review, the game is on 50% sale on Steam. What a perfect timing.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

That s awesome!

[@SuperLarrythompson]

Wish the characters were better animated ala shikigami no shiro.

[@blacklabel4034]

I hope there will be a switch port, looks amazing 😲

[@TheElectricUnderground]

I think that might be a long way away, but you never know! It did make it to steam

[@dearcrowns]

I've actually never heard "the sequel to DDP is Ketsui" tbh Also I'm curious, how would you say Hellsinker compares to Stellavanity in terms of its complexity and uniqueness (since they both seem to have that going for them)?

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Oh sometimes shmups of a similar nature will be considered a sort of sequel to one another, like rade and espgaluda (probably should have used that example) or silvergun and ikaruga

[@dearcrowns]

@@TheElectricUnderground Oh yes, those two examples are a lot more pervasive I feel.

[@junthergauch5914]

What do you think, will Cave ever release new titles again? Now that the fan base is bigger than ever, thanks also to your channel!

[@TheElectricUnderground]

I really hope so, I don t see why not honestly, I think it is possible

[@junthergauch5914]

What are they doing at the moment, do you know that? What are they working on?

[@REDLINE.FGC1]

MORE LIKE HELLSTINKER needed to say it, game looks good tho.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Ha XD

[@soratheorangejuicemascot5809]

And I thought Illmatic Envelope wnd Radirgy are too complicated enough for me to grasp.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Ha no kidding those are head scratchers too

[@RxMxG]

I'm just an average bullet hell / shmup player and I just bought this game a couple days ago. The opening training is very long and give me a new kind of headache hahaha

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Oh yeah skip that mode

[@SPL1NGYDUDE]

so this is basically the Ultrakill of Shmups?

[@psionicflash]

ultrakill doesn't need a 30-minute tutorial for the tutorial

[@Azazel5021]

based

[@TheOlBenster]

Noice

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Ahh yeah

[@AlexM-vt5pu]

It just went on sale too, $4.99. No reason not to get it now! (Steam)

[@TheElectricUnderground]

That's really cool :-)

[@shmups_hobby]

I made it as far as ‘branching paths’... 🥵

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Ha hang in there it s worth it!

[@gepflegtePCSpieleKultur]

Thank you Mark... Hell(Time)sinker... i'm banging my Head on this one now for a while. (June 21) And i'm not the Wiser... This is one of the few Games my Adult ADHD Brain says: NO Bro... Not that one... i don't wanna learn, play or watch Video's about it... BEGONE! HAHAHA... maybe one more year... Cheers -> One Hour Later... i beat the first Boss... :-) Thank you again

[@TheElectricUnderground]

No problem! I do hope this vid can help more people pick up the game because it is Uber complicated

[@gepflegtePCSpieleKultur]

@@TheElectricUnderground My Impression so far, not as demanding as Radiant Silvergun... but the Execution is much more exigent (my opinion). Learning (muscle memory) to use the Subweapon flawless in any Situation is very hard, but also to execute all other gameplay technics at once in rapid succession is very demanding (for me). And yes, i agree shmup beginner will be tested to their limits. btw after 3 Hours of Hellsinker... i played Judgment Silversword (another good Advice from you) and got very close to 1cc... HAHAHA The Hellsinker Training Camp makes you stronger for other Shmups... Cheers Mate

[@mitchfindergeneral]

Man, I ain't playin this! I can barely even handle the polarity shit from Ikaruga. My brain would explode playing this.

[@TheRestartPoint]

Looks great and it's only £3.59 on Steam sale so why the hell not? Even if my slow 45 year old brain never gets to grips with it XD

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Ha you ll get it I have faith in you :-)

[@cursedtosufferGRIMM]

I can't even read the font AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

[@tplayer23424]

understanding the story is way harder than beating this game. the texts are basically riddles.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Absolutely

[@PaStef37]

oof it's so much more complicated than what I thought lol

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Yeah ha, it s fun once you get the hang of it :-)

[@soratheorangejuicemascot5809]

After checking some few stuffs about Hellsinker, I am kinda sad that I dont see any Fossil Maiden guide. I just discovered that Minogame got two gender......... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

[@Arandui]

Tested it a bit and I absolutly hate the shit menu design. It's too confusing and has a very terrible font, which almost makes impossible for me to read anything. It makes the already confusing game far more confusing, that it becomes a real problem.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

The font is a beast to try and read, it doesn become a bit easier to read over time but for sure some style before function was involved

[@Arandui]

@@TheElectricUnderground The problem is, that this "style before function" makes a very bad first impression and maybe can be a reason to don't play it again for me. No matter, how good and creativ the game is.

[@metalwolfzx]

This game was a terrible experience! It was extremely frustrating and uninteresting to play. The characters are unimpressive to me as well, most don't mesh well with the game's overall design and the others are frankly boring to play as... And finally, the bosses, I found them frustrating, repetitive and unenjoyable to fight. I recommend you avoid this game unless you're a masochist or collector.