HellSlave, a dungeon-crawling game by Ars Goetia Games, released on May 26, 2022, reminded me of the Flash game I adored in the past, Sonny and Sonny 2.

HellSlave, a dungeon-crawling game by Ars Goetia Games, released on May 26, 2022, reminded me of the Flash game I adored in the past, Sonny and Sonny 2.

With its strong art direction and turn-based combat system, it easily caught my eye and so I had to play it.

It was a pretty fun experience so I thought it would be nice to go over some HellSlave’s features and characteristics that people should take note of if they are interested in the game.

This may contain some spoilers but I will try to keep it to a minimum.

Accessibility

HellSlave offers great replay value, allowing players to experiment with different strategies, skills, items, and character choices.

This can be done by playing multiple save files or continuing with New Game+.

HellSlave also has four difficulty options: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Very Hard, each altering enemy health values and damage dealt.

Exploration

HellSlave features a DnD-style exploration system with a “region” map for traversing between dungeons and other locations. The game takes place in two main regions with Byleth and Synok as safe areas, allowing players to rest between dungeon expeditions.

Each dungeon is composed of several interactable sections where players can find interesting items, story scenes, or enemy encounters.

Most locations have their backstories, and the safe areas also have NPCs that offer a bit of life to the world of HellSlave.

However, I think they failed to utilize the NPCs and the game world completely as there are almost no sidequests to be done or side characters that affected the character heavily.

Combat

HellSlave uses a turn-based combat system that involves “time” management. The “time” management aspect is depicted through a Fatigue stat that indicates the amount of time that passes when an action is performed.

Prior to combat, players can also upgrade two skill trees; one active and one passive. During combat, you have the ability to turn into a demon due to a pact you made at the start of the story.

Regarding the demon pact, players have the option to choose from six demons: Lucifer, Beelzebub, Baal, Satan, Asmodeus, and Leviathan.

More combat features that elevate combat complexity such as postures, item effects, and more.

Even better, there is a wide variety of enemies and dark fantasy characters to keep players engaged and anticipating more.

However, the game could benefit from clearer explanations or a list of status effects.

Alternatively, you can choose to ignore all of these and do what I did: focus on applying bleed and poison to enemies. I got by the entire game abusing them with the fatigue system and it was pretty neat.

If you are interested in my build, here they are:

Active Skills

Passive Skills

Final Equipment

Before moving on to the next section, just know that you can always grind your levels if you ever find monsters hard to beat in a certain area.

Story

The game’s main premise is fine, nothing too unique.

Here’s a quick run-down of the main plot:

Your once peaceful world is now on the brink of death after demons have invaded the world. In turn, you have made a pact with a demon to fight back. Yet at the last minute of the ritual, immediately after gaining demon powers, you betray the cultist who helped you complete the pact. Now you are on the run, chasing down the demons’ leader while also cutting down anyone in your way.

There are interesting characters like Beelzebub, Asmodeus, Mammon, Lucifer, and Bartholomeus. There is even a unique depiction of the creation of life that involved the demiurge, golems, demons, and humans. This eventually leads to the First Judgment, and the Forbidden Fruit in some way.

There are more references to dark fantasy, the Bible, and other evangelical beings but it’s best to discover them by playing the game.

As I said before, HellSlave failed to make use of NPCs and the game world. Moreso, I felt that it severely lacked a compelling personal story and explanation for its ending.

Graphics

HellSlave’s strong art direction is its most striking feature, drawing inspiration from Dark Fantasy lore. I even compared it to Darkest Dungeon in a series of tweets but with a more realistic aesthetic.

The game’s artist clearly didn’t hold back, providing visual representations for every interaction and monster variant.

It is, however, important to note that the game includes harsh depictions of gore, violence, and horror.

Is it good? Is it bad?

I completed HellSlave in approximately nine hours of gameplay. The game boasts solid mechanics, art direction, combat system, and dungeon exploration.

One of the game’s strengths is that it does not require excessive grinding unless played at a higher difficulty, making it accessible to most players.

However, it falls short in terms of creating a compelling personal story for its protagonist and has an underwhelming ending. The game lacks emotional depth and detailed worldbuilding. It also has a lackluster conclusion.

Despite these criticisms, I still recommend giving it a try as I never found myself bored while playing.