Hell Clock PC Review
Summary: Hell Clock provides the thrill of Diablo II and PoE build craft with the rogue-like story elements and inter-run progression of Hades. It loses a little love in the grind for resources and progression and boring enemies, but the gameplay loop is addictive enough to make up for it in short intervals. Strongly Recommend.
4
Don't watch the clock
Sometimes I play a game, and I can tell it’s good – and that I have found it at the wrong time in my life. I was expecting Hell Clock to be closer to Hades than Diablo II – I was wrong. Once I accepted Hell Clock for what it was – an ARPG with roguelike elements – rather than what I expected, I had a great time for about half of the 30 hours I devoted to it – and I felt numb for the rest. I’m not sure whether I can blame Hell Clock for that, and maybe by the end of this review you will be better placed than I was to know if you want to indulge in Hell Clock’s version of semi-addictive gameplay and build craft.
I’m not familiar with Brazilian history – nor can I remember a game that had me Googling a 19th century war. You play as Pajeú, who awakes following his death in the war to find his mission seeking justice for his people and mentor ‘the Counselor’ has only just begun. The story is delivered mostly in single sentence speech bubbles by the accompanying characters punctuated by the occasional animation sequence for a boss event. At first I felt the void in exposition – and in particular Hell Clock open’s with a questionably bold brief cinematic that explains literally nothing. But given the clock’s gameplay mechanic and how often you return to your base of operations, it became clear why it was so important that the developers kept the writing so tight and brief.
I’ll confess to losing sight of the story after the first 4 hours or so because I began to struggle with elements of the gameplay – but once I found my groove and remembered I needed to let Hell Clock tell me what kind of game it is, by the time I was running Act 3 regularly as preparation for the final boss I was suddenly reinvested in the story. I was very surprised to identify hope and optimism and a perpetual struggle for justice as themes explicitly referenced in Hell Clock’s story. Don’t expect a banal Sisyphus or a deep exploration of Pajeú’s soul as he dives again and again into hell – for most of the game he is inscrutable and unstoppable. It was hard to relate to the depth of emotion conveyed in brief story beats after I had zipped through an entire Act in a few minutes and a Boss in seconds. But I guess that’s part of the point too?
To cover the basics, Hell Clock is an action RPG in the vein of the Diablo series or Path of Exile; with roguelike elements that remind me most of Hades. The unique historical setting and grim yet vibrant art-style gives it a unique personality despite how obviously it draws inspiration from other ‘big’ games in their respective genres. The clock mechanic is relatively unique – the default mode for Hell Clock limits you to several minutes or so per run (there are ways to increase the time limit later), meaning you are forced back to your operating base in relatively quick intervals. On the one hand this strongly encourages experimentation, and provides a consistent ‘levelling up’ with the resources you gather each run able to be spent on upgrading gear and skills. And it took me way to long to realise the clock was literally telling me I was supposed to be running through the game, using short cuts (Red Portals that let you skip floors) and focusing on cutting through bosses like butter.
Hell Clock literally tells in a loading screen tip that the game is NOT meant to be a grind. My first reaction is to call the developers out. They literally built a game that involves diving into hell dungeons on a short time limit, incentivising repetitive resource gathering in order to grow stronger with each run, with stupidly high HP bosses acting as gate keepers to each new area. I’m not sure how else I would describe that, other than grinding for resources? Like I wrote earlier, at first I struggled with the friction of my own grind… and then it clicked for me. I was not playing Hell Clock for the story – the game was begging me to use the resources and systems it had provided to break it.
So I did. After the first 4 hours I have up on almost every ability in the game (there are 18), and exclusively played with 2 of them. My wife watched me play for a little while and asked “isn’t that boring? You look like you’re just spinning in circles and walking through the level.” She was not wrong – that is exactly what I ended up doing as I doubled-down on critical hits and continuous damage. I think this is where my conflict begins. I really enjoyed figuring out the puzzle that was build craft for the first 10 hours or so. After I completed the base game and started the end-game ‘ascension’, I really enjoyed unlocking extra perks (‘Constellations’).
But somewhere in the middle of my 30 hours, my eyes glazed over a little. I changed the graphic settings and set the flashy lighting effects as dull as they could be. I had podcasts and YouTube going at the same time, and I was only paying minimal attention to Hell Clock. I had very little reason to pay attention – it was not particularly demanding when I simply walked through every enemy and most bosses were defeated in seconds, at most minutes. I began to see almost every enemy as a resource crate or vase that moved and provided gold, rather than an obstacle. As my attention shifted from build craft to simply enduring the run to the final boss, I began to notice slight and insignificant issues, like repetitive sound design or animations. The different biomes that on first impression were charming and contrasting started to bother me for being too bright or too dark. I started playing Hell Clock on mute – I was reminded of the uncaring resentment that builds up for a lovely and hilarious housemate you rarely see but always leaves you their dishes to clean. And then every now and then I would get the thrill as I breezed through a boss that had taken me minutes on the run prior, or picked up a great combination of Blessings, and I would remember why I was still playing.
So I wonder – is it Hell Clock’s fault that I don’t have time to devote to softly grinding resources for hours as I experiment with different builds? Probably not, I’m the sucker who chose to have kids. Hell Clock would have been wonderful for me if I was still in my 20’s, studying (sort of), and without any of the significant responsibilities of ‘adult’ life. I probably would have really enjoyed setting myself challenges with different abilities – and some of you who are better at managing your time as adults will probably have a great time juggling all the puzzle pieces in Hell Clock. Only a few years ago I would have relished the chance to spend an hour or so before bed on a Steam Deck or equivalent, seeing how far I could get. Unfortunately for me and Hell Clock I don’t have that luxury anymore.
The caveat to my experience is that Rogue Snail seemed devoted to listening to their player community. In the time that I played Hell Clock there was a significant update that provided the additional “Vengeance” mode to facilitate faster runs after a defeat, in addition to an option to ‘freeze’ the clock with “Relaxed” mode. They have also flagged a future update coming soon that will provide the option for ‘Regular’ and ‘Veteran’ game modes with fundamental gameplay differences in terms of campaign structure and pacing. Rogue Snail make reference to players spending hours without meaningful progress, let alone losing their progress when they switch to the current end-game ‘Ascension’. Given how my own enjoyment of Hell Clock has been strongly tempered by the time I feel I have lost without much reward, I can imagine the updates they have planned would have fundamentally changed my experience. Maybe if anything I have described resonates with you, consider giving the game another month or two before checking it out?
For me, most of the positive feeling I experienced during my time with Hell Clock came from the ‘ah ha’ moments as I found game-breaking combinations of abilities and perks, that were supported by the story during my base game run. Unfortunately the longer I played, the more I realised that I didn’t have the capacity to not feel guilty for the time it was taking me to walk through mobs of enemies. The bosses seem to lack any mechanical challenge, even on higher ‘Hell’ levels when newer mechanics are introduced – they presented a time barrier given their health bars, rather than a true challenge. And so I’m not sure I’ll return to Hell Clock, and I’ve got the mixed feelings of a house party that went on a bit too long and that I left a little bit too sober. I strongly recommend Hell Clock for anyone who loves a good puzzle and has the endurance to withstand hours of insignificant enemies. And if you don’t, maybe wait a few months until the massive update coming lands. 4/5 Stars.
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