Hyper Demon – is an arena-like FPS shooter that is simply awesome. This is a sequel to Devil Daggers 2016, with the familiar hand in the middle of the screen. The game retains many elements, like killing demons and getting gems for upgrades to get a high score. However, it looks like this developer has taken all the drugs before making this game. Giving this title an oppressive look may align with what they are going for. With the growing popularity of games like Neon White, there could be another high-score chasing game.
Hyper Demon is Doom Eternal of Devil Daggers, and that’s not a hard comparison to make. Looking back, Devil Daggers came out in 2016 and hadn’t got that much hype. It was a fast wave-based shooter where you must survive as long as possible. Certain enemies show up at certain times. The more you play it, the more you remember who’s spawning and when to make your strategies. It’s a leaderboard-based game. Hyper Demon but having trippy visuals. One could excuse for thinking they’re the same game aim at first glance. You’re in the same circular arena, shooting out of hand absorbing red orbs, enemies coming in waves – it’s the same thing? No, it most certainly is not. Whereas Devil Daggers is a game based on survival, Hyper Demon is a game based on aggressive efficiency. The leaderboard does not depend on a time score. It shows a value calculated by killing enemies.
The better you destroy everything around you, the higher the value gets; when you die, that value sets as your score. You won’t move the value much if you play it like Devil Daggers, just trying to survive. You could play 30 minutes and get a much lower score than someone who played for 30 seconds if that person did much more damage in their time. Try to survive and get used to the game, not just the visuals but the mechanics, because a lot is happening here.
Gameplay
All the interesting high-level tactics of Devil Daggers have been expanded upon, explained, and integrated into the core gameplay loop. The shotgun blast that doesn’t feel useful when you first start playing Devil Daggers now feels incredibly useful. The game has a training section that goes through every step of advanced movement, offense, and defense. There is a quick dodge mechanic based on recognizing an enemy’s flashing eyes. You may notice some of the enemy’s weak points, where if you dash into the spawning crystal at the right moment – you instantly kill it and stop it from spawning a bunch of small enemies. More movement options are available for the player, there’s now a dash mechanic, and the only thing we are missing is a grappling hook. And not everything is explained. There are still other strategies and enemies to discover.
Much like Doom Eternal, the game has become incredibly more vertical. You have a double-daggered jump shooting the shotgun blast twice at the ground and then air dash and bounce in midair for the second time.
Game Visuals and Mechanics
Visually it’s going to take some time to get used to, just looking at it can be not easy. But it all starts to work once you’re focused and know what you are doing. Make sure you play the training mode first because there is so much to learn. Killing enemies drop red orbs. You’ll pull them in if you stop firing, making your projectile stronger. It degrades as you use it, and you’ll need to pull in more. You can also hold the right click to convert orbs into a laser shot instead of absorbing them, which does more damage based on how many orbs you attract. If you aim at the ground, the laser turns into a tracking projectile that can hit multiple enemies. If you shoot a laser at a giant red orb, homing missiles will emerge. A Group of centipedes will regularly spawn in, and if you shoot them, they’ll be stunned.
Indicated by their change in color, you can shoot them more to kill them or keep them in stun. You better kill foes quickly because if they come out of the stun, they’re coming right for you.
You will see that sometimes enemies flash in red on the screen. That’s your rearview, it’s a bit weird at first, but you’ll eventually be able to react to seeing things behind you, which is very helpful. Overall, the game is good at communicating important information to you, not just visually but in the audio department as well. Every action has a clear, distinct sound, so you always know what’s happening. Even approaching the arena’s edge has a sound effect, muffling everything around you, warning you are getting too close.
You will spend some time getting all this memorized, it’s a lot to take in, but you’ll start to rise the leaderboard as you get more comfortable with the controls and strategy. Unlike Devil Daggers, which was time-based, Hyper Demon has you controlling spawns with enemy kills.
Understanding the rhythm of the game helps a lot because you start noticing what’s going to happen next, you can prepare to deal with it like you’re killing an enemy, in a similar rhythm we can shine a light on METAL: Hellsinger and you won’t regret it.
If you own Hyper Demon, there is an amazing replay feature where any player can post a link to their run, and you can watch it live in your own game. That’s a real classic 90s PC feature.
Hyper Demon has a very high recommendation rate, and if you can handle the visual effects, you have to play this one for sure.