After playing Hell Maiden’s demo earlier this year, I was greatly intrigued. I couldn’t help but be enthralled by the idea of a game-based sequel to Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy epic. Now, having played the first chunk of its Early Access version, I’m impressed, but also concerned.

Before we get to my concerns, let’s start with the basics. Hell Maiden puts you in the role of a female Dante, who arrives back at the start of her original journey, with no memories of what has transpired. She is led by Beatrice, who tells her she must return to Paradiso to meet her. She meets Virgil, whom she has no memory of, and the two begin to set out on their new adventure.

Each circle of hell is set to be a challenge for Dante and the poets of Antiquity to overcome. So far, there are only two circles of Hell to master: Limbo and Lust. However, the difficulty gap between the two is steep, which is concerning due to how many circles are left. Of course, there will likely be a lot of rebalancing done between now and the 1.0 release, but at this current stage it definitely feels like a sharp contrast once you master Limbo’s challenges and move on to Lust, only to be utterly melted.

Gameplay is a mix between a Bullet Heaven and a Deckbuilder. By killing enemies that come at you in waves, you collect experience. By leveling, you either get charms (which provide passive effects) or cards. Cards can come in a variety of effects, such as new weapons or ways to augment your weapons. You can only hold 4 weapons in total, and each weapon can only have 3 augmentations equipped to it. However, as you level, you can merge cards that are alike in order to increase their bonuses.

There are currently over 40 abilities to mix and match, along with 4 poets to befriend. The poets serve as your “weapons”, as each poet has a main weapon card, 4 abilities, and then a variety of augments, allowing for a huge amount of customization and build variety. Some builds are less useful than others, such as status effects like burn or poison, which currently feel undertuned.

This isn’t helped by the fact that the first boss has a phase that you merely have to survive. Annoyingly, even if you “kill” her, if you don’t have enough health to dodge her attacks in the second phase, you’ll lose anyway. The offset of this is that you gain a meta-progression currency as you play, which allows you to increase starting stats. I don’t think the rate at which you gain the currency is quite high enough yet, but the idea is there.

The story, atmosphere, and visual design of Hell Maiden are fantastic. The game has beautiful pixel art, with hand-drawn animated cutscenes here and there that give it the feel of a Magical Girl anime. It wouldn’t feel out of place on a Saturday Morning anime block, in fact. The soundtrack is interesting too. I found myself bopping along instead of turning on my own music. Also, most of the dialogue and story content is voiced, which helps.

Overall, if you are looking for a new Bullet Heaven that has something new to bring to the table, I think Hell Maiden is a great one to look into. While there are some rebalancing issues here and there, I think it definitely has potential to become a hit.

A PC Early Access preview copy of Hell Maiden was provided by AstralShift for the purposes of this preview.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!