Metal: Hellsinger hands-on: First-person demon-slaying, cranked to 11

Enlarge / Blasting demons to the beat has never looked or felt sweeter. Welcome to the drop-D, first-person combat of Metal: Hellsinger.

When video games infuse music, rhythm, and tempo into their action, I'm typically first in line to try them. That's been the case since PaRappa the Rapper kicked and punched its way into my heart in late 1996. Ever since, I've strapped into VR, tested plastic instruments, visited elaborate arcades, and rocked out with the biggest and smallest experiments in the genre.

Through the decades, however, my dream peanut butter-and-chocolate gaming combo has yet to succeed: a first-person rhythm game. The indie roguelike BPM: Bullets Per Minute tried nailing that fusion in 2020 only to falter because, apparently, delivering Doom-like combat to the beat requires a graceful touch.

Hence, I was dubious when another contender to this unclaimed throne, Metal: Hellsinger, was announced as a similar "slay demons to the rhythm of heavy metal" quest. Its developers at Swedish upstart The Outsiders seem to understand that apprehension ahead of its launch on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation by the end of 2022, as they've emerged with the exact hands-on demo needed to put an exclamation point on their pitch. This game isn't just better than BPM. As much as I've loved the modern Doom reboot series, I'm wondering if Metal: Hellsinger might become the most headbang-worthy demon-blasting game ever.