When comic books are made into video games, it’s common for the result to be a side-scrolling brawler or something similar. Upstream Arcade went in a slightly different, and unexpected, direction with Hellboy Web of Wyrd, which is based on Mike Mignola and Dark Horse Comics’ hero. Instead of making something fast, flashy and ‘arcadey,’ they decided to create a roguelike brawler. The result is an okay game that won’t set the world on fire, but will interest a certain sect of gamers.
Built in 1962, the Butterfly House is more than just a large estate. It’s a gateway to the Wyrd; a different dimension where space mimics the house itself. It’s here where Hellboy finds himself, and where the game’s action takes place. You see, the Wyrd is somewhere with different pathways and multiple levels, allowing one to progress further and further into itself. The result is a game where you fight enemies as you work your way through each level, choosing different buffs and blessings along the way.
There’s no denying that Hellboy Web of Wyrd is a repetitive game. Its main setting is very repetitive, and the fighting isn’t as flashy as something you’d find in a game like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. The variety just isn’t here in comparison to titles like that, but they’re different types of brawlers. In that game, lots of enemies come at you and you have a number of moves at your disposal, complete with unrestricted movement. Here, there’s a lot of weight to the character of Hellboy, and he doesn’t move very quickly, or offer a lot in the way of freedom of movement.
Hellboy truly does have a lot of weight herein, and that’s for the better and worse. He moves like a tank, and the goal is to try to enter combat one-on-one against bigger enemies. This results in a core gameplay loop where you’re trying to punch, block and dodge at the right times, as these enemies truly pack a punch even though they’re not bosses. Parrying is also important, because it can be the difference between defeating a hulking enemy or falling victim to their attacks.
When you walk through the Wyrd, you’ll see a mixture of these big, hulking, enemies and smaller ones. The latter are pretty easy fodder, and can be taken down in one punch, providing some health bonuses when they are. It’s the big guys, and the bosses, you really need to worry about, although the little ones can sneak in a hit or two if you don’t pay them any attention.
The combat is slow, methodical and heavy. You’re not going to pull off insane combos, or see anything too flashy. You’re trying to survive each fight, and hoping that they’re all one-on-one. Bonuses can be had for knocking a foe into a wall, or a column, or throwing a piece of rubble at them. After all, the Wyrd looks like a castle that’s falling apart. Meanwhile, one will fill a meter during play, and unleashing it will allow for a special attack that hits baddies much harder than Hellboy’s basic and regular heavy punches.
As you progress, you’ll come across breakable objects, in-game currency, and blessings. The latter give you boosts, by making enemies drop more health items, increasing Hellboy’s strength or his health, and so forth. You can often pick between a couple, allowing for player choice and freedom depending on how you want to build your character. However, being that this is a roguelike, death means going back to the beginning and losing certain things.
Obviously, the goal is to get as far into the Wyrd as possible. Dying sets you back a lot. It doesn’t help that this is a challenging game. As such, only those who truly enjoy this type of brawler, and like repeating sections of games in order to get better and do better, need apply.
As you complete runs, you’ll unlock certain things and improve Hellboy. New areas will also become available within the aged Butterfly House, including an armory, somewhere to store collectibles and more. Hellboy eventually gets other weapons, too, including his trademark gun. Whether this happens will, of course, depend on how you do and how good you are at this game. I honestly wasn’t very good, and didn’t make it as far as I’d hoped. I got to a boss who I thought I’d almost killed — with very little health of my own to spare — when he all of a sudden regenerated his whole health bar and killed me easily. I didn’t get to just take him on again, because I had to go back to the Butterfly House after losing my tether with the Wyrd. Then, I had to start over from the beginning of the Wyrd, having lost my currency and maybe more.
While inside of the Butterfly House, it’s possible to talk to different allies who’ll aid you on your quest so long as you bring things back to them. There’s the mission commander, the armory, a communications expert and more. Talking to each one will help give you an idea of what to do, and will progress the story such as it is.
I wish that I would’ve been able to get further into this game, but it’s just not something I’m good at, or that I really enjoy playing. I found that I had to force myself to play more, and never felt the urge to jump in and try again. Then again, I normally avoid all roguelikes and Soulsbores, because I’m just not that into losing progress, dying tons of times, or games that are difficult just for the sake of being difficult. However, I received a code, wanted to give this one a fair shot and like Hellboy.
As the screenshots complementing this review show, Hellboy Web of Wyrd is a pretty unique looking game. Instead of creating their own art style, or going the easy route, Upstream Arcade chose to make the game look and play like a moving comic. Thus, the art style and animations are all true to what you see in the comics. Of course, those aren’t animated, but the game moves and plays as you’d expect a moving comic to. This art style looks quite nice, and creates a cool aesthetic. It does, however, make things a bit slower than normal in terms of animation, moves, etc. Then again, there’s nothing fast about the combat herein.
There is voice acting to be found here, and all of the important players are fully voiced. The acting is pretty good — especially Lance Reddick as Hellboy, himself — and the writing is both cryptic and solid. Sometimes you’ll meet strange characters whose motives and identities won’t be revealed until later, if you make it that far. Meanwhile, the sound effects and music are both complementary and good. The game sounds as you’d expect a brawler like this too, and there’s lots of oomph there.
At the end of the day, Hellboy Web of Wyrd just isn’t my type of game, and also isn’t all that good. I gave it a shot, and respect it for what it tries to do, but I can’t see myself wanting to play it anymore. It can be overly challenging, and is quite methodical. Thus, only those who like this type of experience need apply. I doubt this will win over a casual gamer, or just any Hellboy fan.
This review is based on the PlayStation 5 version of the game, which we were provided.