Hell Clock Review
Over 25,000 men, women and children were massacred in the War of Canudos between 1896 and 1897, a dark piece of Brazilian history that most are unaware of.
With the breakout success of Hades, it was an inevitability that many would try to duplicate the formula. Although many have tried, none have truly succeeded is emulating what made it special in the first place. This means more than just adding rogue-like mechanics, it means crafting an addictive gameplay loop, but equally and if not more important, pairing it with an engaging story.
Hell Clock combines and executes flawlessly on two of the most addictive genres of gaming: ARPG’s and Roguelikes. However, just like Hades, the most addictive thing about Hell Clock is the story that keeps you hanging on for new morsels of narrative.
Love letter to Diablo and PAth of Exile
In the late 1800’s famine and drought had people looking for salvation as they followed the counsellor and built the settlement of Canudos. The counsellor was known for believing that to fix the problems, radical change was needed in Brazil. Threatened by this, the government sent the military four different times and eventually massacred 25,000 men, women and children. You play as a warrior and clock maker fighting to rescue the soul of the counsellor deep within the pits of Hell over the course of three acts.
The campaign of Hell Clock follows a more traditional rogue”lite” formula, where you gain meta-progression between runs and get incrementally stronger. There is also an endgame mode called “Ascension” that follows a more traditional rogue”like” formula. However, this review will only be focusing on the campaign as Ascension is in beta form.
One of the most unique gameplay aspects of Hell Clock is that each run begins with 7 minutes and when it’s over, you go back to the start. It’s fairly implemented as it stops during pauses, boss fights and special encounters. There are accessibility options if you want to turn off the clock, but this timer adds a sense of urgency unfamiliar to the genre. You need to weigh out the risks of venturing down a corridor in hopes of better loot and farming experience vs being as efficient as possible. You will also have the ability to unlock nodes on the skill tree that will add more time to the timer, which still keep the sense of urgency, but adds a little forgiveness and feels earned.
Hell Clock features a three act campaign and after grinding for about 5-6 hours in the first act, I was starting to feel a sense of repetition and doubts began to creep in about how the rest of the experience might go. In the first act, you need to descend into hell by entering the cellar in a very nice wink to Diablo. Once in the cellar, you will descend through 18 Floors and three biomes. I was very concerned that there wasn’t enough enemy variety, environment variation, the speed at which I was unlocking new spells, and even the score was beginning to feel slightly monotonous.
Then I defeated the final boss of Act 1 and all of those fears went out the window. I was greeted with all new enemies, drastically different environments with new musical compositions, and a brand new set of skills to learn at a very low cost. I was also concerned that like a traditional roguelite, I would have to start from square one every single time, but once you beat the first act, you always begin from the start of the second act. In the blink of an eye, Hell Clock felt like a new game with a new rewarding challenge to overcome.
There is a lot to like about Hell Clock, but one of the most underrated things about it was unlike some ARPG’s, you are never able to put Hell Clock into autopilot because of the near perfect difficulty curve. You never feel overpowered and at the very moment you might encounter a power surge with one of the in run blessings, some random enemy will happily introduce you to humility requiring caution in combat at all time.
All of this pacing is researched and designed. Rogue Snail discovered that the satisfying feeling of power has nothing to do with difficulty and everything to do with pacing. In the words of the developers “if you are constantly feeling stronger than the enemies, the game is boring and if you are constantly feeling weaker than the enemies, the game is also boring”
It’s the exact same reason that FROMSOFTWARE and souls-like games a highly revered. They imbue the player with a sense of reward and accomplishment as you need to overcome hurdles and challenges that at one point seem impossible. These struggles are constant within Hell Clock as you reach a new biome, boss, but they can also happen when you encounter a new enemy type and underestimate their strength.
CRITICISMS
Hell Clock is a bold game with bolder ambitions from a small team and as such there’s going to have to be some concessions. The biggest issue that I have with Hell Clock at launch is that performance on Steam Deck isn’t great. On average, the frame rate usually floats in the mid 30’s, but during very hectic areas, especially the further you go into the second and third act, performance can take a dip into the low 20’s and even high teens at times. Obviously, closer to 60 would be ideal, and even games like Path of Exile, which Hell Clock is modelled after and looks much more demanding can run in the high 50’s consistently on Steam Deck.
Hell Clock is currently rated as “playable”, but the good news is that the devs are aware and are hoping to clean up performance and get Hell Clock “verified” on Steam Deck sooner than later which would be great because Hell Clock is a perfect fit on Steam Deck when it’s working.
Hell Clock features Brazilian and English voice acting. Although I don’t speak Brazilian, it conveys a lot more emotion through the tone it’s delivered in. The English voice acting by comparison feels extremely stiff. There are a few performances throughout that are good, but those are the exceptions and not the rule.
There are also a few environmental problems worth noting. During hectic battles, where the whole run hangs in the balance, you can sometimes get trapped on something small that you can’t see. The clockmaker feels too stiff and I always wanted to have some type of dodge or roll on cooldown that would have increased the movement strategy. In terms of environments, dungeons are procedurally generated, but the layouts never felt overly fresh.
The roadmap over the next six months includes a crafting system, new character animations, improved dungeon generation, and a paid expansion coming in Q1 2026. The Cursed War will feature a fourth act for the campaign including new biomes, bosses, skills and relics. It sounds like two of my biggest criticisms are already on the roadmap with improved dungeon generation and it’s safe to assume that new character animation includes something like a dodge.
Is hell Clock Worth it?
If you love ARPG’s such as Path of Exile or Diablo and Rogue-likes such as Hades, you are going to love Hell Clock because it combines the best of both worlds. Pillaging the dungeons looking for loot and fine tuning your gear between runs is addictive, but just like Hades, Hell Clock strikes a perfect balance between narrative and gameplay.
