It’s been said before that I’m a simple kind of man. Give me a beat to nod to, possibly something to strum, add a few words to scream and I’m in my happy place. I’ve been a fan of alternative and metal since I was a kid, so to add this to a gaming genre that I’m already a lover of and you’ve got yourself one hell of a potentially potent mix.
Devil Jam takes a hard rock aesthetic and slams it together with a rogue-like to create something that carves its own niche in what is an admittedly saturated genre. In this bastard child of Vampire Survivors and Hades, you’ll initially take on the hordes of hell as Falco, a guitarist whose life was snatched away too early and has ended up making a deal with the Devil himself to kill Death and thus be restored to a life of fame and fortune. Whether you succeed or fail, narrative is fed to you between each run, in cutscenes reminiscent of Supergiant Game’s Hades, even down to the character sprites. Whilst there’s nothing inherently wrong with the writing, it lacks a little in character depth. I know that the genre is more about the gameplay, but it would have been nice to see a little more growth between our motley crew as you spend more time together between bouts of demon-slaying.
Sonically and graphically, Devil Jam is solid if a little unremarkable. I’d have loved to have heard a licensed soundtrack from the bands referenced throughout the game but we instead have a more generic collection of tracks that are more “covers band down the local” than “sold out stadium tour”.
On to the headline act, Devil Jam handles well and plays like a dream. Whilst it would have been easy to play the greatest hits from other survivor-likes, it’s here that we see something more distinctive in Devil Jam’s style. As you might expect, you’ll earn experience points as you battle through wave after wave of enemy bats, slimes and giant men with a penchant for Kiss-esque make-up on a seemingly endless map. Predictably, you’ll spend these points on new abilities to carve through the horde, but here’s where things get a little spicier. Each attack will be fired off in turn as a beat passes over a 3×4 grid that’s not unlike the fretboard of a guitar, thus where you place your ability on this grid can start synergies with other items within the grid. Clever, eh?
Each passing level you gain will have you chatting to the Sins, representations of the Deadly variety and choosing which character boosting traits to take from them. A little bit of banter and maybe a re-roll of which character you’d like to take the abilities from, (which is where your build planning skills come into play), and you’ll be choosing from three offered powers. With names taken from various song titles and lyrics such as Aqua Regia, Blow Me Away and Antichrist Superstar (ten points if you can name the band references), you’ll choose from passive abilities and sub-weapons, with each choice bolstering your arsenal even further. The passives may also affect other items around them in the grid, some in horizontal or vertical proximity, others in more elaborate shapes around them. It’s here that you can play around with what you want to buff and when, with more tactical placement of each paying off in dividends as you face harder and more numerous enemies with every passing second.
With each standard run lasting around 20 minutes, you’ll have each attempt broken up into three stages by facing mini-bosses, as you are caged into a smaller area of the normally expansive maps. These will test your abilities to dodge and weave as well as act as a DPS check, as if you’ve spread your abilities a little too thin rather than committing to a specific build, these battles can go on for quite a while. If you’ve taken the time to be a little more careful with your power placement, you’ll be demolishing these more testing enemies in no time, with in-game challenges set to beat them in a given time-limit.
If you find that you are beating these bigger beasts easily, it probably means that you will absolutely wipe the floor with the regular minions in the seven or so minutes between bosses. Whilst this power fantasy is great in itself, with flames, arrows, hearts and explosions decimating your foes in an ever-changing landscape of destruction, it offers an opportunity to level up even further before taking on another challenging encounter, culminating with taking on the Grim Reaper himself.
Of course, Death is never the end and you’ll find yourself going on run after run, spending your accumulated currency in the shop between attempts, bettering your base stats or opening up even more attacks and passive abilities. Add to this the ability to add special markers on the map such as campfires for health boosts or coffers full of extra gold and there’s always a reason to jump in for just one more go.
With the aforementioned challenges also opening up as you progress, some to beat a given time limit or to collect a pre-determined amount of health pickups, beat a certain amount of enemies or level up a power to its limit, there’s always plenty to chip away at. That’s not even mentioning the option of further playable characters with unique weapons and differing playstyles, offering even more options for creative builds.
With plenty to unlock and multiple difficulties to battle your way through, Devil Jam is great fun and is certainly worth a look for fans of the genre. If you’ve never been bitten by the survivor-like bug previously, I’m not sure that this will be enough to change your mind but it’s a solid entry into a packed market that offers just enough flair to stand out from the crowd.
