Hell Clock is an exceptionally good Hades-like, borrowing elements from Supergiant’s masterpiece as well as from other similar titles like Curse of the Dead Gods. The main difference is that it’s almost entirely ranged, as you play as Pajeu, a gunslinger who returns to the site of the legendary (and real life) Canudos Massacre, which took place during the short-lived but horrific War of Canudos in 1896. Pajeu, having witnessed the atrocities, has returned to the town to lay down his own brand of vengeance and wipe out the twisted evil that continues to haunt it. In Hell Clock: Cursed War, Rogue Snail have introduced a fourth act that shows Pajeu’s backstory, as well as a host of other additions.
Playing this on PS5 for the first time it’s hard to know which parts are Cursed War and which parts have just been added in one of Rogue Snail’s many updates. The dev has been super supportive of the game since launch, adding in extra modes, new enemies, tighter boss fights, and new systems like the crafting and improved skill trees.
The basic loop revolves around the titular Hell Clock, which at the game’s outset gives Pajeu just seven minutes to explore the bowels of the town. When the seven minutes expires, Pajeu dies and is resurrected in the town, ready to increase his abilities and try again. The literal ticking clock mechanic works really well, giving you a sense of urgency and forcing efficiency, rather than haste.
There are now more ways to increase the time you have, and it’s easier to extend the starting countdown, which means it won’t be long before you’re spending 15 minutes in a run, then longer and longer. You will have to replay the whole run each time, but as you get faster, more dangerous, and develop the ability to take more hits and boost your time, you’ll naturally get further. It’s a superb progression system bolstered by the various upgrades you can unlock.
Relics give you permanent buffs to multiple stats and abilities, but you have limited space to slot them in. You earn special shards with which to buy better gear, or you can find it in chests during runs. There’s also a skill tree, that lets you boost your stats permanently, or unlock more healing items, faster movement speed, and a longer base time. Finally you have the hotbar skills, which you’ll unlock more of as you progress through the four story chapters.
While you will find that a lot of success comes down to how lucky your drops are, the constant progression means you never feel you’re not achieving something. With two extra difficulty modes, you’ll need to pay attention to your builds, pump up your numbers, and pay attention to the new crafting system. Hell Clock: Cursed War is frothing with challenge if that’s what you’re looking for.
With new skills and buffs, Cursed War adds new ways to min/max your build. You’ll unlock a choice of three skill boots with each level you gain, much like in Hades, with new ones added that will improve your skills or add elemental damage modifiers to them, altering the way you play.
If you’re new to Hell Clock for the PS5 release, you’ll find a tightly crafted experience that benefits from several meaty updates before you even reach the 4th Act. A whopping ten new environments deepen the variety of locales, though such is the prevailing theme that newcomers won’t know the difference.
Once you’re done with the main game you can unlock Ascension mode, which is similar to Diablo’s Adventure Mode where you can just play for the sake of it, taking on harder and harder challenges for rarer, more powerful loot. The addition of Nightmare Portals throughout the campaign adds another layer of challenge and reward, as you’ll receive huge booms for completing Nightmare milestones such as “closing 3 portals” across multiple runs.
While it still feels better as a bite-sized time-killer, Hell Clock: Cursed War edges the experience closer to the Diablo or PoE side of the ARPG spectrum, increasing loot rewards and grindability over the allure of repeated roguelike runs. It’s still more of the former at heart, but Hell Clock: Cursed War offers more of a spread for everyone now, and I hope it will attract more fans as a result.
