99 Levels to Hell Demo

Hell is the kind of place no one really wants to talk about, but seems to surface a lot in a variety of forms, especially in the realm of art. Entire books have been written about it, you can watch hundreds of movies depicting places that are actually metaphors for hell, and play just as many video games taking place in Satan’s backyard.

99 Levels to Hell is part platformer, part roguelike and part shooter, with a dash of RPG to even things out. In fact, it is pretty difficult to tell exactly what the game tries to be, but that shouldn’t stop you from having fun with it. All you need to know is that top hats and shotguns are involved, as well as a variety of monsters and the usual fiery pits of eternal damnation that usually accompany hell.

The game’s story is more or less invisible to the naked eye, but you can barely discern it even if you decide to look a bit closer. There are multiple characters to choose from, each one of which has a specific look and gameplay style. Your final goal in the game is to unlock all the levels and beat the bosses waiting for you at the end of each one, but the journey is the most entertaining part.

Since this is mostly a roguelike experience, you should be prepared to deal with permadeath and the usual high difficulty level. As a bonus, the stages are always randomly generated, although they are not complicated enough for this thing to show very well. In fact, the environments get repetitive rather quickly, which is not something you want to happen in a game that should theoretically keep you busy for weeks.

The other attractive prospects are the possibility to upgrade your weapons and visit a variety of hidden rooms, including underground casinos and shops to purchase items. Upgrade-wise, you can get some really neat weapons with the right amount of cash, but the selection of items is a tad too restrained to make you feel like the time spent gathering the money was worth it.

Although 99 Levels to Hell has some interesting concepts that can really catch your attention for a while, the game loses its appeal after you see that things start to repeat themselves rather quickly. Hence, it’s up to you whether you take the risk or not.