SEUM: Speedrunners from Hell Demo

Speedrunning is not a new trend in video games, especially not when it comes to platformers. Gamers have been doing it for ages, mainly because it’s so much fun to try and beat the game as quickly as possible. Some even make use of glitches and exploits in order to bypass entire sections, which is why people are able to finish games like Half-Life 2 in under two hours.

SEUM: Speedrunners from Hell is a platformer that forces you to go as quickly as possible because there’s no alternative. Hence, you either navigate the levels at the speed of light, or you have to take it from the top until you make it to the finish line before the timer runs out. Naturally, the stages get tougher and tougher as you manage to complete them, and there’s always the possibility to replay them in order to obtain a better score.

There’s not much of a story behind the game, and it frankly doesn’t need one in order to provide the players with hours upon hours of fun. As such, your goal is to complete a series of challenges or your soul rots in hell. Everything about the game is designed to be quick and responsive, including the controls and the interface, which is actually barely present.

The gameplay mechanics get more complex later on as well, which means that your character has to use various special abilities in order to get past certain obstacles. Whether you have to use fireballs to destroy objects or teleport over gaps, every ability is pretty intuitive and very useful if you have a quick hand. On the other hand, it might take longer for newbies to get accustomed to the incredibly fast pace.

The level design is very tricky most of the time, because it only takes a slight mouse movement or hesitation to miss the platform and fall into spikes or boiling lava. On the other hand, the fast pace makes it easy to employ daring strategies when it comes to obtaining a global high score. The game looks more than decent, even if the actual graphics get a little repetitive after a while.

In the end, SEUM: Speedrunners from Hell can easily occupy a few hours of your day without you even noticing, especially if you enjoy fast-paced platforms. On the other hand, it might not appeal to new players.