Now, I love me some monster of the week television, from Twilight Zone to Star Trek and X-Files. It keeps things fresh, and usually can still support a background ongoing plot arc while letting writers go nuts creatively. Hellsign is looking to capitalize on our long standing affinity for creature feature television shows by taking inspiration from and modeling their game after the shows we love. Rather than being the Chosen One on a linear quest to take down the Big Bad, HellSign revels in the thrill of the hunt, as though you're just someone who's doing their job - albeit a particularly dangerous one.
Adopting an open-ended mission structure, you take on procedurally-generated contracts around the city in whatever order they please. Just like an episode of your favorite monster of the week show, you'll then have to investigate the disturbance, collect as much information as possible, load up on equipment, and take down the threat, all before hitting the streets and identifying the next bounty to bag. With this tight gameplay loop at its core, players are immediately familiar with what needs to be done, but the how is where HellSign's encounter engine and love for its inspirations aims to offer up some tense hunts and keep gamers guessing.
Pete Skyking from Ballistic Interactive talked a little bit about the inspiration behind their title:
"As a supernatural lover myself, the monster of the week genre is particularly interesting because of it's 'unknown' element. You never know what to expect, what you will encounter, and what might happen at any given time. Couple this with some heavy inspirations from games such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Silent Hill, Dark Souls and more, and the end result is HellSign!"
HellSign lands on Steam Early Access November 7, 2018,
