''High Hell'' is a 2017

first-person shooter A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre, video game centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a First person (video games), first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through t ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed by Terri Vellmann and Adam "

Doseone Adam Kidd Drucker (born April 21, 1977), better known by his stage name Doseone, is an American rapper, producer, poet and artist. He is a co-founder of the indie hip hop record label Anticon. He has also been a member of numerous groups in ...

" Drucker and published by

Devolver Digital Devolver Digital, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Austin, Texas, specializing in the publishing of indie games. The company was founded in June 2009 by Nigel Lowrie, Harry Miller, Graeme Struthers, Rick Stults, and Mike Wil ...

for

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

and

macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

. It was released via

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

and

itch.io Itch.io (stylized in all lowercase) is a website for users to host, sell and download indie video games, indie role-playing games, game assets, comics, zines and music. Launched in March 2013 by Leaf Corcoran, the service hosts over 1,000,000 ...

. Both developers had previously collaborated on '' Heavy Bullets'' (with Doseone as a composer); they would later collaborate on '' Sludge Life'' and '' Disc Room''.

Gameplay

High Hell is a

where the player controls an unnamed female

luchador ''Lucha libre'' (, meaning "freestyle wrestling" or literally translated as "free fight") is the term for the style of professional wrestling originating in Mexico. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has develope ...

as she infiltrates a

cartel A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collaborate with each other as well as agreeing not to compete with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. A cartel is an organization formed by producers ...

and massacres its members. The player navigates various levels in the form of linear corridors between buildings, as they shoot enemies in quick succession. A kick attack is available to kick down doors to speed up progress as well as to subdue enemies. The player may also choose to engage in stealth to go unnoticed. One unique feature is that the player only has limited ammunition and cannot reload, forcing the player to complete the level in quick bursts with high accuracy. The game's objectives, aside from defeating enemies, also include saving hostages and burning laundered money.

Reception

{{Video game reviews , MC = 79/100{{cite Metacritic , type=game , id=high-hell , title=High Hell , access-date=2025-05-31 , OC = 76% recommend{{cite web , url=https://opencritic.com/game/5052/high-hell , title=High Hell Reviews , work=

OpenCritic OpenCritic is a review aggregation website for video games. OpenCritic lists reviews from critics across multiple video game publications for the games listed on the site. The website then generates a numeric score by averaging all of the numeri ...

, access-date=2025-05-31 , archive-date=March 21, 2025 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250321211819/https://opencritic.com/game/5052/high-hell , url-status=live , Destruct = 8/10{{Cite web , last=Moyse , first=Chris , date=2017-10-23 , title=Review: High Hell , url=https://www.destructoid.com/reviews/review-high-hell/ , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250510032950/https://www.destructoid.com/reviews/review-high-hell/ , archive-date=2025-05-10 , access-date=2025-05-10 , website=Destructoid , language=en-US , VB = 80/100{{Cite web , last=Chan , first=Stephanie , date=2017-10-24 , title=High Hell review — a gleeful absurd heist against the devil himself , url=https://venturebeat.com/pc-gaming/high-hell-review-a-gleeful-absurd-heist-against-the-devil-himself/ , access-date=2025-05-10 , website=VentureBeat , language=en-US ''High Hell'' received "generally favorable" reviews, according to

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

determined that 76% of critics recommend the game. Chris Moyse of

Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017 and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. Histor ...

praised its unique and fast-paced gameplay and noting that its intensity overcame the game's extremely short length. Stephanie Chan of

VentureBeat ''VentureBeat'' is an American technology website headquartered in San Francisco, California. ''VentureBeat'' is a tech news source that publishes news, analysis, long-form features, interviews, and videos. The ''VentureBeat'' company was fou ...

noted its chaotic gameplay and absurdist humor to be the game's greatest strengths.

References

External links

Official website
2017 video games Devolver Digital games First-person shooters Indie games MacOS games Organized crime video games Single-player video games Video games featuring female protagonists Video games developed in Brazil Video games developed in the United States Video games with cel-shaded animation Windows games