There was a time when heavy metal music was stigmatised as being associated with Satanic worship and whatnot. That started near enough at its advent, and continued until… well, it still does. Whilst some try and steer away from the negative connotations, others embrace. See the likes of Brutal Legend, Metal: Hellsinger and now, Devil Jam.
Embracing the whole “deal with the devil” concept to a literal degree, Devil Jam is a tale of riffs and rampage through the underworld. Yet much like metal forever being accused of imitation, Devil Jam has also unabashedly jumped on another popular bandwagon.
Yes, we’re doing the Vampire Survivors/Hades moshpit mash-up again.
Always Read The Fine Print
Our story, or adventure, or lineup if you want to get all thematic, follows Falco, a guitarist in a band called Devil Jam. Well, I assume that’s their name, it’s on their drum skin. Unfortunately for Falco and his band, they didn’t read the small print on their contract. You know, the bit that says they’ve sold their souls to the devil. How very rock and roll.
Armed with an axe (in the metaphorical guitar sense), our boy Falco must work with the Devil and take on Death. Apparently those two haven’t been seeing red eye to eye socket lately, and as such, we’re the middle man. That’s right, the contract the Devil owns makes him the Hell version of Simon Cowell: do my bidding because I own you. Oh, just like regular Simon Cowell, I suppose.
With that in mind, Falco rhythmically rocks and rolls around, likely dies (or un-dies) and then he gets to do it all again. Presumably whilst holding his fingers in a horns-like position and strumming relentlessly until he gets heavy metal version of Dupuytren’s contracture.
Rock ‘Em Dead
What with Hades kick-starting the new wave of narrative rogues, at least in my limited opinion, and Vampire Survivors being more popular than nu metal, the collaboration was inevitable. With the former, we’ve got the story, the reason behind Falco’s Faustian futilities in taking on Death.
Whereas with the latter, we have that slightly-isometric, arena-based kite-a-thon that is the core gameplay. Falco will run, dash and generally avoid nasties whilst blasting them with his guitar. Firing is automatic, all the player has to do is keep out of the way and pick up experience points from fallen beasts.
I was playing with controller, but the tenet is the same: unlike Vampire Survivors, our boy can aim. So you can add “twinstick shooter” on its categories too, if you want to oversell it.
Here Comes The Boon
Back to the Hades comparison, Devil Jam employs a similar benefit system. Upon reaching new levels, personified sins like Lust and a cat-like variant of Cerberus-as-Lust will pop up from time to time. Again, these boons offered all range from more projectiles, area-of-effect blasts, mythical boomerang-style attacks and everything in between.
What I did like is, if you look at the pic before this, there’s a grid at the bottom of the screen. This is actually a 4/4 beat (yeah I know one musical term, check me out). Unlike Vampire’s random cooldowns and such, Devil Jam allows players to time their attacks.
So you could put an AoE on the first beat, allow a beat to skip, then pop a fireball in there on the third. This may sound complicated, but it’s not. It allows for players to mix up attack patterns on each run. Other characters offer buffs that affects the grid, Triple Triad style (I don’t play many in-game card games), granting boosts to any it reaches.
Personally, I think it’s a neat little twist. It gave me Metal Hellsinger vibes: jamming out to the beat and rhythmically kicking ass at the same time.
As Hot As Hell
As may be obvious, Devil Jam is a very good looking game. Again, in the wake of Hades, the bright and colourful art style is back in fashion. Devil Jam has essentially copied been inspired by it, with the sins looking as lively as their Greek counterpart.
The animations to Falco are a neat touch too. He strums according to what’s playing, as well as skipping along as if he were on stage. Even the dash is a neat little knee slide, as if he’s nailing a solo and is properly getting his rock on.#
The music is also appropriate enough, if a little milder than what I’d usually listen to. But again, it’s almost diegetic enough that it applies to the game. It’s easy to get lost in the beat and watch Falco rock out, often times forgetting to move from the hordes bearing down on him.
Oh Right, The Horns And Such
As is often the case with these devlish deals, there’s a caveat with this one too. The Devil, notorious for mixing things up on a whim, will occasionally pop up with his own “perks”. Whereas everyone else likes to see Falco rock out, the Devil is determined to mess with the playback.
Unlike other boons, ol’ Hipster McGoatbeard will offer a tainted one. One that, unfortunately, cannot be passed on. Literally, you can’t just ignore him and carry on throwing the horns and fireballs at demons.
Some of them aren’t too bad, like taking a dip in health to add a boost to Falco’s luck. Which may not sound like much, but it means more critical attack chances. More critical hits means enemies die quicker, which means less chance of being overwhelmed.
Others, however, aren’t as subtly friendly. Some are literally “This will lower your defence but boost attack power slightly”, or vice versa. That’s the problem with these kind of deals, I suppose…
Rock For Ages
And that… is Devil Jam. I’d love to offer more of a VIP package for the show, but what you see is what you get. Don’t get me wrong, it’s enjoyable enough if you like the aforementioned games and their ilk. But unlike the deep-rooted narrative that some bring, this is as shallow as Axl Rose’s interest in the fans.
As you progress, there’ll be new characters in the Devil’s house to chat to. There are challenges too, such as killing X amount of a certain type of enemy, that kind of thing. Again, if players enjoy that kind of grind, rock on.
And whilst I did enjoy the implemented music angle, there isn’t enough to keep me coming back to it. The rock here is very… royalty-free, to put it politely. I get that musical tastes vary, but for me, this is pretty milquetoast. Hellsinger was more my style, that encouraged me more to keep playing than this did.
If you want something to spice up the arcade sounds of Vampire Survivors, you’ll find it here. Rocking through Hell to the rythym is, at the end of the day, fun. It’s just not got that substance for me that provokes an encore.
Devil Jam is available now on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series S|X and Pc via Steam (review platform).
Developer: Rogueside
Publisher: Rogueside