Mike Mignola’s Hellboy is one of the coolest, most badass comic book heroes I’ve ever read. The stories dive headfirst into the occult and macabre, while managing to bring to life a ton of interesting characters at the same time. Knowing this is an original story set within the world of Hellboy, I was so excited to play, especially with the titular protagonist being voiced by the late, great Lance Reddick. There’s a lot to like about Hellboy Web of Wyrd, and the roguelike brawler has a great sense of progression, even if the combat is sluggish and unresponsive at times.

Set inside the mysterious Butterfly House, Hellboy must travel to a plain of existence known as the Wyrd, where reality blurs with folklore, and monsters of all shapes and sizes lurk around every corner. Punches feel incredibly impactful, and when you unleash a strong blow to the enemy, you feel it in the vibrations of the controller. What takes a while to get used to is how slow it feels, especially when chaining together combos with your fist. The speed at which you turn to another enemy, or try and get out the way affects the damage you receive because it lacks crisp responsiveness, especially when faced with multiple enemies.

The camera also pans around at a snail’s pace, making it frustrating in smaller areas. I also had times when the environment blocked my view, meaning I was throwing punches without seeing anything at all. It’s a shame because there’s a lot of great ideas that are squandered with some dodgy camera angles and plodding combat. When you start to get familiar with the speed at which fighting happens, you find a rhythm that begins to feel familiar, but it would have been so much better if there was a better pace when in the middle of a fist fight.

You also have a gun at your disposal, with more unlocking later on. These can help to break down the shields of enemies so that the real damage can take place, however, the real fun comes from using the environment to slow, stun, and hurt the creatures you face. Punching enemies into walls or crumbling pillars can stun them, lining up a big punch where the screen turns red and a cool animation occurs. You can also throw parts of the environments at the monsters to do a little more damage as well. When you do take damage, you’ll eventually unlock your ‘Payback’ move, which is essentially a powerful strike or grapple that inflicts a lot more damage than a standard strike.

Charms can also be unlocked that are activated after a short cooldown, and they help you do everything from push creatures away to locking them in place. Like your enemies, you also have a shield that can be broken down, and by blocking, they can’t remove your health, until the shield has been worn away. Perfect dodges and blocks can slow down the action, letting you get in position to deliver an important punch, and you can also duck to counter a monster’s moves. There’s a surprising level of strategy in a fight, and minus the issues, Hellboy Web of Wyrd has some good combat that always throws in a challenge.

Being a roguelike, each run can provide you with Blessings that have a number of benefits depending on which ones you choose. Some will give you extra health or Wyrd Threads (used for unlocking lore and checkpoints); others will provide you with extra bullets or more efficient charms; while others reinforce your toughness or make either your fist, charm, or gun more effective. By defeating the tougher enemies and bosses, you’ll acquire Wyrd Shards that can then be used to unlock new weapons and charms, or improve your toughness, add a revive to your playthrough, and more.

The different worlds inside the Wyrd reflect real places with a twist, be it sunny Italian towns, murky Scottish forests, or underground train stations. The art style is faithful to the comics, and looks fantastic with each new location, and the characters you meet all have that familiarity as well. The Butterfly House acts as the hub between your runs in the Wyrd, and there’re plenty of people to chat to, such as Mads and Benson who help make sense of the lore you find, and Lucky, the guy you rescue in the prologue. As the story unfolds around the mysterious house and its creator, Pasquale Deneveaux, I was always interested to learn more.

Hellboy Web of Wyrd has some really good story moments, and despite some clunky combat, the roguelike elements keep you wanting to play more. It’s at its worst when multiple enemies are on screen because it’s much harder to switch between targets and counter attacks, as I often found the blocking wasn’t as responsive as it could be, but there’s still a good game at its core. If you’re a fan of Hellboy, or even great stories centered around the occult, this is definitely one you should try.

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