[Click here to start from the first progress log]

You know, yesterday I was convinced that I’d never be able to make it to the third boss, much less finish all of the levels. In fact, when I started doing better today, it was easy to assume that it was the result of my weapons somehow doing more damage. “You sneaky developers,” I thought to myself, “hiding a progression system in a game that supposedly doesn’t have one.” It was only when I went back and checked my videos from last time that it became apparent that the weapons were doing the exact same amount of damage as before. That means that I just ran through all of Hellmut’s levels twice in a row despite the difficulty being exactly as punishing as it was in the last progress log. I suppose that speaks to a kind of quiet brilliance as far as this game’s difficulty is concerned, though there are still one or two problems here that are holding Hellmut back and resulting in cheap deaths.

Let’s get the negatives out of the way first

Apart from getting hit the second you come out of a shop portal (which happened again), there are two minor changes that could make Hellmut a more solid experience. The first is easing up on how far the camera moves in the direction you’re aiming in. This wouldn’t only lessen the amount of constant moving, but also give you a better sense of what’s behind you. Since there are enemies toward the end of the game who can (and often do) teleport behind you, being unable to see them while aiming in the other direction and backing up can lead to some cheap hits. I’m not certain if that’s what happened to me in the video above—it’s also possible that I got hit by a poison effect after backing up into a projectile—but it becomes a problem often enough that being given slightly more visibility would be a big help.

The second positive change would be ensuring that all enemy projectiles can be seen on top of your attacks. Remember that giant laser beam of death I mentioned in the last progress log? Well, I found another one, only to realize that many enemy projectiles seem to move under it. Since it’s a huge beam, this effectively blinds you to any hazards coming your way. Making sure that all enemy bullets are always on top of the player’s weapon effects would make weapons like that much more usable. That’s doubly important since one of the secondary forms has a giant beam like it as a special attack, and it’s currently so dangerous to use that the form is useless.

I also found some bugs

It’s kind of funny, but the bugs I stumbled across were either borderline amusing or outright helpful. The video above is of the amusing one, and it’s little more than my guy shooting in an opposite direction to where he’s aiming. This happened right after he returned from the shop portal while holding right, and it quickly resolved itself.

Then there’s this bug, which was actually a huge help. By the time I first made it to the final boss in the very last level, every character I was comfortable with using was gone. You can revive fallen characters by going through a challenge or paying for a resurrection item at the shop, of course, but these only seem to revive the last character to fall. That means that if you lose your favorite and the person going through the challenge dies, you can kiss goodbye to your chances of using your favorite again during that playthrough. Anyway, the point is that I had a small handful of characters who I wasn’t comfortable with. I also had quite a bit of money to burn, so I armed myself to the teeth expecting a serious fight. Then the boss bugged out and stood in place while I circle-strafed him to death. Obviously this was an underwhelming end to my first successful attempt, but you’re fighting the final boss to unlock a new character to start off with (you’re given two options for a secondary character until you beat this guy and unlock someone new to select). I can’t begrudge a bug that makes it easier to unlock a better starting character.

My best attempt thus far

Starting with a stronger character really made a difference. For one thing, this “Demon Spawn” guy is powerful and his shots bounce around. What makes him truly special, however, is his secondary attack. This summons a skull that sits in place and shoots at any nearby enemies. I’m pretty sure it does damage despite no numbers showing up, but even if it doesn’t, enemies getting hit are usually enemies who are standing still. That means that dropping one of these things in the middle of a room makes it much easier to distract enemies and keep them from swarming you. Two things of note here: I got hit after exiting the shop at 50:40, and was stuck for awhile at 14:50 because an enemy decided to sit in its invincible state and not let me kill it to open up the portal. Hellmut is likely to be an attractive game for speedrunners, so having an enemy randomly waste time could become an issue.

There’s still more to do

Unlocking a new form to start off with each time you beat the final boss kind of makes me wonder what happens once you collect them all. It wouldn’t be very review-responsible to not check, so I’m not chalking Hellmut up as finished quite yet. Not until I’ve made sure it isn’t hiding any secret boss fights or the like.

[Click here to go to Hellmut: The Badass from Hell log #1]

The post Hellmut – The Badass from Hell: Progress Log #2 appeared first on Killa Penguin.