It hasn’t truly been that lengthy since I first dipped my toes into the auto-shooter looter style — and on the time, I didn’t even realise it was a style. My gateway sport was Forager, and I used to be utterly hooked for a complete summer time. What a unbelievable expertise that was.
Later, I stumbled throughout Military of Break, which I briefly assumed was the origin level of the style. However after I finally found that Vampire Survivors was the sport that really kicked every little thing off, I had a little bit of a “cowl your eyes” second — as a result of, frankly, lots of the clones truly seemed and performed higher.
And that brings me to at present’s sport: Satan Jam, which follows that exact same sample.
I reached out to the developer of Satan Jam to request a overview key for this upcoming PS5 launch after seeing the trailer. It seemed like precisely the form of sport I wanted as a break from all of the VR critiques — one thing I might simply relax with, particularly on these “not feeling nice” days.
The important thing arrived rapidly, and whereas the communication was quick and easy, I went nearly utterly blind into this one. I had no thought simply what number of hours of my life this one would find yourself draining… (pun very a lot supposed).
The Satan’s Advocate…
The vampire satan leads you right into a heavy rock–fuelled live performance enviornment, full of weird creatures — every little thing from bats straight out of hell to man-eating goblin blobs. Your solely weapon? Your guitar… and your rhythm.
You begin off weak, however earlier than lengthy, you’ll be unleashing as much as 12 riffs of pure rock energy without delay. As a result of, you see, the protagonist is definitely a rock star who simply needed to play a live performance… however, as with all video games, it rapidly turns into one hell of a large number.
The Strangest Plot…
I grabbed a number of movies, however actually — with out context — they’re fairly underwhelming. In case you’ve by no means performed any of those video games earlier than, the footage simply appears to be like like an countless bullet‑hell fever dream the place the enemies are the bullets.
Anyway, the premise is easy: you’re a rockstar wielding a guitar as your major weapon. As you degree up, random weapons unlock and could be added to your arsenal.
You decide up passive skills, energetic weapons, and particular expertise — all of which could be upgraded and mixed a number of times- And to prime all of it off, you’ve acquired three totally different characters, every with their very own distinct weapon playstyle.
The result’s a ridiculous variety of potential builds, simply within the dozens if not lots of.
Similar Similar However Totally different…
As I progressed via the sport, I ultimately realised simply how heavy the grind actually is. Unlocking new ranges and arenas takes an absurd period of time — to the purpose the place I didn’t unlock my first new space till across the seven‑hour mark. That’s a tall grind by any customary.
The maps, ranges (3?), arenas, and Problem ranges additionally are likely to look very comparable. They’re mainly variations of gray, blue‑gray, inexperienced‑gray, and… extra gray. It sounds terrible on paper, nevertheless it truly works due to the sport’s general model. Nonetheless, the mixture of excessive issue and excessive grind actually must be toned down. In any other case, loads of potential gamers will drop off lengthy earlier than the enjoyable actually kicks in.
BOOM BOOM ROCKIN MONSTER GLOOM… Verdict Time…
As you push additional into the sport, you begin getting correctly acquainted with which weapons and talents to choose from the three randomised choices the sport provides you each time you degree up.
You start to grasp the roguelite techniques, you purchase upgrades and potions, and every little thing slowly begins to stack in your favour.
And when you lastly get the hold of the quests (and sure, there’s a huge quantity of them), properly… let’s simply say that is the second when the music actually begins to movement.
Instantly, you’re surrounded by monumental swarms of enemies, your weapons are firing off in each route, the legendary soundtrack is blasting via the audio system, and the entire display lights up like a tough‑rock fireworks present.
In my view, this is what the sport is supposed to really feel like — not the countless grind that comes earlier than it.
Satan Jam is a genuinely good sport. It’s not the best possible in its style, however the exhausting‑rock theme provides it a singular id that completely places it on the map.
The PlayStation trophies (there’s a Platinum too) and the mountain of quest missions will take a hellish period of time to unlock, which suggests the replay worth is thru the roof.
However right here’s the issue: it merely calls for far an excessive amount of grind earlier than the true beast inside the sport is allowed to come back out.
Sadly, most gamers won’t ever attain that time, and that’s an actual disgrace.
I genuinely hope the developer listens and decides to loosen the cage somewhat.
This overview relies on 28 hours of gameplay. There’s nonetheless loads left to discover, and I’ll undoubtedly be diving again in for a lot of extra hours. Remember that the general rating displays how the sport opens, not the way it feels when you lastly unlock the guitar energy, which, for me, didn’t occur till across the 6–7 hour mark.
When you do grow to be highly effective, although, the sport transforms into one thing way more thrilling — simply a strong 8 out of 10 expertise.
Official Trailer beneath, properly value your time.
