HellBreed is a new online Action/Adventure MMORPG similar to the hugely popular Diablo™ titles from Blizzard Entertainment™ that can be played through an Internet browser.
While visually unimpressive by today’s standards, HellBreed has adopted a traditional look and feel that suits the gameplay style perfectly, and too, helps it to offer a game experience reminiscent of a much older time, a time where story and character trumped shiny pictures every time.
As such, beginning a new game will likely have you engaged with both your character and the overlaying story in under a minute. How? Simple. You’re a part of it. After creating your character (from a possible Warrior, Huntress or Siege Master), you’ll begin playing within the prologue, as a dark force by the name of Draken tears the world apart.
Naturally, as a level 1 character, you’re no match for this demon and must run for your life through a small, barely noticeable tutorial that will guide you through the first level of the game, and teach you everything you need to know to survive.
Namely, you’ll learn how to fight monsters, use skills; equip new weapons, armour and items, and most importantly, how to collect shards that allow you to progress further through the game. Collecting these shards allows you to piece together the world destroyed by Draken, and in doing so, opens up new world for you to explore.
As for gameplay style, you’ll already know it all if you’ve played Diablo or any of its clones, though if you haven’t then you’ll likely be in for something of a shock. You play from a 2.5D Isometric viewpoint, in that you can see your character and the surrounding area. Monsters usually attack in swarms, and killing them successfully requires the use of multiple weapons and skills, and lots of rapid mouse clicking. Each click represents one attack (say, a wing of your axe, or shot from your bow), so you’ll be doing a lot of it before progressing.
Perhaps the most appealing element of this gameplay style is the quest for treasure. One could simply stroll through the shards (levels) of HellBreed with only killing on their mind, and would likely progress through most levels without difficulty.
However, players with a lust for exploration will find treasures and secrets hidden throughout every level, and finding them all can quickly become a time-consuming addiction. This is worsened by the addition of different types of Orbs, which contain the power to imbue your weapons with various damage increasing properties.
Though, up to this point, HellBreed is really a single-player experience. In order to play with other players, you’ll need to progress far enough to reach the town-like Forgotten Shores, a central hub between the shard dimensions that will allows you to buy and sell your treasures and equipment, and communicate with other players. It’s assumed that you can create and join parties with other players here, too; however, as yet, I’ve been unable to achieve this, and can find no evidence to confirm. Guess that’ll have to wait until the Full Review on release, right here at MMOGames.com.
