Developer Moonpyre and publisher Grindstone are trying something a bit different with Hellforged. From the Hellforged playtest that we checked out, it seems like they’re taking the screen-clearing chaos of bullet-heaven games and bolting on the tension of an extraction shooter. You’ll be happy to hear that you aren’t just trying to survive; you are also forced to treat every run like a heist right in the middle of a demonic invasion.
Knowing when to walk away
While we fought through the horde, we picked up various pieces of gear and modifiers. In true extraction fashion, we had to manually extract to actually keep anything we found. We can choose to dip out early and play it safe to secure our loadout, sure, but where is the fun in that? We usually tried to push our luck against worsening odds. We’re not going to lie; we really wanted to grab that better loot. The key mechanics are so well done that even if the loot is out of the question, you simply want to stay a bit longer and kill monsters just for the sake of the fun factor.
Eternal Tree to Thee we Flee
Class variety is very important, something that is evident from the large skill system that the devs are calling the “Eternal Tree.” Under the shadow of the tree, there is plenty of room to experiment with different builds that match how we want to play. There is also another neat feature called the Arsenal that is meant to take some of the frustrating randomness out of putting together a good synergy.
For those who are able to piece together a heavy-hitting build, Hellforged lets you spend gathered resources to summon massive bosses. These specific fights act as a stress test of sorts for our characters. If you are able to take down these Stygian threats, you will earn the strongest gear available. Trust us when we tell you: this will not be easy!
Refreshing twist on the formula
Injecting extraction mechanics into an arcade-style horde survival game is a move that we are all for. From what we saw, the pacing holds up. However, too much greed is never a good thing. We hope you will be able to resist the allure of better gear and hit that extraction while you still feel in control. Try as we might, that was the biggest challenge for us—not knowing when to retreat and be satisfied with what we had.
ID Card:
- Developer: Moonpyre
- Publisher: Grindstone
- Platforms: PC (Steam, Epic Games Store)
- Release Date: 2026
- Genre: Extraction Looter / Bullet-Heaven
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