Hell

Game: Hell

Developer: ahintoflime

Platform: PC/Mac

Download Link: https://ahintoflime.itch.io/hell

We all have our own vision of what Hell looks like. We imagine it as fire and brimstone, gnashing of teeth, or perhaps as just a state of mind. Our personal concepts are often based upon religious principles or off of the Divine Comedy, which, ironically, got accepted into religious canon in some sects of Christianity, but I digress. Hell is an interesting concept that has often been tackled in video games. Games such as Doom and Dante's Inferno have you battling in the depths of Hell itself, while games such as Agony have you stealthily exploring the place. So yeah, we often get depictions of Hell widely accepted in the likes of being a terrible place to be, but what about emphasizing the "state of mind" aspect of it? Well, you're probably not going to find an easily accessible game to play. The closest you'll probably get to Hell being a state of mind is in ahintoflime's effort known as Hell.

Hell is a game that was made for A Game By Its Cover 2017, a game jam where you create a game based off the cover art of a Famicom cartridge created by Famicase. Setting some self parameters for himself, such as creating a game in a genre you don't like, ahintoflime developed a point & click game for the jam that explores Hell. The game has some items you can pick up that can affect your playthrough interactions. The game is a short point & click adventure that lasts roughly around 5 minutes of play time.

It's interesting how Hell presents itself. You're not entirely sure where you are in this world. The only clear thing is that you are dead and you feel mopey. The graphics are presented in a black and white, grainy aesthetic, that is very reminiscent of grainy black and white stills you'd find in a history textbook. It's a very moody world that is being depicted here. I'm not entirely sure if it's Hell, but I guess we can assume it is Hell. After all, you are dead and you aren't exactly in a chipper mood.

The world does feel rather interesting though. It feels like a nightmare that plays more off of the fear of the unknown and surrealism. Hell also likes to play off of other types of fears too, like the fear of giant bugs and clowns and the like. It just feels like a very strange nightmare that you can't wake up from, even though your short play session will say differently. If there was any complaint to be had from my end it would that I wish there was more to explore and the path wasn't so linear, despite the branching of paths.

Hell is an interesting game that I kind of wish had slightly more depth to it but considering it's a small project, I feel like that'd be asking too much from it. For what you get, Hell is an interesting experience that is neat to look at and interact with. For a genre he doesn't like, there is quite a bit of potential to be had from ahintoflime's game. I wonder if he might try expanding upon this concept in the future, though I'm not sure if he would entirely want to. But who am I to judge?