Hellboy Web of Wyrd (pronounced “word” from the game’s Norse inspirations) is a rogue-lite adventure wherein the titular hero smashes his way through four biomes themed on real-world regions. With Hellboy on the list of Dark Horse characters in need of a decent video game adaptation, Web of Wyrd had a chance to make a splash. On the plus side, the crunchy combat feels great, and it rewards focus with a dodge and counter system, but many other ingredients feel half-baked or unpolished. The story, dialogue, and environments are hollow, failing to inspire much interest, and the most glaring fault is the severely underused and uninteresting hero, Hellboy himself. The lead features none of the gleefully acerbic attitude and heart for which he’s known.
Hellboy and his Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD) comrades are squatting in the mysterious Butterfly House, from which they conduct missions into a reality known as the Wyrd. The Wyrd is an ethereal, ever-changing dimension whose traits are influenced by the thoughts and desires of those within. Hellboy “dives” into one of 4 levels, Wyrd reflections of Italy, Scotland, Russia, and New York. In an appropriately rogue-lite fashion, level layout is randomized, and missions are run-based. Hellboy meets denizens of the Wyrd, Norse gods associated with storytelling, who will offer him boons. Players will also collect a handful of relics that tie into the story and unlock further buffs. Once a relic is acquired, it will randomly appear in a level, allowing Hellboy to attach its ability to either his fist, gun, or charm. When an enemy is hit with the associated weapon, they receive a debuff like increased damage or freezing. If the same relic is found again that run, the buff can be upgraded to the next level.
Unfortunately, the rogue-lite elements in Web of Wyrd feel underdone. This is a “lite” not a “like,” so there’s no expectation for excessive depth. In fact, the decision to make the game a rogue-lite at all grants it some originality points, helping Hellboy Web of Wyrd stand out among superhero games. But the choices are very limited and often inconsequential; this game could exist without their inclusion. Their addition adds a bit of variety, but there’s nothing approaching any kind of build potential. Plus, it’s fairly easy to smash through a level with punch after punch, hardly engaging with the added abilities at all.
Despite the lackluster ancillary elements, the core combat in Hellboy Web of Wyrd is solid. It’s simple and, admittedly, repetitive, but it feels good. Each hit lands with a thick, juicy crunch that carries the blunt power and aggression that a Hellboy fight needs. Enemy attacks can be dodged by ducking or side-stepping, and perfect timing results in a counter opportunity. Attacks can also be blocked or parried with the right timing, which fills the Payback meter that charges a powerful attack. The system encourages scrappy, aggressive play and rewards player attention. The drawback is that once players nail down timing for dodges and parries, combat can be way too easy. Even bosses go down in a matter of seconds, as they have the same attack style as every other enemy. And with all these benefits to melee combat, guns or charms are less appealing and easily forgotten. Players will almost certainly spend most of their time bashing faces, with only a momentary swap to gun or charm to apply its debuff.
Between levels, Butterfly House serves as a hub, where currency earned on missions can finance permanent upgrades. Hellboy can purchase and upgrade a total of three guns and three charms, as well as a handful of improvements like increased health or limited revives. The options are nice, but too sparse and dull; players hoping for a deep and rewarding upgrade system won’t find it in Web of Wyrd. What is available provides very little sense of progression and minimal variation in play. And, again, players will probably just smash through enemies with their Right Hand of Doom most of the time, making other options moot. The charms provide Hellboy with an auxiliary ability, like shoving enemies back or summoning a brief shield. Though still overshadowed and easily ignored in lieu of punching, they’re at least more interesting than the guns.
The brief trips back to Butterfly House provide a chance to chat with the BPRD folks, but none are particularly interesting. The one exception is Martinez, the resident psychic who can tap into the relics Hellboy finds to receive mysterious communications. If taken beat by beat, her story has the potential to be interesting, with surprising twists that tie into the main story. But the execution leaves much to be desired, with major events happening off-screen. None of the other characters contribute much to the ensemble, and the colorful cast of supernatural buds that Hellboy usually chums around with are nowhere to be seen.
Hellboy himself is almost entirely devoid of the gusto he’s known for, the hellacious hero often relegated to the role of straight man. His dialogue, performed by the late Lance Reddick, best known in gaming circles as the voice of Destiny‘s Commander Zavala, is often inane and peppered with lines like, “better than an aspirin” when recovering health. This may not have been Reddick’s best performance, but the performer was working with what he was given. And what he had wasn’t great.
At the right angle, the art really does evoke the work of Mike Mignola, creator and illustrator of the comic, and collaborator on the game. Cel shading was the right choice for Hellboy Web of Wyrd and the design of Hellboy himself is spot on, truly bringing the comics come to life. Likewise, some of the major enemies are cool and flashy, flowing from their inspiration. But the spell is broken a little when it comes to the environment. It can look good in moments, but everything is just too similar and the lack of visual variety presents little of interest. Even worse, the levels literally float in empty space. Empty vistas stretch beyond the playable area’s borders, providing no sense of place.
When it comes to adaptations, Hellboy hasn’t had a ton of luck lately. Hellboy Web of Wyrd certainly isn’t on the same disastrous level, but it’s underwhelming in its own respects. Hellboy and his world is a potential gold mine of fantastic adaptive potential, as Guillermo del Toro proved with his pair of films in the early 2000s. The character offers so much more, and though Web of Wyrd has some bright spots, it ultimately fails to realize the potential of its source material.
Hellboy: Web of Wyrd
Based on the popular Dark Horse Comics franchise, Hellboy Web of Wyrd is a beat ’em up roguelike. From the Butterfly House, Hellboy can access procedurally generated levels set in The Wyrd dimension, and his mission is to try and find a missing agent.
- Combat feels appropriately crunchy
- The art style makes Hellboy look great
- Gameplay lacks depth
- Story is bland
- Hellboy feels underutilized as a character
- Repetitive enemy design, levels feel flat
Hellboy Web of Wyrd is available October 18th on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X/S. Game Rant was provided a PC code for this review.