Maybe it's because I speak German, but this specific hero truly speaks to me. Hans, get the flammenwerfer! Jawohl! Halls of Torment is an early access bullet hell arena shooter, which combines the retro art style of Diablo with the gameplay of vampire survivors while holding an intriguing twist in store for us. I am Dorian the Explorian and together we will burn our way through countless waves to see if Halls of Torment is for you. We start off by clicking the like button and taking a look at the basics. Accompanying a growing roster of heroes, we control these characters with WASD while aiming with the mouse cursor. We fight our way through time-limited and abyss-like levels with countless enemies varying from imps, blobs, gargoyles and skeletons which reminded me of the movie spike hits making me reminisce about my first celebrity crushing. Gaining experience by picking up dropped crystals from fallen enemies results in constant level ups, which provide us with the choice of four different passive buffs, ranging from simple offensive boosts like increased attack speed or a higher crit chance, to defensive buffs like a higher block chance, all the way to movement speed or health regeneration increases. The character's health points can further be replenished by picking up food and potions hidden in bases. The endless areas additionally provide us with skill scrolls to equip passively activating spells like fire waves, shuriken barrages or lightning strikes. Apart from an increasing intensity of the waves, each level holds powerful smaller and larger bosses, with an array of mechanics and a hefty amount of health to take down, while beating those rewards with either more spells or useful gear. More on the equipment in a minute. Every time we buy dust, we will obtain gold according to our accomplishments during each particular attempt, which can be used to upgrade various stats in the camp. This camp further offers us a culmination of quests we can do to unlock new items, spells and heroes. One of the first quests sees us saving a well-keeper, which not only provides us with gear, but a voice acting as well, which transported me back to games of the 90s. This gear is the mentioned twist Halls of Torment as compared to other arena shooters, since we can equip our characters for each run individually, while new gear can be obtained by taking down bosses. However, simply finding new items isn't enough, since they need to be safely retrieved by dropping them into a well during a run, which can result into a zigzagging race to said well through an overrun area while the time ticks down. Reaching a time limit of a level results in the spawning of one of three tough end bosses. Since there is currently no way to speed up the time, each slow run to the end boss tests our patience and concentration, resulting in addictive but long gaming sessions. Halls of Torment brilliantly resembles the simple premise of Vampire Survivors with its own deep roguelike progression system, chimes us with its old-school graphics which manage to look crisp and high-quality, while the fact that I wanted to play a short one-hour session and ended at the five-hour mark speaks volumes on the enjoyable gameplay. The a bit too long ongoing levels and the sometimes visually overwhelming special effects are minor nuisances compared to the overall quality of the game. Halls of Torment released into early access in May 2023 and is available for PC for 4.99. Is Halls of Torment for you? Let me know in the comments, like, share and subscribe to my channel for more videos like this one and have a great day or evening. videos like this one, and have a great day or evening.