HellSlave II: Judgment of the Archon Review — Hell, Our Earth

HellSlave II: Judgment of the Archon is an action RPG focused on dungeon-diving and loot collecting, set in a darkly fascinating (quite literally) hellish setting. More than that, though, it’s a source of inspiration (at least for this reviewer) that reminds me of how much one developer can accomplish if they put their mind to the task. The game may have its issues, but I had a great time playing it, and, as I’ll go on to explain throughout this review, I think it has a lot to offer interested players and is likely to make unsuspecting fans of many who give it a try.

HellSlave II: Judgment of the Archon, mechanically, is a fairly simple turn-based action game with RPG elements. As you explore an alien land of demons and demon lords, you find yourself crawling through dungeons with proximity-triggered battles. You can think of it as sort of a twisted version of Pokémon, where instead of collecting monsters, you’re tearing blades and plate from the corpses of the enemies you defeated moments ago.

The turn-based combat is rather simple, featuring a unique time-based action economy calculated in seconds that, frankly, I couldn’t really explain to you. The foundation is straightforward, with basic resistances and elemental damage types coming into play, but things are really made interesting with the host of abilities available to the player and enemies alike. The build paths available to the player are especially interesting, with some very cleverly designed skills and powers that all feel much more impactful than quiet statistical buffs and often provide a very unique power fantasy.

These unique power fantasies are also found in the gear that you collect. As you delve through dungeons, going from encounter to encounter or finding the rare treasure chest, you’ll find a collection of items of various rarities that you use to build out your character. Not only does each item have its own art that is displayed on your character when you equip it (something I adore), and, surprisingly, isn’t true of every RPG game, but they vary from the mundane to the extremely powerful with unique effects. Once again, these effects go beyond simple increases to your stats, and you can find yourself quickly obtaining a build that triggers a variety of exciting abilities of its own during combat. I quickly ended up with a fun poison build that would zap enemies at the start of combat, trickle down their health, and then explode for more damage for each enemy that died. With this build, I was clearing encounters of my level by my first turn, and it was satisfying every time.

You have probably already noticed this, but HellSlave II: Judgment of the Archon has some incredible art. This is not just present in encounters and dialogue exchanges, but it is found in cutscenes throughout that feel remarkably like graphic novel panels from some gritty story I might read in the mid-2000s. The art is gorgeous and breathes a lot of sickening life into the twisted world of the setting. I adored every cutscene, every enemy design, and every new piece of gear I got to try on my character.

Something that is important to remember with HellSlave II: Judgment of the Archon is that the game was created by a solo developer. With that in mind, things are bound to be a little bit buggy or imperfect.

One of these imperfections is found within the game’s UI, which, overall, is fairly unexciting and, at times, difficult to navigate. Clicking through all the options in character creation, for example, is a bit of a chore, and I really didn’t appreciate every pop-up tutorial that interrupted the early gameplay; these could only be closed by clicking a specific button at the top right of the interaction box, which was often far from where my mouse would usually be.

Trying to navigate dialogue with your keys is also buggy, with key inputs not corresponding to the actual options. For example, pressing the 2 key to interact with dialogue option 2 will instead play dialogue option 1, and pressing 1 will restart the entire interaction altogether. These UI issues are small time-wasters that can add up to be a bit exhausting over time, but you get used to them as the game goes on.

The occasional bug does plague HellSlave II: Judgment of the Archon, despite the game being in a relatively stable state. One noticeable issue I faced occurred during an enemy’s turn during an early combat encounter. The enemy’s turn began, but the enemy didn’t make any action, meaning the turn would not progress. Because you can’t act until the turn is over, or open the main menu, or really do anything, this bug forced me to close the game and restart. Thankfully, the autosave system is generous, and I hardly lost any progress. This was the most intrusive bug I faced in my playthrough.

Overall, HellSlave II: Judgment of the Archon is a great game and an impressive work for a solo developer. The combat is fun, with strong and unique abilities, incredible art and world design, and satisfying looting, which we can all agree is the best part of any RPG. Some small issues persist here or there, and I did face one major bug during my playthrough, but overall the game is in an impressive state, especially for one made by a solo developer, and I had a lot of fun with it. I highly recommend you give it a try for yourself.

Try Hard Guides was provided with a Steam code for this PC review of HellSlave II: Judgment of the Archon. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page! HellSlave II: Judgment of the Archon is available on Steam and Epic Games.