Hell Clock Review

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In today’s gaming landscape, I find myself drawn to the allure of roguelike games, particularly those reminiscent of titles like Diablo and Hades. While games such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shattered Fate and Dynasty Warriors Abyss are often praised for their fun factor, they’re not exactly known for their groundbreaking innovations.

However, I want to emphasize that Hell Clock is no ordinary Hades imitator; it’s far more distinctive, original, and evocative than that.

The game isn’t flawless by any means, but it offers an intense and daring gaming adventure that I won’t soon forget. A large part of this is due to the storyline of “Hell Clock”: it’s inspired by the War of Canudos, a struggle between the First Brazilian Republic and the settlement of Canudos, which was viewed as monarchist and thus at odds with the newly established republic. This conflict reached its peak in a massacre, during which thousands of innocent people in Canudos perished. It’s against this somber historical setting that “Hell Clock” unfolds, making for a compelling narrative.

To fully appreciate the narrative of Hell Clock, you don’t require extensive understanding of the Canudos Massacre. However, having a bit of familiarity with the historical influences behind the game could enhance your overall experience.

Developer Rogue Snail has built an engaging combat sandbox game, set in a dark historical backdrop, where growth and progression are key features, leading to continuous expansion. The core gameplay mechanics sometimes take a step back to prioritize this crucial player advancement, which is typical for the genre but might lessen the overall experience after prolonged playtime; crafting a build can become more appealing than executing it. However, if you’re fond of designing builds and leveling up in games similar to Diablo 4, Hell Clock offers an immersive experience that could easily capture your attention for hours on end.

Hell Clock’s Build-Crafting and Progression Are Its Crown Jewels

Hell Clock, though classified as a roguelike, exhibits characteristics more akin to an Action Role-Playing Game (ARPG) with elements reminiscent of roguelikes. Players accumulate experience throughout their gameplay sessions, progressively leveling up and acquiring new abilities. However, the core RPG aspects are primarily experienced between gaming sessions rather than during them.

In the storyline, you take on the character of Pajeú, a man whose mentor was slain by the Republic and his spirit imprisoned in the netherworld. To rescue him, Pajeú repeatedly journeys into this nightmarish realm filled with demons, reminiscent of the game Hades. However, unlike Hades, where players primarily gain power through mid-run upgrades, or other roguelike RPGs, Hell Clock follows a more conventional path. Instead, after defeating a specific number of enemies and leveling up, you are given the option to upgrade three abilities. This temporary boost in power is present, but it’s nothing compared to the growth you experience between runs.

At your home base, you can buy different equipment that offers permanent enhancements such as increased health or decreased ability cool-down times. The shop selling this gear frequently updates, ensuring there’s usually a worthwhile, long-term upgrade available. Additionally, you can have five active abilities at any given time, and by leveling them up, you boost their power significantly – this is where the game truly resembles Diablo. You can also invest in a traditional skill tree between missions, resulting in overall growth across all aspects, and various relics can be equipped and improved for unique bonuses.

The game Hell Clock smoothly introduces you to its intricate progression systems, giving the gameplay a feeling of perpetual discovery. Additionally, players are granted a wide range of customization options for building their characters, which essentially means there’s no limit to the unique playstyles that can be created. For instance, I once developed a build centered around summoning abilities. Initially, this ability wasn’t particularly strong on its own, but by combining it with a relic that amplified spell damage for every active summon, and another relic that caused a different spell to produce an extra summon each use, I was able to significantly boost its power.

In this experience, I found myself traversing a labyrinth of one-of-a-kind, creative construction; it was as if I was finding ways to outwit the game, leveraging its features to boost my abilities. Initially, I enjoyed a summon-centric build for roughly an hour or two, but this cycle of exploration and rewarding tinkering persisted throughout my playtime in Hell Clock. Essentially, it’s incredibly straightforward to develop entertaining and ingenious builds, and the game’s adaptability is undoubtedly its most powerful asset when it comes to gameplay.

Hell Clock Seems Purpose-Built for a Very Specific Type of Gamer

If you find the building and crafting process described unappealing, you might not be a big fan of the game Hell Clock. While its combat isn’t poor, the enjoyment comes from observing your construction unfold in real time, and then enhancing it with the numerous buffs and upgrades discovered during playthroughs. If you disregard the building system, the combat may seem like just frantic clicking and consuming potions. Unlike other roguelikes where the combat is engaging on its own, the building-crafting features in this game serve as an additional layer of excitement rather than a supplement.

During gameplay, upgrades encountered aren’t usually thrilling, primarily providing minor enhancements through straight-forward stat boosts or improvements to particular skills. While they are beneficial, they don’t compare to the allure of relics and abilities from the skill tree.

Apart from some general complaints I have about the game, there are certain aspects that bother me. For instance, I find the economy of items in the game to be somewhat faulty at times. While some relics can be quite powerful, most of them either have little impact or benefit only a specific skill, making them almost irrelevant. As a result, you end up with countless duplicates, which significantly complicates the process of creating strong builds.

Another issue is the Hell Clock, a time-limit mechanic that applies to each run. When it reaches zero, the game forces you to abandon the current run. The clock is extended by about 90 seconds after every boss battle and can be upgraded through the skill tree, but I still find it somewhat clumsy. I often felt compelled to upgrade the Hell Clock not because I enjoyed the experimentation, but out of a sense of obligation. When the time runs out, it can sometimes feel like an unfair loss, as if the game is artificially slowing down your progression.

Completely disabling the Hell Clock won’t significantly improve the mechanic’s issues; this raises the question of why such a mechanic exists within the game at all, if removing it altogether seems to be the best solution for interaction with it.

The “Hell Clock” game may have some flaws, but its main mechanics and immersive storytelling are captivating. The tale of the Canudos people is both heartrending and inspiring, urging players to mete out righteous retribution against their foes. This task, facilitated by the game’s adaptable combat environment, is equally stimulating for the mind as it is energizing for the emotions, leaving players eager for more. It’s challenging to find better compliments for a roguelike than that.

Hell Clock releases for PC on July 22, 2025. Game Rant was provided a Steam code for this review.

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2025-07-21 18:04