The Hellboy arc represents one of the great epics in comics, spanning three decades of imaginative historical pulp storytelling built upon the gorgeous art and iconic vision of creator Mike Mignola, but its explorations into other media have varied greatly in quality. Upstream Arcade's Hellboy Web of Wyrd stands as Big Red’s newest video game foray, an unsteady clunker of an action-roguelite which borrows from other genre classics but seemingly fails to understand the fundamentals of the greats, feeling like either an interrupted project or a mismanaged would-be gem.

In terms of its outstanding visual design and flavorful fiction, it’s a stunner, but nearly every component of the actual playable game built around those pieces unceremoniously faceplants whenever it's given the spotlight. Hellboy Web of Wyrd specifically commits the gravest of video game sins over every single playthrough: utterly disrespecting its players’ time.

A Gorgeous Setting With A-1 Voice Talent

Hellboy Web of Wyrd takes place in the 80s around the time of the Falklands War, with ol’ H.B. sent out to investigate the ongoing paranormal events surrounding a manse referred to as The Butterfly House, now outfitted as a staging ground for The Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense (B.P.R.D.). The rest of the field agents (who seem freshly minted for this story) study these sudden surges of psychic phenomena while their star investigator dives into the Wyrd, a Nordic dimension which warps and randomizes upon entrance. In the growing Hades tradition, each failed run presents new opportunities to interact with the B.P.R.D. and an assortment of eloquent phantoms found in the Wyrd.

Related: Patrick Martin On How Hellboy Web of Wyrd "Always Has A Surprise Around The Next Corner"

Hellboy Web of Wyrd is easily the greatest looking Hellboy game to date, full stop. It’s a sublimely sincere rendition of Mignola’s vision, coated in shifting shadow and creepy eldritch atmosphere, an aesthetic which transforms any available screenshot into a veritable comic book page, sans the speech bubbles. A complete lack of draw distance limitations keeps any angle in perfect clarity at all times, and the rich use of color outdoes what we've previously seen in Upstream Arcade's debut action-roguelite, West of Dead. As for Hellboy, not even the animated films of the mid-2000s did a better job of showcasing the canny cambion’s stark poses and dramatic flair, and longtime fans will be undoubtedly impressed when they first send a large enemy flying into the cobblestones with a right hook from the Right Hand of Doom.

Actor Lance Reddick lent one of his final performances to Hellboy Web of Wyrd before passing, producing a terrific execution of the character’s lasting combination of sarcastic charm and endearing humanity. It’s a tone-perfect reading handily matched by a cast of colorful fellow agents, egomaniacal nazi villains, and mysterious spirit helpers, further improved with a downcast moody soundtrack which ramps into rock guitar during combat. The game's actors are even gifted with great material, a verbose script of snappy comic banter and developing character depth, and deposits of well-written lore can be pored over in the House on each return.

Wrangling With The Wyrd

Hellboy Web of Wyrd’s gameplay is an assortment of tragic design decisions and awkward mechanics, issues which form a recipe for frustration that, at time of review, was still shifting near-daily gameplay updates. The initial promise of a modern replayable beat ‘em up roguelite full of randomized upgrades, permanent unlocks, and eerie environments is quickly diverted by horrendous AI, bafflingly easy combat encounters, and cavernous levels that are always a chore to traverse.

At first, each Hellboy Web of Wyrd run presents a simple cycle: enter one of four different unlockable biomes, play through two lengthy zones, and defeat a boss. Rinse those, and the game suddenly extends this format and runs it back, asking players to go through the same four levels again, only this time with a third chapter added to the end and some upgraded sci-fi nazi enemies to deal with. Finally, there’s a third lap, this time fighting through each area as a single somewhat harder level, but all need to be completed in one run, before a final boss fight.

A Very Light Roguelite

Roguelite veterans will already identify one of Hellboy Web of Wyrd’s primary issues: constantly restarting from scratch translates to virtually no powerful builds possible. They’d be correct, aside from the fact that, even on that third longer run, the game shares the same scant collection of weapons and boons. The former makes some kind of sense — Hellboy has usually been quite comfortable with just a firearm and his fists — but the latter makes no sense in the context of an action-roguelite, and the few boons offer only the barest modifications to the basic gameplay, lack any creative synergy between them, and end up feeling like a complete afterthought.

The limited effects of the boons reveal a simplicity which extends to the game world itself, a series of interconnected arenas which invariably house a combat encounter, a three-item shop, or a boon to pick up. This is not an abbreviated sampling; there are no other types of rooms in the game, and the lack of a map or teleportation feature turns every dead end into a disorienting double-back, a cumbersome return to track down the correct path. There is no compass feature, consistent signage, or even viable shortcuts, though a level may occasionally snake back onto itself after picking up key, which shaves off a little bit of time. Hellboy is slow, which aligns with the character, but this doesn’t make the constant retreads any easier to endure.

Another curious design decision sees random hazards sometimes placed in the pathways between rooms, environmental dangers which are always easy to navigate, but may prompt some damage if players aren’t paying attention…which could very well occur on another distracted long walk back to the correct route. Less hazardous are the occasional rock walls, which require two punches to destroy.

There are so many questions left unanswered. Why position this wall in lieu of a standard door? Because it takes more time to walk through it? Why try to stumble the player with surprise damage or obstacles when they’re already struggling to stay awake on another uneventful stroll through empty rooms? What does the word "afflicted" mean in the tooltips for each boon? Is the player afflicted, or the enemy?

Sluggish Combat, Slower Walking Speed

Even Hellboy Web of Wyrd's combat — which represents the vast majority of the core gameplay, not counting the sluggish navigation — is mind-numbingly flat from start to finish. One or two “big guys” (the game’s own terminology) mill about or teleport in after the player gets locked in a room, surrounded by a half-dozen pushover minions. Kill the big guys and the little guys disappear, so the latter can effectively be ignored while focusing down the larger quarry. At certain intervals, the game refreshes the room with additional enemies, but usually it's one-and-done.

The close-up behind-the-back perspective isn’t ideal for most beat ‘em ups, but targeting enemies keeps the camera reliably focused, at least. Unfortunately, gameplay bugs hounded our review experience, randomly throwing off lock-on attempts or sliding Hellboy around the arena after or during a punch. A simple one-button combo carried most of the playthrough, but the sluggish response time during brawls threw off any attempts at real finesse; a single punch can follow whole seconds after a button push, with the enemies’ telegraphed attacks raining down while Hellboy finishes catching up with player input. It never felt right to just stare at the screen waiting for an attack to land.

Curiously, even with these core issues, Hellboy Web of Wyrd remains remarkably easy throughout. In our experience with the review, full game crashes might have outnumbered any actual deaths, crashes which could occur at the end of a level, in between them, mid-dialogue, or even at the pause menu. And no, that very pause menu never shows Hellboy’s few collected boons, so players will have to memorize the tiny colored runes on the HUD and match them to the in-game items. As a final insult to injury, the default input when loading the game leaves the cursor fixed on "start a new game," so anyone with a mid-run save should be cautious when skipping through the intro screens.

Final Thoughts & Review Score

Adapting comic book source material to a video game can be a treacherous task at the best of times. The narrow path weaving referential fan service, parity with the IP, and a functionally entertaining product has led to numerous follies in the past, but Hellboy Web of Wyrd is somehow even more damning for all the good sentiment earned with its presentation. Rarely has a comic book game looked as convincing as this one, which emphasizes the resultant disappointment.

If the game was merely simplistic, or lamentably brief, or even a little janky here and there, that would be something to work with. Instead, Hellboy Web of Wyrd takes a carefully crafted tale, some A-1 voice talent, and a convincing sensation of walking around an actual Hellboy comic as Big Red himself, and dashes everything against the rocks of its gameplay.

And still, there’s the bones of something great here. A mystical underworld to explore, secrets to unearth, terrors lying in wait in the darkness. A heretofore-unseen, fully realized original Hellboy adventure is screaming to be properly told, to be freed from the trappings of this torment. Hellboy Web of Wyrd is a tragically beautiful blunder.

Source: Good Shepherd Entertainment/YouTube

Hellboy Web of Wyrd releases on October 18 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch. A digital PC code was provided to Screen Rant for the purpose of this review.