It hasn’t been that long since I first dipped my toes into the automatic shooter genre – and at the time, I didn’t realize it. it was type. My gateway game was Eaterand I was hooked all summer. What a wonderful experience that was.
Later, I crossed over Army of Ruinwhich I briefly thought was the beginning of a genre. But when I finally got that Vampire Survivors it was a game that really kicked everything, I had a moment to “cover your eyes” – because, frankly, many clones actually looked and played better.
And that brings me to today’s game: Devil Jam, which follows that very pattern.
I reached out to the developer of the Devil Jam asking for an update key for this upcoming PS5 release after seeing the trailer. It looked like exactly the kind of game I needed as a break from all the VR reviews – something I’d been falling back on, especially on those “not feeling right” days.
The key arrived quickly, and while the communication was fast and direct, I almost didn’t see anything in it. Little did I know how many hours of my life this would end up being… (pun heavily intended).
Devil’s advocate…
I a vampire the devil leads you to a rock concert arena, filled with strange creatures – everything from bats from hell to cannibals. Your only weapon? Your guitar… and your beat.
You start off weak, but before long, you’ll be unleashing up to 12 riffs of pure rock power at once. Because, you see, the main character is actually a rock star who just wanted to play a concert… but, like in all games, it quickly turns into one hell of a mess.
Amazing Building…
I’ve caught a few videos, but to be honest – out of context – they’re pretty difficult. If you have never played any of these games before, the videos look like an endless dream where the enemies there is characters.
Anyway, the premise is simple: you’re a rocker with a guitar as your main weapon. As you level up, random weapons unlock and can be added to your inventory.
You take passive skills, active weapons, and special abilities – all of which can be upgraded and combined multiple times – And above all, you have three different characterseach has its own unique play style.
The result is a ridiculous number of possible constructions, easily tens if not hundreds.
Same But Different…
As I progressed through the game, I finally realized how hard grinding is. Unlocking new levels and arenas takes a ridiculous amount of time – to the point where I didn’t unlock my first new location until within seven hours. That is tall grind by any standard.
The maps, levels (3?), arenas, and Challenge levels also tend to look very similar. It’s basically a variation of gray, blue, gray, and… more gray. It sounds bad on paper, but it actually works because of the overall style of the game. However, the combination of high difficulty and excessive grinding really needs to be reduced. Otherwise, many potential players will drop out long before the fun begins.
BOOM BOOM ROCKIN MONSTER GLOOM… Decision Time…
As you progress through the game, you begin to become more familiar with weapons and abilities.
You start to understand the roguelite systems, you buy upgrades and potions, and everything slowly starts to stick to you.
And if you finally get the hang of the quests (and yes, there are a big number of them), well… let’s just say this is when the music really starts to flow.
Soon, you are surrounded by a huge crowd of enemies, your weapons are firing from all sides, a famous song is blasting from the speakers, and the whole screen is lit up like a rock fireworks display.
In my opinion, this that’s what the game is meant to feel like – not the endless grind that comes before it.
Devil Jam really good game. It’s not the absolute best in its genre, but the hard-rock theme gives it a unique identity that puts it on the map.
PlayStation trophies (there’s also a Platinum, btw) and a bunch of machines that will be retired. hell the amount of open time, which means that the amount of play is through the roof.
But here’s the problem: it simply requires a lot of grinding before the true monster within the game is allowed to come out.
Sadly, most players won’t get to that point, and that’s a real shame.
I hope the developer listens and decides to loosen the cage a bit.
This review is based on 28 hours of gameplay. There’s still a lot left to explore, and I’ll be diving in for many more hours. Keep in mind that the overall score reflects how the game opens, not how it feels when you finally power up the guitar, which didn’t happen for me until around 6–7 hours in.
Just you do get stronger, however, the game turns into something much more fun – getting stronger easily 8 out of 10 experience.
Official Trailer below, worth your time.
