GHOSTRUNNER HEL PROJECT Fixed
While I enjoy the encounter design, which remains consistently challenging, it didn't feel as fresh and varied to me. It also strips power-ups from the gameplay formula, replacing them with a special projectile attack that is heavily used, again at the expense of a more varied arsenal. This isn't necessarily bad, but coming from Ghostrunner, I had hoped that Project Hel would mix up its gameplay more, rather than restricting it. I also wasn't a fan of the boss fights. They were fine but felt easier than many of the main segments, since they relied heavily on the new projectile attack.
GHOSTRUNNER HEL PROJECT
The tweaks come in the form of changes to the abilities. Hel is a faster, more agile version of Jack, her jump is more of a long jump rather than the bunny hop of her fellow ghostrunner. She has the ability to perform an air jump using sensory boost power that causes her to lunge in an arc, making the air traversal much improved than the main game and can help Hel get out of situations where a standard jump might have led to death. The arc jump is part of the sensory boost ability that slows down time, where in this state, the enemies are slow and Hel uses this time to dodge enemies or take a timeout to think where to land. It is an incredibly handy tool to have and has saved me plenty of times from death. It makes some of the parkour elements easier to achieve, as these are fairly close together, but occasionally the game will throw in one that requires the use of the arc jump, such as getting around a force field to land on a surface to either wall run or continue forward.
The Ghostrunner DLC will let players take control of Hel, one of the bosses from the original game. She is more combat oriented and has more survivability compared to the Ghostrunner. The DLC was initially intended as a small project but has since grown in scale. This increase in scale could be the reason behind the delay.
When we first fought her, Hel launched a flurry of projectile-based attacks in her boss arena while hopping from platform to platform. It looks like much of that movement and verticality has been retained for her return, though now players can experience her killer moves for themselves in first-person.
As ever, your abilities can be improved too, by placing chips unlocked throughout your missions on a circuit board. Chips provide benefits such as changing the shape of your ranged rage attack to hit more enemies, or allowing you to more easily deflect projectiles. Place them strategically, and you can even unlock some additional bonus skills that are gamechangers. Why would you not want to be invincible for a short period of time when your rage has fully depleted, for example?
Hel also boasts a rage meter that spices up the gameplay and separates the experience of the expansion to the base game. You can gain a shield for a brief amount of time or shoot a projectile. Both these actions will consume a part of your rage meter but offer more angles of approach to a situation.FEATURED STORIES
Once Hel has been hit, she will quickly jump to another platform and begin firing projectiles. Ghostrunner players will now need to use the yellow rails and walls to reach her new position, but it is recommended that they dodge her first shot before they do so. This will make it much less likely that one of Hel's projectiles hits a fan while they are in the middle of a wall run, and it will allow them to reach the subsequent phases of this difficult boss fight more consistently.
Fortunately, there are only two engagements with this more-aggressive Hel, and two clean hits will put the boss down once and for all. Players will then receive her sword for their troubles, and they will also unlock their own powerful projectile in the Surge ability. From there, fans can continue on their journey through the cyberpunk world of Ghostrunner, and Hel is certainly not the only challenge that they can expect to face before they reach the end of the game. 041b061a72