Bloody Hell: the hunt for Satan the store still calls unfinished

Three Dutch students armed an angel with a halo that shoots, a map that keeps growing, and a final boss that stumps even players who love the genre.

An angel, a halo, and a hell that was never finished being built

The store's page says Bloody Hell arrived on May 16, 2023. The same page also says the game is still labeled Early Access. The two facts sit side by side without explaining themselves: a project released long ago, still tagged as a work in progress. You wear the feathers of Az, an angel sent to hell on a holy mission — to kill Satan. The weapon is the halo itself, which fires; movement comes from a dash that can chain into a second one, and from a grappling hook that latches onto surfaces to cross entire rooms.

Painting the walls red is the game's core verb: there are 20 different enemies and 5 demonic bosses on the road to Satan. Hell's map opens up into interconnected areas, and part of the journey plays out inside a mine cart that cuts across this world from one end to the other. In the most hidden corners live strange birds the game itself presents as a rare creature, and a side task sends you to rescue lost chicks down below. Items found or bought combine through an inventory system that opens up new paths, and the story holds back revelations about the relationship between heaven and hell that the official summary doesn't fully give away.

It's the work of three Dutch students gathered under the name Pun Intended, who also handle distribution themselves — no third-party publisher involved. In the store's own description, the studio invites players to join a Discord channel to trade impressions, and asks for nothing to install the result.

The halo wins people over; the final boss shows no mercy

Whoever wrote on May 21, 2023, just days after launch, already sums up the tone that keeps coming back: good action, loose humor, an interesting upgrade system — with the caveat that it still needs polish, natural for a game made by three students. That same person leaves a tip for anyone struggling against the bosses: after taking damage come a few seconds of invulnerability, and that's the window to claw back the health you lost — the same window you'll need if you get stuck on that very boss. On June 14 of that year, another write-up compares the mood to Hollow Knight, praises the irreverent humor, and boils the discovery down to little to lose and much to gain.

On June 16, 2023, the write-up in French shifts the tone: it praises the pacing, well measured from start to finish, but singles out one exception — the final boss, too hard even for someone who admits to being no great fan of the genre. It adds, judging by what the store's own completion figures showed, that this player wasn't the only one to give up there. In May 2024, the harshest take of the bunch repeats the complaint from another angle: the game recalls titles built on stages reshuffled each run, but without the difficulty the style usually brings, which leaves it short; the single weapon wears thin in places, the human-faced creatures intrigue without explanation, and soundtrack and story sink to the bottom of the plate — even so, the experience stays fun and free of frustration.

The 2025 write-ups round out the picture: in January, one person describes Az slicing through corridors after henchmen and bosses, complains that the weapon-progression system could be more direct, but says they had fun most of the time, even when doubling back the same way to grab a forgotten item. In August, anyone who likes top-down shooters in the vein of Smash TV or Binding of Isaac finds familiar ground — a flood of projectiles, difficulty pitched just right — and sums up the effect in one word: addictive. Between November and December 2024, shorter write-ups, one in English and one in Spanish, confirm the same verdict in fewer lines: it landed well, it was worth the time, they'd play again. The overall gauge leans toward praise, but not everyone agrees — and those who complain always complain about the same spot: the last room, not the rest of the house.

Who this afternoon in hell is for

Bloody Hell is for anyone who wants to jump in without ceremony, laugh at the premise of an angel hunting Satan, and walk away satisfied without tiring of the game itself: you'll notice that even the complaints are about repetition, not length. It's also for anyone who likes to aim and fire nonstop, in the mold of Smash TV or Binding of Isaac, without minding carrying the same weapon from beginning to end.

It's not for anyone looking for a soundtrack and a script to remember afterward — both are left aside, according to those who've finished the game. And anyone who freezes easily at a sudden difficulty spike would do well to know where the bar rises: it's not all of hell that scares you, it's the last room.