Hell Maiden

The art and music, sire... it's just peak. Also interesting deckbuilding mechanic where sometimes the position of your weapons themselves or effect cards on them can change your whole build. Love it, can't wait for more.

At the time of writing (July 2026), Hell Maiden is a *beautifully* presented, mechanically solid core, only awaiting, well, the rest of the game. I think it's: an easy pick-up in its current state if you really love the aesthetic, as I do; worth considering if you know you enjoy this sort of game and want 5–10 hours of horde survival for the current price; and something to watch but perhaps not rush into if you're not in either of those two categories. The presentation's the brightest quality here: AstralShift have honed an aesthetic that's delicious. Lush portraits bear up each dialogue sequence and special attacks come with little full-animated sequences. The landscapes of Limbo and the Second Circle look great, and even the mob enemies are often charming and characterful designs. The music bangs and the voice actors give, ah, not-understated performances that recall older anime dubbing in the USA. The game's core bit—Dante and his canon of predecessors imagined as expressive anime girls—might in other hands feel too flippant, but it's backed up here by proper reading. If you know the Comedy, you'll spot conversational details *and* game mechanics that come from details in Dante's work, and the characterisations of the other poets who turn up all draw on at least a modicum of research, often amusingly. Mechanically, there's little that feels outright wrong with the game—which is an achievement—but also perhaps not very much surprise. You will rip and tear your way through inferno's hordes, pausing frequently to pick one of three cards which combine to power up and modify up to four weapons; reassigning cards and managing stack positioning are useful but *relatively* simple. A metaprogression currency lets you buy permanent upgrades (and you'll want to get at least the first tiers of a few of these if you find the Second Circle giving you trouble). Repeatedly beating a circle's boss(es) nets you a few rounds more of fresh dialogue and a couple more useful tools in the arsenal. The various weapons do feel distinct, bringing out different player techniques, and it's satisfying if a build really comes together towards the end of a circle's time limit. My only real complaints are minor. I see a fair bit of screen tearing in the forum, the persistent setting between runs. If that occurs during runs, then I don't notice it! My computer struggles slightly with the dense smoke effects in one boss battle, but then my computer doesn't even have a graphics card—so possibly the lesson here is that if you have a computer designed to play games, at all, you'll likely be all right running this one! I've enjoyed every run I've played, and the exact mixture of mechanics is pleasing, but I'm not sure what I could say about this game mechanically that would make people look twice. I worry slightly that the game might go underrecognised—and if that happens, IMO it'll be a shame, because the story concept and presentation are just so strong. We'll see. I certainly wish AstralShift every good luck in adding to Hell Maiden, and I'll definitely be on deck to play through more circles of the Inferno as they arrive.