Hell Clock – Brazilian ARPG blends Diablo and Hades influences

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• DEVELOPER: Rogue Snail
• PUBLISHER: Mad Mushroom
• PLATFORMS: PC
• GENRE: Action RPG / Rougelike
• RELEASE DATE: July 22, 2025
• STARTING PRICE: 19,50€
• REVIEWED VERSION: PC

Hell Clock is an action RPG with few rougelike elements that stands out from the crowd of Diablo and Hades-likes, offering an interesting blend of combat and deep, satisfying build customization. While many games in this genre feel similar, Hell Clock manages to carve out its own identity with a unique narrative and a well structured gameplay loop.

The game is firmly rooted in the historical Canudos Massacre of 1897, where a Brazilian municipality was slaughtered by government forces. You play as Pajeú, on a quest for revenge after his mentor is killed and his soul trapped. This dark historical backdrop provides a potent motivation for the game’s brutal action, making every press of a button feel like a strike for justice. It’s rare to find an ARPG that makes you want to know more about historical events.

Balancing combat and deep customization with a ticking challenge

Hell Clock doesn’t shy away from offering a really satisfying combat. It is fast-paced, visually striking, and flashy, featuring abilities like lightning knives, AOE attacks, and mini-gun-like weapons. In fact, The action won’t overwhelm you, though some enemy attack visuals can be cluttered in dark, crowded areas. The most interesting part is the “Hell Clock” timer, which adds urgency, pushing you to quickly move through floors and complete quests to progress between acts.

“The action in this game won’t overwhelm you.”

But this mechanic also has a problem. Since runs are short (about 20 minutes) and tied to it (it can be extended or even disabled), the game often feels like it forces specific upgrades instead of letting you experiment. If the best way to deal with a mechanic is to remove it, its purpose becomes questionable. If the timer expires, your run ends, but you carry over resources for permanent upgrades.

Hell Clock’s strength is its build-crafting system, offering a constant sense of progression. While you get temporary power during runs with ability upgrades, the main growth happens between runs. You can gain permanent upgrades through gear, level up active abilities, invest in a skill tree, and equip/upgrade relics. This steady flow of upgrades makes each run feel new, letting you try vastly different playstyles, even with semi-procedurally generated floors that might feel similar.

Stunning art and deep progression marred by repetitive grinds

The game’s hand-drawn, isometric art style with a comic-book aesthetic will immediately stand out when you start playing, drawing comparisons to Hades. While it shares a similar polished, stylized look, it distinguishes itself with a more grounded, Brazilian-inspired setting infused with supernatural elements. Its visuals are filled with bold lines and strong color contrasts that emphasize the game’s grim tone.

Hell Clock also features diverse enemies that change as you progress, from undead soldiers to nightmarish historical oppressors. Despite its strengths, Hell Clock isn’t without its flaws. Like many ARPGs, hitting a progression wall means repeating the same battles, which gets frustrating. You might feel invincible but still deal little damage to some enemies. And don’t get me started on the slow grind. Even when combat is fun, repeating the same areas and builds gets tedious.

“The game’s hand-drawn, isometric art style with a comic-book aesthetic will immediately stand out.”

Neverthless, this was a very fun experience. The enormous skill tree lets you unlock general upgrades like potion potency or gold gain. As you progress, you’ll find game-changing abilities, such as skipping floors or adding time to the clock. Relics also boost stats and add permanent secondary abilities to your active skills. Inventory management is crucial, almost like Tetris, as storage space is limited and each relic takes up its own slot.

A Thought-Provoking Action RPG

There’s an interesting game mode called Ascension, which completely resets your game. You lose all levels, relics, gear, and soulstones, then start a new endgame run from scratch. You customize the difficulty and mechanics of this new world using a new skill tree, aiming to beat it with limited runs, trying new builds, relics, and constellations. After finishing the campaign the first time, you can begin your first Ascension.

In a world full of roguelikes, Hell Clock is far more than just another Hades clone. Its core gameplay and story are very interesting. The heartbreaking tale of the Canudos people, mixed with flexible combat, creates an experience that’s thought provoking. If you love build-crafting and leveling systems similar to Diablo 4 or even Path of Exile, Hell Clock is definitely worth your time.

Review copy provided by the publisher