Update: With Devil Jam launching on PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series on March 26th, we’re resharing our original review for console players considering experiencing the game for the first time.
The console version is said to expand upon the action with one brand-new story, four new challenges, and two battlegrounds to endure.
You can check out the console announcement trailer and our original review of the action roguelite below:
Original: Devil Jam dropped this week on PC, and I’ve sunk a couple of hours in here and there. This rocking little auto-shooter from Rogueside is a stylish interpretation of this burgeoning genre, and it makes a really strong first impression.
The question is: does it do enough to stand out in an increasingly saturated niche, which is currently offering up bangers like Megabonk and Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor?
Picking apart that headline
I mentioned a couple of the very best roguelites in the headline, in the form of Hades and Vampire Survivors. These are two of the games that persuaded me that there was an audience for Rogueliker, and I don’t invoke their names lightly. It’s a double-edged sword, though, because if you invite comparisons with the best, you’re judged against that standard.
Let’s start with Hades. This reference is more visual and thematic, rather than gameplay-centric. The visual side of things, and the reverence for the audio experience – these are hallmarks of Supergiant and Hades, and they’ve been prioritised here, too.
The setting is also rather close to its source material. Of course, there’s a nice rock theme to the whole thing and that’s not the same, but the game is set in the underworld, and while it’s not Hades sitting on his throne, the Devil – here a music exec – is sitting behind his desk and waits to greet you after each run.
The Vampire Survivors comparison is much more gameplay-focused. Devil Jam is, in many respects, a fairly standard auto-shooter with hordes of slimes and other twisted demonic creatures coming after you in wave after wave, with boss battles at the end of each round.
What does Devil Jam do differently, then?
Although it borrows from the best, a game like this still has to do its own thing to stand out. The headline feature in Devil Jam is the way you arrange your abilities. As you can see from the images, you get a board at the bottom of the screen, split into four sections, with each one representing a beat in a bar of four.
Therefore, as you unlock your new abilities, you must map them to this grid, and then they play out in that order (and in time with the music). Where it gets interesting is that there are certain powers you can select that buff certain squares around them, like the touch points on a guitar chord. However, I’ve not found a way to move your abilities around once placed, which I thought pushed this mechanic more towards luck than creative strategy.
While it is fun to see your moves play out in real-time based on how you’ve arranged them, the gameplay implications of this twist feel much more muted than I expected. You can see how the numbers evolve as you add in new abilities and buffs, which is super useful when crafting an effective build, but it’s also a little bit restrictive once you’re locked into certain choices.
Elsewhere in Devil Jam
This isn’t a full review, and I don’t want to end things on a downer, because there is a lot that I like. That’s because Devil Jam is clearly a polished auto-shooter with tons of style and an interesting approach to character building. Despite there only being a handful of them, the boss battles seem quite well implemented, and the audio-visual experience is really impressive.
The open world is huge, although it’s not always full of the most interesting details. That said, the set decorations are at least thematic and relevant. This is one area where the game could do with more, unless there are new environments to unlock, and I’ve just not seen any sign of them yet (the folks over at DearGamers have since confirmed that it’s only one stage).
As you explore, there are loads of destructables just waiting to splinter into oblivion. There are also little objectives and gig-themed items all over the place, which, once activated, grant you various boosts and buffs. It pays to explore and seek out markers on your mini-map, basically.
As you progress, some new playable characters unlock, but there doesn’t seem to be a big roster (I’ve been focused on the first two of what looks like three). You also meet different NPCs, each one themed around one of the seven deadly sins, and these folks grant you new abilities and upgrades, expanding your pool of powers over time. These powers are reflected in the animations of your attacks, and like so much else here, the influence of Hades is felt most keenly.
All told, Devil Jam is a well-polished bullet heaven, although based on my initial hours with it, it’s not quite the rock god I was hoping for. I think that’s because Devil Jam looks and even sounds like it’s going to deliver something truly unique with its musically-arranged attack patterns, but ultimately it was that twist that left me wanting more chances to play things my own way.
Devil Jam is out now on PC (Mac, Win), with console versions to follow on PS5, Switch, and Xbox on 26th March. I played via access kindly provided by the developer and their publishing friends.
