With a name like ‘Mustache in Hell’ it doesn’t come as much of a surprise to discover this twin-stick shooter has a comical tone. Our hirsute hero – known as John Mustache – is likened to a certain ‘80s American action TV show star, and wakes up one morning in Hell. Upon being confronted by the Grim Reaper, they’re given a chance of redemption. If they can retrieve five missing powerful cubes, each guarded by a demonic boss, then ol’ mustachio chops will be returned to the living world.
This quest facilitates what’s to come, exploring five bleak hellish locations – such as The River of Styx – and retrieving said precious cubes after besting their demonic guardians. John Mustache is armed with a slow firing pistol as default, which fires in eight directions, and can evade danger with a dash. Mechanically, it’s simple, but within that simplicity lies robustness. Only within narrow locations do the odds of survival feel unfairly stacked.
Rather than freely explore each dungeon-like level, we’re instead ushered from room to room, killing waves of enemies until a key drops. There’s backtracking, switch flicking, and secret hunting in between too, with hidden collectables taking the form of retro gaming controllers. A few other pop culture references have snuck in, including a nod to Masters of the Universe.
Very quickly, a pattern emerges. Upon entering a room, small waves of enemies – a mix of delightfully cartoony demons, mostly – spawn in, easily avoided by walking backward or backing into walls. Every twenty seconds or so, both a primary and secondary weapon will drop – including flame throwers, shotguns, SMGs, grenades, and mines. These are vital to collect as the default weapon isn’t exactly packing a punch. And so, most battles devolve into mad dashes to collect new arsenal the moment it drops, before emptying their clips in a matter of seconds. Rinse and repeat.
It’s the hazards within each room where much of the variety lies. Spiked floors, saw blades and falling debris can eat into your health bar if you aren’t careful. Sadly, the weapon pool and enemy rooster aren’t expanded much upon after the first couple of stages. Reprieves to the tried-and-tested shooting formula do mercifully appear though, with the second stage featuring a mini-boss battle within its first room, and the aforementioned The River of Styx stage introducing a boat.
There are secret areas to find too, mostly by hugging walls, which include extra lives. Especially within the later stages, these become vital to track down. See, Mustache in Hell’s difficulty level flitters between being challenging and brutal. It’s quite a demanding experience, with some rooms able to eat into your supply of extra lives while battling larger enemies. More detrimental is that if you lose your last life during a boss, all progress within that stage is lost – you’re thrown back to the hub and must play through it, in its entirety, again. As bosses can be quite tough – mostly because common enemies still spawn within boss rooms – you can expect to retry later stages a couple of times.
Considering each stage only lasts around 15 minutes, this isn’t the fatal blow that it may initially seem. Regardless, aside from hidden extra lives, Mustache in Hell won’t ever throw you a lifeline. There’s no easy mode, no accessibility options, no aim assist, and it won’t dole out bonus health and weapons if you’re struggling. While none of these things are expected as standard, it is strange that there are no permanent upgrades. Perhaps this was to prevent the experience from crossing into Roguelike territory.
What we have here, then, is a very traditional twin-stick shooter. A 2-3 hour experience with non-randomised locations, plenty of secret areas to find, and boss battles that’ll likely require a couple of attempts, ergo two or three return visits to certain dungeons. Said dungeons could have done with something to make them feel more distinct, with only The River of Styx standing out. The lack of checkpoints may leave a sour taste too, and Roguelike fans will likely expect more depth and customisation options. Despite getting most of the basics right, in addition to featuring a few comical moments, Mustache in Hell isn’t quite a must-have.
IdunaSoft’s Mustache in Hell is out 8th February on consoles. Published by QUByte. A PC version launched in 2016.