Ghostrunner’s fantastic adventure that allows the player to live the fantasy of being a ninja with more than enough agility to perform parkour skills in a dystopic cyberpunk world, received an expansion of its name, Project_Hel.
Project_Hel is also set in Dharma City, but before the story of Jack, who wakes up to put an end to the ideas of Mara, the baddy around the block.
The player thus has the possibility to enter the cybernetic body of Hel, a well-known character from the base game, since it is possible to fight against this character. I have to say that she is a very complicated boss both for her dexterity of movements and for her attacks. In this way, the gameplay changes substantially but the basic idea remains the same. The ability to wall-run, melee sword attacks, the ability to use everything around you to your advantage and make that perfect line of attack, but with small changes, or this wasn’t a new cyborg.
In this sense, Hel’s jump travels a considerably greater distance than Jack’s and the implementation of a new long-range skill, as long as you have enough Range Meter to perform the same. This Range Meter is easily recoverable as all zones are overcrowded with enemies and each enemy killed is equivalent to a percentage of the Meter recovered.
The return of the Teris-style skill upgrades is also back, albeit with a different look.
The level design has been improved to some extent, but it is less complex in terms of elements present in each location. There are many zones where all the action takes place within four walls and not in the vibrant Dharma City. Even so, it is possible to glimpse small points of this city and all its atmosphere, its brightness, lights. It is indeed a treat for the eyes.
All the action is accompanied by a sublime soundtrack. Every now and then you really want to stop everything, catch your breath, your personal adrenaline bar while listening to the beat of each new song, and go all out for new challenges.
The difficulty line remains quite high and the learning curve that comes from trial and error is quite satisfactory. This of course, is if the player is committed to completing all seven levels that this DLC features. Controls with the Dual Sense can be an obstacle as the sensitivity that you have to aim with the analog is not the same as with the mouse.
As in the base game, all the letters in the menus are quite small, and if I had to point something out, it would be either the possibility of increasing the characters or the game itself presenting larger letters by default.
Project_Hel is small, challenging, and satisfying. The implementation of small gameplay tweaks makes a big difference in the type of approach to each adverse situation.
[This review is based on a retail build of the game for PS5 provided by 505 Games]
