Devil Jam Review: Surviving with Rock Hits

Devil Jam is an experience, if you'll excuse the term, out of its mind! And this was already clear last November when Rogueside's title performed a literally infernal concert. Now those notes, that music so rock it could awaken even the souls of hell, officially debut on PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch consoles. 

Now the question arises: what exactly is Devil Jam? Well, we could summarize it as a roguelite where all you have to do is survive with an electric guitar in the deepest depths of hell: and it won't be a simple performance, here you'll have to take out none other than Death itself.

It's an immediate, sufficiently strategic experience that, in some ways, reminded us of Vampire Survivors, a true cornerstone of this particular genre. That said, prepare the best guitar you have because Devil Jam won't give you a moment's rest; in fact, the creatures of hell themselves won't appreciate your extremely rock music. 

The Greatest Show After Life!

As promising rockstars, exceptional talent isn't enough; you also need a record label that brings out our best metal side. But what if the owner was the devil himself? Well, then maybe things change slightly. Falco, however, didn't pay attention to this small detail, just like Amy and Lydia (who we'll unlock as playable characters), signing a contract that included a very specific clause: "in exchange for immense musical talent, your soul will be delivered to the devil when you no longer belong to the realm of the living."

A pact with the devil, then, but someone interfered with the band's destiny: Death in person, who plunged our heroes into hell sooner than expected. And now the king of hell wants justice since he snatched his rapidly rising protégés. He proposes a deal: if we kill Death, our souls will be returned, and we can live a little longer on Earth.

And here begins our battle, one that will see Falco make short work of the worst kind of villains who will surround us to kill us: apparently, they don't fully appreciate our immense art. 

Once this pact is sealed, our heroes can take part in a big concert, moving freely in a vast area, made of spotlights and other scenarios worthy of hell itself. In addition to moving strategically, avoiding being surrounded as much as possible, we can attack automatically on the beat of the music when enemies are within our range. In short: we are facing a kind of "twin-stick shooter" with an isometric view, where we will have to be good at effectively directing every single solo.

Demons, once defeated, will release souls that will make us level up. With each level-up, Devil Jam will present us with a choice of some deadly sins, which are useful cards for acquiring new weapons and will grant some pretty good advantages. In addition to weapons, we can acquire new abilities that will consequently increase the effectiveness of the latter.

In simple terms, Devil Jam's combat system is based on building and upgrading various attacks that will be placed on a special 12-slot grid, like those found on some musical keyboards. And arranging abilities (active and passive) and various attacks strategically will reward us with bonuses to make Falco and the band even more powerful and effective in battle.

On paper, we found this idea to be spot on, but sometimes it's really difficult to create winning combinations, not to mention that the various tutorials don't effectively guide the player who will find themselves placing the various upgrades randomly from the very first games: and guess what? The result is a fateful game over. However, after getting the hang of this mechanic, the game starts to deliver some satisfaction and provide decent fun thanks to the many strategic possibilities.

As you may have understood, in Devil Jam you will die very often and will have to start over, but with the knowledge of having learned something and having accumulated money and various demonic vials to spend at the stands backstage in hell. And there will be no shortage of various bosses, unsavory musicians (like Meggy and the Speggies) who will hinder our mission.

A Setlist Not Always Perfect

Our jam session took place on Nintendo Switch, a version that pairs well with this type of production, also suitable for quick play sessions (but not for the more demanding ones). While portability is well managed, if you play on a high-definition TV, you will encounter all the hardware's limitations, noticing not-so-well-defined textures with the naked eye. Furthermore, considering the simple nature of the production, we also found some small frame drops and sometimes somewhat long loading times.

Devil Jam is not a simple game and is far too fast, and we don't believe it can be assimilated by everyone in the same way. Moreover, we will almost always find ourselves in a single area with the same enemies and boss battles that will pop up suddenly, especially when energy is almost depleted. We also appreciated its strategic nature, even if the experience after a few hours tends to be extremely repetitive, perhaps even more so than other roguelites. 

In all this, let's be honest, the soundtrack is truly amazing thanks to rock metal tracks capable of warming the spirits even of those who don't particularly love this genre.