This game may as well be called Painkiller Lite because H&D suffers from being what is essentially a stripped down version of the original Painkiller. In Painkiller: Black Edition, there were 34 levels (including the expansion Battle Out Of Hell that was bundled with it). In Hell & Damnation, there's only 14 levels in the base game. As a result of this, the game is ridiculously short. It took me a little over 3 hours to beat. And you'd think the developers would pick the best 14 levels to include in a very small vanilla game, but of course not. They include the mediocre Atrium Complex and the one-trick pony Colosseum level, but the popular levels such as the Asylum and Town were cut and sold as DLC. Even with the levels that did make it in, there placement among the campaign feel odd. The Cathedral and Atrium Complex just switch places and the Orphanage comes right after the Palace. What were they thinking?.
Speaking of levels, the developers decided to just throw whatever enemies they wanted into whatever level they please, regardless if they fit or if they've already been used a lot. One of the biggest strengths of the original Painkiller was the variety of both maps and enemies. Enemies rarely appeared in more than 2 levels back-to-back. Enemies like the Witch and Banshee only appeared in two maps and were never used again! In H&D, the game reuses the same enemies back to back all the time. Templars, Evil Boys, Hell Angels, Banshees get used so often and thrown into levels where they don't fit at all. A luxurious and grand Opera House? Fuck it, just spawn in some Clowns from the Loony Park level. A dark and decaying Orphanage in the middle of a swamp that house the many evil kids inside it? Who cares, lets throw in some Amputees from the Asylum level. The twisted Loony Park? Yeah lets put some Electro-Freaks in it from the Asylum level too.
On the topic of enemies, they have so many weird and unnecessary changes. The psychonuns use voice clips from the Evil Boys instead of their own and the voice clips for the Skeleton Soldiers get used for a lot of the standard fodder enemies when these enemies already have their own sounds in the original game. Don't ask me why they have made these changes.
The only reason why this game isn’t rated any lower is that the gameplay still kicks ass as thankfully that’s the one thing they haven’t managed to curb-stomp into the ground. The new Soulcatcher weapon is very useful and being able to summon friendly enemies that are a great addition considering that these summoned allies don’t fall apart until they are killed by an enemy or they cannot find another target and in the more insane battles, they’ll likely always have a target.
Only buy this game on special and don’t even bother buying the predatory DLC when the original Painkiller: Black Edition has all levels from the base game and the Battle Out of Hell expansion.
Speaking of levels, the developers decided to just throw whatever enemies they wanted into whatever level they please, regardless if they fit or if they've already been used a lot. One of the biggest strengths of the original Painkiller was the variety of both maps and enemies. Enemies rarely appeared in more than 2 levels back-to-back. Enemies like the Witch and Banshee only appeared in two maps and were never used again! In H&D, the game reuses the same enemies back to back all the time. Templars, Evil Boys, Hell Angels, Banshees get used so often and thrown into levels where they don't fit at all. A luxurious and grand Opera House? Fuck it, just spawn in some Clowns from the Loony Park level. A dark and decaying Orphanage in the middle of a swamp that house the many evil kids inside it? Who cares, lets throw in some Amputees from the Asylum level. The twisted Loony Park? Yeah lets put some Electro-Freaks in it from the Asylum level too.
On the topic of enemies, they have so many weird and unnecessary changes. The psychonuns use voice clips from the Evil Boys instead of their own and the voice clips for the Skeleton Soldiers get used for a lot of the standard fodder enemies when these enemies already have their own sounds in the original game. Don't ask me why they have made these changes.
The only reason why this game isn’t rated any lower is that the gameplay still kicks ass as thankfully that’s the one thing they haven’t managed to curb-stomp into the ground. The new Soulcatcher weapon is very useful and being able to summon friendly enemies that are a great addition considering that these summoned allies don’t fall apart until they are killed by an enemy or they cannot find another target and in the more insane battles, they’ll likely always have a target.
Only buy this game on special and don’t even bother buying the predatory DLC when the original Painkiller: Black Edition has all levels from the base game and the Battle Out of Hell expansion.