Hellsinker on STEAM (out now!)

[KAI]

WTF!


Seriously WTF
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1067720/Hellsinker/

[microfolk]

Tonnor has been updating the game in the past months for the BOOTH version, I guess it was in preparation for this release and I'm so excited about it I can't believe this is really happening

[MathU]

Are those of us who got the physical copy ages ago going to receive these new patches at some point? Tonnor's website hasn't been updated in years.

Also not liking those increased system requirements. I hope the updates don't make Hellsinker run even worse in Wine than now.

[bobasaurus]

Awesome, been wanting to try this one for a while.

[Shepardus]

Zaarock had mentioned that the BOOTH version has new UI features and a training mode that explains some mechanics: viewtopic.php?p=1368548#p1368548

BTW, here's the Twitter of the dev: https://twitter.com/tonnyoriclayer/stat ... 1675462657

[MathU]

I hope the updates don't make Hellsinker run even worse in Wine than now.

Well, the good news is the new 1280x960 windowed mode support makes it much easier to play the game windowed than in the past. The DirectX 9 build has always had a problem in Wine where it resizes the display improperly in fullscreen mode. The bad news is the DirectX 9 build has always had a huge issue with slowdown whenever there's lots of projectiles on-screen. Frame rate can jump down to 45 or even 30 fps at these times. That doesn't seem to have changed. I wish Tonnor would issue another non-DX9 executable with these new patches.

[Zaarock]

Tonnor mentioned on twitter it's a few weeks minimum until release.

[Keade]

The game has now been released.

[blossom]

My first impression is you can't really play this game "for survival" and then learn how to score when you're more familiar with the game. At least, you can't seem to kill most enemies in stage 1 so I assume you are supposed to milk them. Either that or I have no idea how to kill them yet, played as Fossil Maiden if that means anything.

[microfolk]

You could and probably should (if you are as bad as me) play for survival, it's more than enough to clear the game. You have to learn how to dish out as much damage as possible to high priority enemies tho, and that heavily depends on the character you're using. Also if you get very good at survival you start racking up huge Immortality bonuses and could end up with a more than mediocre spirit score anyway

[MathU]

So what's the verdict: is this still the same DRM-free Hellsinker we all know and love?

My first impression is you can't really play this game "for survival" and then learn how to score when you're more familiar with the game. At least, you can't seem to kill most enemies in stage 1 so I assume you are supposed to milk them. Either that or I have no idea how to kill them yet, played as Fossil Maiden if that means anything.

Don't worry about the invincible enemies in stage one--they are indeed invincible. You can play this game for survival and learn more tricks later. I've always found Fossil Maiden to be the most difficult of the seven characters to fully clear the game with because of her tricky bullet slowdown zones and her gigantic life chip requirement growth late in the game.

[Shepardus]

My first impression is you can't really play this game "for survival" and then learn how to score when you're more familiar with the game. At least, you can't seem to kill most enemies in stage 1 so I assume you are supposed to milk them. Either that or I have no idea how to kill them yet, played as Fossil Maiden if that means anything.

You don't need to play "for score" to survive. Since scoring is tied to Stella (rank), it's actually kind of the opposite. You do need an understanding of the mechanics, though, especially how your character behaves. I highly recommend reading the manual, which explains a lot even though it words things a little funny sometimes. Zaarock's ST has a table near the top that "translates" the various terms in the game to more common STG term, such as that "Stella" = Rank, etc. I personally find Minogame the easiest to play due to the invulnerability attack and the homing attacks; that's the only one I've cleared the game with.

So what's the verdict: is this still the same DRM-free Hellsinker we all know and love?

Here are changes I've noticed. I don't have the Booth version to compare to, but I imagine most of what I mention are also in there.

• English and Chinese translations, which can be selected from the config dialog that pops up when starting the game. I think the English translation is the same as the translation patch, but I didn't compare.
• Some additional configs in the pre-startup (external program) config, such as 1280x960 resolution window and the ability to display gameplay info in a ring around your character. The in-game options menu is also redesigned, though this can be reverted back to the old design (via the external config) if you miss that.
• New tutorial that plays when you first start up the game, and is also accessible from the main menu. It's nothing that you can't figure out from the manual, and I would still recommend reading the manual anyway, but still a nice gesture. There's also a sort of practice room that lets you shoot at an invulnerable enemy and measure the damage output and spirit gain.
• Steam achievements
• There's a soundtrack DLC that gives you the soundtrack in MP3 and lossless FLAC formats. Supposedly also updates the in-game data to be lossless too. I don't think I've seen an official soundtrack release before, though there have been unofficial rips from the game.

So basically the changes amount to some supplementary UI changes/additional configs and a tutorial. And Steam achievements. Gameplay, unlocks, the general weirdness of the game, etc. haven't changed. Config still doesn't let me bind slow movement to left shift...

[MathU]

Aside from the Steam "features", the rest of that sounds likes stuff that's already available from the latest game patch. What I wanna know is whether there's DRM or not. Can the game be run without Steam?

Config still doesn't let me bind slow movement to left shift...

If there was one thing from my wishlist of easily patched in features that I want above all others, it's a proper keyboard input configuration option allowing any key to be mapped to anything. I wasn't ever able to enjoy Hellsinker until I finally got myself a controller because those key mappings typical of doujin games are completely retarded and unergonomic. Would love to play it on keyboard with sane mappings. If GOG or Steam or whoever else are going to demand standards that developers have to meet before getting games on their stores, full control customization should be one of them.

[Shepardus]

Actually there was just an update several hours ago that added Shift and Ctrl to the list of buttons you can bind! Hopefully that comes to the Booth version as well if it hasn't already.

Aside from the Steam "features", the rest of that sounds likes stuff that's already available from the latest game patch. What I wanna know is whether there's DRM or not. Can the game be run without Steam?

Launching the .exe starts up the Steam client with it, so I would guess not.

[Cadrin]

• English and Chinese translations, which can be selected from the config dialog that pops up when starting the game. I think the English translation is the same as the translation patch, but I didn't compare.

Looks like it's still the same, amazingly high-quality fan translation that was given to us a few years ago, although at a glance, there have been slight changes in how some things are worded, e.g. in the game manual. Also, it looks like some bits from the fan translation have been reverted back to the original, e.g. the invincible sphere enemy at the end of the Shrine of Farewell has japanese names instead of translated ones. Grammar fixes, e.g. "OOZED SPIRITS RETURN" vs. "OZZED SPIRITS RETURN" (also from the Shrine) have also not been included. I'm probably going to complain about those translation downgrades in the Steam discussion board for the game, once I compile them. I don't like this, but apparently Hiranyon/Tonnor is active in the Steam game hub, and even responds in English, so maybe he, or more likely the publisher, would have something to say about their choice.

Can the game be run without Steam?

No. Trying to run hs_dx9build.exe will start Steam. It's probably because of the game having achievements.

If there was one thing from my wishlist of easily patched in features that I want above all others, it's a proper keyboard input configuration option allowing any key to be mapped to anything. I wasn't ever able to enjoy Hellsinker until I finally got myself a controller because those key mappings typical of doujin games are completely retarded and unergonomic. Would love to play it on keyboard with sane mappings. If GOG or Steam or whoever else are going to demand standards that developers have to meet before getting games on their stores, full control customization should be one of them.

Yes. Like I said, Tonnor seems to read player feedback on Steam, at least for now. Maybe he can be pestered about it to fix his game and include the option to bind buttons to keys freely.

[MathU]

Launching the .exe starts up the Steam client with it, so I would guess not.

Thanks for checking and passing the info here Shepardus. Disgusting. Good job selling out, Tonnor, you were my most respected doujin developer.

It's probably because of the game having achievements.

You can do Steam cheevos without locking a game to its scummy DRM, see the La-Mulana remake for instance.

Maybe he can be pestered about it to fix his game and include the option to bind buttons to keys freely.

Not going to matter to me at all if he pushes the feature out on only the Steam release. So far he seems to be keeping the new feature patches available to people who've bought the game previously in a different form. I sure hope it stays that way.

[CStarFlare]

Launching the .exe starts up the Steam client with it, so I would guess not.

Thanks for checking and passing the info here Shepardus. Disgusting. Good job selling out, Tonnor, you were my most respected doujin developer.

This is super harsh as the game has been available DRM free both physically and digitally for years now and the only additions seem to be Steam-specific or not DRM'd (the soundtrack release). As I get older I respect your view on this more and more, but this is a lot of venom for a release that has widely increased distribution of the game without making it less available in a DRM-free form. Even if the Steam release is dead to you, there is no downside here.

[MathU]

There is a downside in this game's case, even for someone like myself who bought the physical version of Hellsinker ages ago. The problem is game releases don't exist in a vacuum. This is just another DRM-crippled shooter to add to the pile that will continue to influence future shooter releases by moving the window of acceptable behavior towards customers in DRM's favor. Unless and until people get mad and take a stand against it. Well I'm a massive Hellsinker fan and I'm mad.

While very disappointed, I'm not entirely surprised by this by the way. I can't remember exactly where I heard it, but I've heard somewhere that Tonnor has issued takedown requests for his game before on file uploading services. He may be another developer who doesn't understand how copyright infringement works. I don't think this game would have a following at all in the west if not for copyright infringement. The demo has never been long enough to really sell the game (that comes around segments 4-6), and I'm sure a considerable number of people became customers only after an extended engagement with an unauthorized copy of it.

Not to say that Steam DRM has ever prevented even one instance of unauthorized copying.

[Mischief Maker]

Can the game be run without Steam?

No. Trying to run hs_dx9build.exe will start Steam. It's probably because of the game having achievements.

That doesn't actually answer the question of whether the game is DRM-free.

The real test of a steam game's DRM is to:

1. Close Steam entirely.

2. Open the steam folder and rename the main steam executable temporarily (Steamx.exe should do the trick and is easily undone).

3. THEN run hs_dx9build.exe.

- If it opens and runs, the game is DRM-free.

(Note that some games will put up a message about steam being missing and features being unavailable, but they still run. These also count as DRM-free)

- If instead you get a crash and/or error message about not being able to find steam.exe and the game does not run at all, it is not DRM-free.

4. Change the name of the main Steam executable back to Steam.exe.

I await the results with baited breath, as another person with a white Hellsinker CD special-ordered from Japan years ago.

[microfolk]

The Booth version is DRM free, easy to buy and I can't see a single reason it will stop receiving all the updates any time soon.

[Cadrin]

That doesn't actually answer the question of whether the game is DRM-free.
The real test of a steam game's DRM is to: (...)

Thank you for the detailed list of steps. I am completely inexperienced with Steam circumvention. I have followed your list to the letter, and the game's executable stops immediately, without displaying any error message, or anything at all. I'm sorry.

I was just happy to finally give Tonnor some monetary appreciation. I was one of those people who first stumbled upon Hellsinker through a download site, with the save file owner's name set to "Kizeki", as have some other people in the past. I've seen that name appear on YouTube Hellsinker videos once or twice.

[Mischief Maker]

The Booth version is DRM free, easy to buy and I can't see a single reason it will stop receiving all the updates any time soon.

Oh, Booth is a store! Silly me, I thought you were referring to some kind of arcade release, like Crimzon Clover had. Does it include the English translation?

[microfolk]

The Booth version is DRM free, easy to buy and I can't see a single reason it will stop receiving all the updates any time soon.

Oh, Booth is a store! Silly me, I thought you were referring to some kind of arcade release, like Crimzon Clover had. Does it include the English translation?

Ah yeah sorry I didn't even think how generic the name of the store is ahaha. You can find the game here.
Regarding the translation I fear this version doesn't include any, and I don't even know if the old gensokyo.org fan translation could be applied to it... Sadly I won't be able to try it for a while so if anyone else could chime in it would be very helpful. I didn't consider this when recommending this version for a DRM-free alternative, it's quite annoying.

I wonder if Tonnor would be cool with releasing the english and chinese translations through Booth too, but also it could prove tricky if the localisation work was made by the publisher Henteko Doujin.

[Vanguard]

Ah yeah sorry I didn't even think how generic the name of the store is ahaha. You can find the game here.
Regarding the translation I fear this version doesn't include any, and I don't even know if the old gensokyo.org fan translation could be applied to it... Sadly I won't be able to try it for a while so if anyone else could chime in it would be very helpful. I didn't consider this when recommending this version for a DRM-free alternative, it's quite annoying.

I wonder if Tonnor would be cool with releasing the english and chinese translations through Booth too, but also it could prove tricky if the localisation work was made by the publisher Henteko Doujin.

Oh interesting! I didn't know a downloadable version was available all along. I'd definitely pick that up if it included an english translation or worked with the fan patch.