There's not enough beer for this.
White Hell is a retro-style First-Person Shooter made by Robert Raulus, Mikko Tamper, and Antti Allen; with a MIDI soundtrack composed by Arsi "Hakita" Patala of ULTRAKILL fame. You are Jarmo, a survivor of Glacial Apocalypse that decimated Finland and left it free pickings for violent warlords. Trying to make sense of the whole situation will put you against the Order of the Blue Eagle and Red Tomorrow, two extremist groups who share a single hatred: you.
To help you survive, you will gather a collection of Standard FPS Guns and a set of strange Alternate Fire modes powered by mythical energy called SISU. You'll travel through the ruined Finland, visiting deserted cities, secret facilities, and trekking through the wilderness, among other things. Make sure you drink your beer responsibly: there are no other health pickups in the game.
The game's first two chapters were released on Steam
, on August 12, 2021; currently, three chapters of the game are out, as well as the first level of the final level. A free demo is also available on the same platform.
White Hell provides examples of:
- Applied Phlebotinum: Both Blue Eagle and Red Tomorrow use SISU as an energy source to great effect; the former have an entire hi-tech bunker under their main base of operations powered by the stuff, for example. Tuoni's forces are full-on tech monstrosities with laser weapons and menacing cyborgs, including Louhi herself.
- The Alcoholic: Jarmo, of course; it doesn't get better than using beer as health pickups and unspecified booze as your Mana Meter.
- Alternate Fire: SISU Mode provides you with a selection of these. Killing enemies with SISU weapons grants armor, encouraging you to use them liberally. These are the following:
- Sword of Destiny — replaces the Knife, available from beginning. Gives you a big glowing sword that throws out energy waves. The old man who sends you back to reality at the end of Chapter 3 has the same kind of sword.
- Tickshot — replaces the Revolver's weak hitscan bullets with a delayed explosive that sticks to the enemies. Can be used to Rocket Jump for reaching high-up ledges or practicing hilarious speedrunning shenanigans, among other things.
- Barrels o' Fun — replaces the pump-action Shotgun with a pair of sawn-offs that turn everything in front of them into red mist.
- Ice Cannon — replaces the Machinegun's hitscan bullets with armor-piercing icicle projectiles.
- Oculus Rifle - replaces the bolt-action Rifle with a Smart Gun sniper rifle.
- The Squireller - replaces the Grenade Launcher with a crossbow that fires bouncing explosives.
- Green Balls - replaces the Flamethrower with a... thing that spits out a cluster of green fiery fireballs. Jarmo feeds it booze on reload.
- B.O.B - replaces the Anti-Tank Rifle. Currently unimplemented.
- Back Stab: If you approach an enemy from behind, you can strike them with your knife for a one-hit kill and not alert anyone else present.
- Bears Are Bad News: Red Tomorrow's Cybears are exactly that: cyborg bears, armed to the teeth with bolt-throwers and distinctly red fur. Getting caught by one in melee is certain death.
- Big Fancy Castle: Level 4 features Castle Tuoni, the Order of the Blue Eagle's headquarters. Level 15 has you explore a castle of Tuoni himself, with his mistress in charge.
- Bottomless Magazines: Like many old school shooters of the 90's, you don't need to reload your weapons and can keep shooting until you run out of ammo.
- Cool Airship: Level 10 has you board Red Tomorrow's massive flying vessel.
- The Door Slams You: Any baddie you hit with a kicked-out door will turn into chunky salsa.
- Enemy Mine: The remnants of Blue Eagle and Red Tomorrow are found fighting together alongside Tuoni's forces in Chapter 4.
- Evil Versus Evil: Neo-Nazis vs. Neo-Commies. It doesn't get worse than that, although the two factions are yet to infight in-game.
- Flies Equals Evil: Tuoni's forces feature giant purple flies that buzz around and spit fireballs.
- The Hero Dies: Jarmo gets shot dead by a Red Tomorrow sniper as he exits the Uberfuhrerbunker. He gets better.
- Humongous Mecha: What the Uberfuhrer uses to fight you at the climax of Part 1 of the game.
- Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels:
- Sober - "Enemies are weaker and there's fewer of them. Recommended for less experienced FPS players."
- Tipsy - "The way it's meant to be played. Recommended as a first playthrough for most players."
- Drunk - "Harder enemies, fewer resources, bigger challenge."
- Wasted - "No holds barred. Not recommended for the first playthrough."
- The Kalevala: The game is heavily inspired by the epic in question; it starts with finding "the brew of Vainamoinen" in Jarmo's apartment and goes all the way to Finnish mythology underworld, among other things, complete with fighting Louhi at the end of Chapter 3.
- Late to the Party: Jarmo seems completely oblivious to the fact the country has fallen and been taken over by Nazis and Communists. Apparently he was black out drunk in his bathroom throughout the entire apocalypse.
- Locomotive Level: Level 7 takes place entirely aboard Red Tomorrow's supply train. In a true boomer shooter fashion, you crash it at the end.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Red Tomorrow's basic Mooks wield riot shields which reflect gunfire and projectiles like grenades; necessitating aiming for their heads or feet, hitting their backs, or just using an Armor-Piercing Attack. The Black Swans of Tuoni also use shields when approaching you, except they have the brawn for it.
- Power Glows: Turning the SISU Mode on gives Jarmo glowing green veins and eyes. Yup, seen even under the shades. This is also seen with various enemies and SISU-based infrastructure.
- Punch Parry: More like kick parry; your mighty foot can reflect any projectiles thrown your way: rocks, bullets, energy weapons all.
- Not Quite Dead: Cyborga tackles Jarmo into a portal after their fight despite losing his head a few seconds earlier, sending him into Chapter 3 of the game.
- Short-Range Shotgun: The shotgun's effective range is a little over a dozen feet, but it's a one-hit-kill against most enemies at that range.
- Shout-Out:
- Level 3 features a rib at Civvie 11's sewer count.
- One of the secrets sends you down an Ultra Kill shaft, complete with Hank.
- You can find a picture of the Cruelty Squad's Empty Fuck claiming "Demolish the economy".
- Level 15 takes place inside a giant gothic castle and is called Kalevania. You can even find wall meat in a secret.
- Shows Damage: Other than Jarmo's HUD portrait changing depending on his health percentage, his sweater also gets notably more torn on the sleeves the more damage he takes.
- Slept Through the Apocalypse: What happened to Jarmo. He wakes up just in time (thanks to an unseen voice) to have a Blue Eagle grunt storm into his apartment.
- Underground Monkey: The Wurstmeister and the shopkeeper in Level 3 are just variations of the basic Blue Eagle grunt, complete with the same voicelines. The former is marginally tougher, the latter is exactly the same. The shopkeepers return in the yet-to-be-added Level 17.
- Taking You with Me: The HURT-TA enemies will throw themselves at you when dead in an attempt to explode in your face; you can parry that, too.
- The Underworld: Chapter 3 of the game takes place in Tuonela, the underworld of Finnish mythology.
- Wham Shot: Level 11 is introduced with a lush forest untouched by the cold.
- Womb Level: Level 12 has you explore the insides of a giant Antero, complete with destroying his three hearts and escaping through his open mouth. It's rather telling the level is called "Up In The Ass"...
