Hellfire Saga: When Sonic Fell Into a Gothic Underworld
Most Sonic hacks tweak a few levels or swap a character. Hellfire Saga changes the mood of the whole game. Built on Sonic 3 & Knuckles by Red Miso Studios, it strands the hedgehog in a hell full of demons and sends him fighting his way back home. The final version was announced on 30 January 2023 by project lead Narcologer, after roughly five years of work in which, by his own account, an amateur little hack grew into a full game project.
The studio did not start from the stock engine. Hellfire Saga runs on the Sonic Clean Engine (S.C.E.), Red Miso's heavily modified and improved take on the Sonic 3 & Knuckles engine, which the team also used for its other Mega Drive projects.
At a glance
- Based on: Sonic 3 & Knuckles (Mega Drive / Genesis, 1994)
- Created by: Red Miso Studios, with Narcologer as project lead
- Released: final version dated 30 January 2023
- Genre: 2D action platformer with a strong boss focus
- What sets it apart: a dark, gothic tone borrowed from classic action games, on a purpose-built Sonic engine
What makes it worth playing
The look and feel draw on Castlevania (several instalments), Ghosts 'n Goblins and Demon's Crest, which is a long way from Green Hill. The soundtrack mixes new compositions with covers in a metal style, and the stages are varied rather than a single repeated theme.
Combat leans on bosses. Time Extension, covering the release, called it a "surprisingly impressive experience" and singled out the intimidating boss fights.
According to the product description, the usual ring rules are inverted: rings restore health instead of acting as a shield, so play becomes a test of precision rather than of ring-hoarding. The same description highlights multi-phase boss encounters and compact, fast levels.
Playing it as intended
Red Miso's own advice is to play it on real hardware or on accurate emulators, which is a good argument for a physical cartridge.