Kick'N Hell Review

Rage, Retry, Repeat: Kicking My Way Out of Hell

Watch the review or…

Read it here!

Title: Kick’n Hell

Release: July 21, 2025

Platform: PC

Developer: Fire Foot Studios

Publisher: Fire Foot Studios

Genre: Platformer

ESRB: N/A

Reviewed on: PC

Time Played: 11.5 Hours

Intro:

Where it starts

You wake up at the bottom of a deep pit in hell with Satan himself mocking you for dying. Thankfully, while you were alive, you mastered martial arts and brought some wicked kicking skills into the underworld. Your footwork, along with the plethora of bouncy brains strewn throughout hell, gives you the perfect combination to slowly work your way up through various levels of hell to face Satan and maybe get your life back—or at least give him a piece of your mind.

Kick’n things

The basic idea of this game is kicking squishy brains that will launch you upwards and outwards through various areas, always getting closer to the top. It sounds simple enough; however, it’s a little more nuanced. For the best results, you will need to be precise with your aim when kicking a brain. You will always bounce away from a brain once kicked, but your distance or height depends on the angle of your camera relative to your body. If you’re looking straight forward when kicking a brain, you will go directly backward. The farther down you can aim before kicking a brain, the higher you will launch yourself, though at the cost of distance. Not every brain is the same; depending on your next platform, the brain may launch you very far or just a couple of feet. You can also use your feet to knock out some of the enemies that try to push you around on your journey.

Difficulties

It is highly recommended that you start by playing on the apprentice difficulty. Even though it’s the easiest level, it doesn’t make the journey that much easier than champion mode. On apprentice, you will find checkpoints where you can respawn instantly if you fall or get killed by an enemy. This provides a much-needed safety net while you’re learning and improving your understanding of the game. If you’re mad enough to attempt champion, remember you only have one life. If an enemy kills you, you start over. If you fall, you have to make your way back up, and some of those falls can cost so much progress that it actually hurts.

Leaderboards

Both difficulties feature top-ten leaderboards, highlighting the skilled players who can beat the game at blazing speeds. To make it onto the leaderboards, you’ll need to complete a full run in one sitting faster than at least tenth place. My first attempt took eight hours, and the longest time at that point was just over two and a half hours. It requires some practice, but it’s definitely achievable if you’re willing to put in the effort.

Collectibles

If you’re willing to explore a little off the beaten path, the game has a couple of collectibles in every zone you can find. Very few are out in the open, and those usually cause a little heartache or require backtracking to get. Most are hidden in obscure places, requiring active searching or happy accidents before you come across them. The only benefits to these collectibles are an achievement and bragging rights; they won’t help you beat the game, but they can prove you’re more capable than others.

Can the kids watch

There were no offensive words or bloody graphics to worry about. The only issue I could see some people having would be the fact that you’re playing through hell, with Satan mocking you as you fail over and over again. Or if you have a short fuse, this game can bring out some nasty words and attitudes for those trying to beat it. I kept my cool for most of the game, but the last couple of hours were pretty tough. Shouts and curses could be heard from my office more than once.

Final Thoughts

I would love to hear any thoughts or questions you have about the game or my review, so leave me a message in the comments below. While you do that, let’s move on to my final thoughts and ratings.

I’ve played a few precision platformers, and this one gives the same feelings of rage and frustration that you find in the best precision platformers. This is the only one I’ve ever been able to complete, thanks to the generous checkpoint system on the lowest difficulty. I love the options and separate leaderboards so those who want to prove themselves can. I was surprised that even I wanted to get on those boards; I failed by about thirty minutes—almost more frustrating than my initial playthrough—but it’s still enjoyable enough that I might even try again.

The environments look good. By default, they were very pixelated, but enabling the option to smooth out the graphics in the settings made them look much better. Sometimes, there was confusion when looking into the distance. Brains were always visible, and more than once I confused them with a collectible. Since it’s an indie game, I didn’t expect the graphics to be top-tier, and they weren’t terrible; they fit everything perfectly.

When I started the game, I felt I had a perfect understanding of how everything worked. It wasn’t until three hours into my first livestream that a dev came in and explained how kicking brains actually worked. I initially thought it was the part of the brain I was kicking—the lower half sending me high while the upper half was more horizontal. Turns out, I was kind of right; it all depends on the direction of my face in relation to the brain. Knowing that is the key to actually finishing the game. Some spots require jumping from multiple brains before finding solid ground, needing a precise kick as I fall. The challenge of bouncing around on brains was unique and very fun. I can’t even begin to imagine how someone came up with such an idea, let alone made it enjoyable. It always felt doable, so I never wanted to quit.

My first time playing the game took me eight and a half hours, with the last two hours spent in the final area. At the time on the leaderboards, someone had already beaten the game on champion difficulty in twenty minutes — absolutely mind-blowing. I managed three hours in a follow-up playthrough but still wasn’t close to leaderboard-worthy. This game has created a perfect competitive environment, with developers communicating with players and working daily to improve it. It’s a great little rage game with a lot to offer.

And with that I’m going to break these thoughts down into numbers and place this game on a shelf.

The visuals were good, I preferred the graphics smoothed out to the default pixels, and it ran very smoothly, I’m giving it a 3.

There wasn’t much of a story attached to the game, so instead I’m going to be rating it’s difficulty. Looking at the leaderboards, some may find this game to easy, but I feel like it is a perfect balance of hard, but doable, I’m giving it a five.

The gameplay was simple, and worked exactly how I think it should have, only a few gripes like quick respawns and flying off of a cliff for no reason, but still worthy of a four.

High replayability, especially if you are a competitive type or speedrunner. Due to the short length and fun, I’ve already replayed at least once, it’s getting another 4

I had a lot of fun getting through this game. Only during the final act did I really start to lose it and feel defeated, eventually overcoming the challenge. I’m giving it another 4.

Earning Kick’n Hell an average score of four out of five. Placing it at the tippy top of my Top Shelf. It’s a great indie, definitely worth the price, if you’re into precision platformers that can induce some of the deepest rage you’re capable of.