Warning: May contain spoilers for “Big Drunk Satanic Massacre.”

What’s My Satirical Safe Word?

Big Drunk Satanic Massacre, BDSM for short, is an over the top satirical game, but if there’s any location to be satirical about the seven deadly sins, there isn’t many placing more fitting than Hell. The post DOOM human conquered Hell setting has humans hanging out to eat at fast food restaurants that make their meat out of devils. So you, as one of Satan’s sons Lou, are blowing all of those restaurants out of business. The isometric game play is straight forward, keep moving, keep shooting, drink MILK to stay alive. You meet several side characters through the maps that provide mini quests that don’t take a lot to complete. The bosses all offer different battles, and require a small amount of strategy to beat. There isn’t really anything else to do in the game. So, while the game doesn’t do much, it does what it intended though I wouldn’t say it does it perfectly.

A Graphical Hell. 

There is a lot to be desired graphically from this game, at least on the Switch. The PC version looks significantly better. The maps were linear and didn’t allow for much exploration. There were a few rooms dedicated to mini-boss fights and most of the side quests made you run around a bit. All of the enemies were distinct and did different things to kill you, and blew up in glorious fashion when killed. Playing on the Switch wasn’t great though, as a twin stick shooter aiming is a pain in the ass, and most of the enemies blend in with the background due to the poor graphics. On some levels there are traps that you can’t tell when you’ve been hit by, other than your little green health bar going down ever so slightly. The real annoyance came from over crowded rooms or boss fights when you get killed, but you’re not sure what killed you, especially on the harder difficulties. There is supposed to be destructible environments, but I didn’t find much of that. You can blow up vending machines, forklifts and other various objects, but the wooden boxes and doors just bounce bullets off of them.  So if you’re going to pick the game up, get on PC so you can tell what’s going on . . . and you can aim easier.

Hell is No Place for Humor.

The games story, setting, and characters are all there to make you laugh, but, to be honest, it really wasn’t that funny. If you are someone that is offended easily or just doesn’t really appreciate humor based on cheap insults and lazy innuendos this really isn’t a game for you. Some characters are made to resemble pop culture icons like Peter Griffin (Family Guy) or Eric Cartman (South Park) and others like the succubi are there to be sexual and give you upgrade points. The humor really reminds me of games like Postal or Duke Nukem but takes it a step further. The bosses all have unique things to say and it’s safe to say nothing’s going to be tugging on your heart strings over the course of the game. The game definitely doesn’t demand much attention to the story either, but it’s interesting to keep an eye out for some of the easter eggs that are scattered through the game.

Verdict – 5 / 10

It’s alright. Play the game if you’re into this type of humor and enjoy the Enter the Gungeon-like chaos. The game seems to need just a little something extra in the game play to make it stand out from any other Diablo-like run and gun shooter but the dialog and characters make the game unique enough that it’s stick out in a crowd. It’s not a long game either and there’s not a lot of replayability, you might get 10-20 hours out of it if you run through it a couple of time.