Devil Jam: A Rough Opening Hiding a Rock‑Solid Core

It hasn’t actually been that long since I first dipped my toes into the auto-shooter looter genre — and at the time, I didn’t even realise it was a genre. My gateway game was Forager, and I was completely hooked for an entire summer. What a fantastic experience that was.

Later, I stumbled across Army of Ruin, which I briefly assumed was the origin point of the genre. But when I eventually discovered that Vampire Survivors was the game that truly kicked everything off, I had a bit of a “cover your eyes” moment — because, frankly, many of the clones actually looked and played better.

And that brings me to today’s game: Devil Jam, which follows that very same pattern.

I reached out to the developer of Devil Jam to request a review key for this upcoming PS5 release after seeing the trailer. It looked like exactly the kind of game I needed as a break from all the VR reviews — something I could just kick back with, especially on those “not feeling great” days.

The key arrived quickly, and while the communication was fast and straightforward, I went almost completely blind into this one. I had no idea just how many hours of my life this one would end up draining… (pun very much intended).

The Devil’s Advocate…

The vampire devil leads you into a heavy rock–fuelled concert arena, packed with bizarre creatures — everything from bats straight out of hell to man-eating goblin blobs. Your only weapon? Your guitar… and your rhythm.

You start off weak, but before long, you’ll be unleashing up to 12 riffs of pure rock power at once. Because, you see, the protagonist is actually a rock star who just wanted to play a concert… but, as with all games, it quickly turns into one hell of a mess.

The Strangest Plot…

I grabbed several videos, but honestly — without context — they’re pretty underwhelming. If you’ve never played any of these games before, the footage just looks like an endless bullet‑hell fever dream where the enemies are the bullets.

Anyway, the premise is simple: you’re a rockstar wielding a guitar as your primary weapon. As you level up, random weapons unlock and can be added to your arsenal.

You pick up passive abilities, active weapons, and special skills — all of which can be upgraded and combined multiple times- And to top it all off, you’ve got three different characters, each with their own distinct weapon playstyle.

The result is a ridiculous number of possible builds, easily in the dozens if not hundreds. 

Same Same But Different…

As I progressed through the game, I eventually realised just how heavy the grind really is. Unlocking new levels and arenas takes an absurd amount of time — to the point where I didn’t unlock my first new area until around the seven‑hour mark. That’s a tall grind by any standard.

The maps, levels (3?), arenas, and Challenge levels also tend to look very similar. They’re basically variations of grey, blue‑grey, green‑grey, and… more grey. It sounds awful on paper, but it actually works thanks to the game’s overall style. Still, the combination of high difficulty and extreme grind really needs to be toned down. Otherwise, a lot of potential players will drop off long before the fun truly kicks in.

BOOM BOOM ROCKIN MONSTER GLOOM… Verdict Time…

As you push further into the game, you start getting properly acquainted with which weapons and abilities to pick from the three randomised options the game gives you every time you level up.
You begin to understand the roguelite systems, you buy upgrades and potions, and everything slowly starts to stack in your favour.

And once you finally get the hang of the quests (and yes, there’s a massive amount of them), well… let’s just say this is the moment when the music truly starts to flow.

Suddenly, you’re surrounded by enormous swarms of enemies, your weapons are firing off in every direction, the legendary soundtrack is blasting through the speakers, and the whole screen lights up like a hard‑rock fireworks show.

In my opinion, this is what the game is meant to feel like — not the endless grind that comes before it.

Devil Jam is a genuinely good game. It’s not the absolute best in its genre, but the hard‑rock theme gives it a unique identity that absolutely puts it on the map.

The PlayStation trophies (there’s a Platinum too) and the mountain of quest missions will take a hellish amount of time to unlock, which means the replay value is through the roof.

But here’s the problem: it simply demands far too much grind before the real beast inside the game is allowed to come out.

And that beast is worth seeing — multiple characters to choose from, a massive arsenal, permanent upgrades, nearly all maps and arenas, and proper boss fights.

Sadly, most players will never reach that point, and that’s a real shame.

I genuinely hope the developer listens and decides to loosen the cage a little.

This review is based on 28 hours of gameplay. There’s still plenty left to explore, and I’ll definitely be diving back in for many more hours. Keep in mind that the overall score reflects how the game opens, not how it feels once you finally unlock the guitar power, which, for me, didn’t happen until around the 6–7 hour mark.

Once you do become powerful, though, the game transforms into something far more exciting — easily a solid 8 out of 10 experience.

Official Trailer below, well worth your time.