Devil’s Purge, the heavy-metal, Christian-inspired AR Doom-like shooter, is out now on iOS

• Devil’s Purge, the AR Doom-like, is out now on the iOS App Store
• Mixing Pokémon Go and first-person shooters, it tasks you to exorcise hordes of demons
• Utilise spatial AR to duck, dodge and scope out enemy weakpoints

If you’ve never known the genre of “Christiancore” then you certainly will now. Lisbon-based developer ONTOP has announced that their new AR shooter Devil’s Purge is out now on the iOS App Store. And guess what? When I was in Lisbon, I actually got to go hands-on with this new, frenetic, demon-slaying shooter!

While rather speciously described as Pokémon Go with guns, in actual fact, I’d describe Devil’s Purge as more like a standalone VR shooter. Rather impressively, ONTOP has integrated spatial positioning in the game, meaning wherever you move is relative to the actual position of enemies, so you can duck, dodge and even scope out hidden weak points.

As far as progression, Devil’s Purge offers dozens of enemies to battle, as well as bosses inspired by a new take on the Christian canon. And, naturally, the archenemy of mankind the Devil himself serves as the final boss, with the option to head on down to face him at any time. Add onto that a heavy-metal soundtrack by a variety of indie bands, and it’s safe to say this is as close to Doom as we’ve gotten in AR thus far.

Purgation manifest

I was impressed when I got the chance to play Devil’s Purge during my recent trip to Lisbon, especially with the folks at ONTOP mentioning that they’d even consulted with local priests to approve the mapping of Christian landmarks around Lisbon that you can visit to power up. I’m sure the frenetic shooting may not sit well with all the faithful, but as far as basting demons go, Devil’s Purge may prove to be a far more accessible “hardcore” option for mobile that takes advantage of AR than we’ve seen thus far.

Once you’re done with Devil’s Purge, be sure to check out what other great releases have hit mobile in the last few days, by checking out the latest entry in our regular feature of the top five new mobile games to try this week!