Avenged Sevenfold's M Shadows stops by to talk about his new game

M Shadows, Hail to the King
M Shadows and TechRadar editor Nick Pino talk about Deathbat ... and metal.

M (Matt) Shadows leads a double life. During the day he tours with his heavy metal band, Avenged Sevenfold. At night he's an avid gamer-turned-designer. His latest project? Hail to the King: Deathbat - an upcoming mobile game based off the band's most well-known tracks that's slated to come out later this year.

Too curious to resist a premise this interesting, we invited Matt to TechRadar's SF offices to show us a bit of the game and talk about his lifelong love affair with games.

Matt calls the game a mix of the classics he grew up with - games like Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - with a dash of inspiration from some of the hardest games of the modern day, citing titles like Team Meat's Super Meat Boy.

While certain aspects of those games shine through here, it was with Diablo II that we saw the most parity. You'll select a hero, either the game's grim reaper-like protagonist, or any one of the members of Avenged Sevenfold. You'll then slice your way through the game's metal-soaked levels, collecting upgrades for your sword along the way.


We won't ruin the full game's plot here, but check out the video above to see Hail to the King: Deathbat - and Matt's other plans for 2014 - for yourself.

Nick Pino

Nick Pino is Managing Editor, TV and AV for TechRadar's sister site, Tom's Guide. Previously, he was the Senior Editor of Home Entertainment at TechRadar, covering TVs, headphones, speakers, video games, VR and streaming devices. He's also written for GamesRadar+, Official Xbox Magazine, PC Gamer and other outlets over the last decade, and he has a degree in computer science he's not using if anyone wants it.