About 50 years after Steppenwolf initially constructed the term “heavy metal”, the subculture of metalheads has developed far past its initial foundation in music. Nowadays, heavy metal fans are united by a variety of mutual interests – spanning from the basic postulate of listening to metal, and dressing like their musical idols, all the way to having a shared interest in games, hobbies, and overall interests.

When it comes to games heavy metal fans enjoy, there are several clear outliers – musical games, any sort of games that involve the replicated version of their idols, and games that follow a similar aesthetic to that portrayed in heavy metal music.

Kiss Reels of Rock 

Kiss Reels of Rock is the first version of an iGaming experience that portrays the depiction of the band themselves. It’s a slot-based game, released in 2021, and available through a Canadian Casino like Unibet, with an above average RTP and huge potential wins, as it allows for a maximum win of 50,000 x your total stake. Besides solely depicting the band, it includes incredible artwork of the band members and their most known visuals, as well as a musical soundtrack of their most popular songs. While playing the slots, you get to travel the world – starting from Detroit, and travelling through Tokyo, London, Rio de Janeiro and more.

Rock Band 

One of the all-time classics, enjoyed by fans of rock, punk, grunge, metal, and much more - Rock Band includes 7 different releases, encompassing the classic metal artists like Black Sabbath, Metallica, Iron Maiden, or Kiss, but also including bands like the French band Pleymo, much more familiar to European audiences.

Additionally, besides portraying the classics of heavy metal, Rock Band also allows players to simulate playing punk, rock and alternative anthems like Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones, Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones, or In Bloom by Nirvana.

Of course, its biggest sales pitch is not music on its own, but the ability to genuinely rock out on your instrument-like controllers that momentarily transform you and your friends into a rock band of your own.

Guitar Hero

Another incredibly popular release of the same developer behind Rock Band is Guitar Hero – the first game that allowed you to simulate the life and performances of a rock-star. Whereas this game was initially criticized by hardcore metal fans for being a bit too childish and overly simplistic when it came to the art of performing music, it still gathered a lot of fans for how purely fun it was. Additionally, Guitar Hero introduced rock and metal to a whole new generation, along with giving people the joy and excitement of performing, without necessarily mastering the skill set behind playing musical instruments. Funnily enough, this joy of performing actually inspired many Guitar Hero players to actually pursue music – and develop their performing skills even further.

Doom

Finally, the last batch of games enjoyed by heavy metal fans are gory, fast-paced games that include a musical background perfect for head-banging. A classic of the category is without a doubt Doom – a first-person shooter that originally came out in 1993 and has developed into a vastly popular series – encompassing 7 original games, 6 spin-offs, novels, movies, board games and more. 

The premise of Doom is the fight to save Earth from an apocalyptic invasion by an army of demons and the undead. Players get to enjoy the thrill of a first-person shooter game, with a variety of weapons and occasional jump-scares. An additional gem to experience is knowing that the game revolutionized first-person shooters – being the first to include many elements that we love in each and every contemporary shooter game.