Skul: the Hero Slayer lacks originality, but no heart or thrills

Not many people have stopped listening to Nirvana once they realized how much Nirvana looks like Pixies, but Skul: the hero slayer may be hurt by its fleeting resemblance to other popular games of recent years.

Skul is a 2D platform game with roguelite elements, so each run is random to some extent, and you will earn some currency – in this case ‘black quartz’ – which will allow you to purchase permanent upgrades for your character between attempts. The problem is, you are a little skeleton soldier, and the “heroes” are the ones you are looking for. This role reversal is pretty weak in practice, especially since the story is delivered in English which seems roughly translated, but luckily SouthPAW Games speaks the language of game design perfectly.

The protagonist’s head is just a skull – he’s a skeleton, after all – so he can swap his own head with a wide variety of other heads, each with their own set of powers, attacks, and abilities. capabilities. You can keep up to two different heads to switch between them in your inventory, although there is a cooldown that is activated whenever you switch between them. You will want to exchange between them often as you learn the ins and outs of each area of ​​the game.

It’s not only that a new head gives you new ways to attack your enemies, but each can also change the way you move or your ability to act defensively. As if that weren’t enough, heads also push you to do different things when you switch between them, which means each skull’s attacks and weaknesses matter, as well as how they work together.

SouthPAW Games announces Skul as having “70 different playable characters”, and that statement sounds fair, although I haven’t seen each head myself yet. A sin Hell, different doors at the end of each area lead to different rewards, so you can choose whether you want a new skull, more gold for the in-game store, or an item. You will also be able to tell from the door design if you are about to take on a boss. While the upgrades are all random, these color-coded exits at least give you some control over how you want to build your character, even if you never know what the options will be for each potential reward.

It may all seem a bit rote. Other roguelite games offer similar ways to build up your loadout, and 2D side-scrolling games with cute retro-style characters mixed with modern mechanics are almost their own genre at this point. But while playing Skul: the hero slayerI’ve never cared that I’ve seen so many of these individual ideas before, because each one is executed so well and they work together so seamlessly. Originality in itself is an overrated trait; something that has been done before but is still executed with this level of skill and care tends to look fresh, although you can draw a straight line between existing games and the design of Skul.

Image: SouthPAW / Neowiz Games

So there is how the fuck good combat is felt throughout the game. Unlike most platform games from the NES and SNES eras, and even most retro action games today, the enemies Skul: the hero Slayer can’t hurt you. You can go through them, actually, and they can go through you. The only thing that does damage both ways is an actual attack, which means learning how to fight your way through enemies and their attacks, as well as regroup enemies and interrupt, is crucial. their attacks with yours.

Collecting a large group of baddies in one place and slicing them with the wolf skull is a delight. SouthPAW has apparently mastered the intricate skill of crafting a “game feel,” making every battle thick, meaty, and satisfying. Slicing and dicing my way through mobs of enemies and learning how to disrupt, block, or dodge their own attacks consumes enough brain power that it’s hard to think of anything else while playing, putting me in a state of welcome flow as the rest of the day’s worries come out of my head.

It helps, like the recent Cyber ​​shadow, Skul is a study on how to make enemy attacks readable and easy to distinguish if you pay attention. The trick is to place the indicators of each attack in different places on the screen and differentiate them from each other so that the player learns to read the screen.

Some enemies charge a straight shot that places a thin red laser line on the screen as they aim before firing. Other enemies shoot roots through the ground beneath you, causing that ground to glow briefly before you get hit by the roots. Others may have overblown animations or flashing lights that let you know what to expect, once you’ve learned what each indicator means. The end result is a game where you have to constantly scan almost the entire screen to make sure there isn’t a crowd planning something while you work on another group of enemies.

As impressive as these systems are in practice, SouthPAW is still not happy with the balance and has promised Skulon the Steam page to continue working on making each attack even easier to differentiate before it happens. If this version 1.0, removing the game from Early Access, is already this good, I can’t wait to see how the developers improve on what they already have here.

Skul: the hero slayer has some rough edges, but I even found the uneven balance of heads and power-ups to be nice. Sinking into an overpowered build and kicking ass, knowing you could be back to next to nothing on your next attempt, was thrilling. Having a good build almost made me want more was at stake, no less. If I didn’t go far enough on these trails, I had only myself to blame.

It’s even hard to write that the music was repetitive, almost boring, when so much other stuff with the game is just as good, but there are enough flaws like this to keep Skul: the hero slayer to be next to the absolute best games of the year. I can forgive some sickening music, awkward translation, and derivative roots when the rest of the game is such a pattern of precision and iterative design.

I don’t doubt that Skul: the hero slayer will be further improved as work continues, but it’s a good enough time at launch that it’s easy to recommend. It almost sounds like the work of a cover band so good you can’t wait to see what they can do when they create something really original.

Skul: the hero slayer is out now for PC, Mac, and Linux, with release for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One coming in 2021.