Skul: The Hero Slayer Game Review
3 Step Game Review
About the Game
Released
February 19, 2020
Developer
Southpaw games
Price
US$ 14.39
(MAY VARY PER LOCATION)
Game Description
Guide ‘Skul’ on his quest to single-handedly take on the Imperial Army and rescue his King from captivity, in an action-packed rogue-lite 2D platformer for the ages.
The Demon King’s Castle in Ruins: The human race attacking the Demon King’s castle is nothing new and has happened countless times before. What makes this time different though, is that the Adventurers decided to join forces… (continues)
Game Links
Step 1: Playing Conditions
Read below the game basic characteristics. If it is something you see yourself playing, move on to Step 2: Graphics & Sound.
Gameplay Overview
As most roguelike games, Skul: The Hero Slayer (Skul) was designed to be HARD. The objective is simple, beat all game levels without dying. Yes, you can beat the game in your first try, but you won’t. YOU WILL DIE and start again from the beginning, not just once, but several times. RNG has a HUGE influence on the game. There is a big difference between items and skulls performance, so to beat the game you will need luck and skills.
To have fun playing Skul, you need to accept the gameplay challenge and don’t consider a reason for frustrations. Last but not least, controllers plays much better than keyboards.
Step 2: Graphics & Sound
Watch 5 to 10 minutes of any video below. If you like what you see and hear, move on to Step 3: Game Evaluation.
Step 3: Game Evaluation
Build your expectations about the game by learning what it offers and how was The Partisan Spy’s experience.
USER INTERFACE
The menus and HUD are really SIMPLE and have all basic functionalities to setup and play a game. At the HUD, characters’ actions are labeled with its keys and every item has a tooltip description which makes the game really easy to learn and play. It also brings a minimap on every level making it easy to spot enemies and secret passages.
STORY
The story sets the plot for every element, character, and environment of the game. At the very beginning and during boss encounters the story is told in dialogue boxes. Beyond that, YOUR FOCUS will be mainly on completing the levels. Solving the story is a bonus for the true accomplishment of beating the game.
COMMUNITY POTENTIAL
Roguelike is a very specific genre that when compared to other genres like MOBA and FPS, ATTRACTS SMALL attention among the gaming community. Skul is in early access and plans to add new things to the game but at the moment it doesn’t bring any feature to encourage players’ connection.
GAMEPLAY MOOD TRACKER
MOOD ANALYSIS
Mood results at Skul have a direct relation to how much someone likes or dislikes the roguelike genre.
During almost the entire 25 hours of gameplay, my mood was between NORMAL and EAGER. The mood spikes happened during boss encounters and at my first time at the third level of the game.
GRIND FEELING
It’s undeniable the pain and frustration felt after death in roguelike games. The further you go, the painful fail becomes. Grind feelings can appear at every new starting run. But in Skul, the variety of items and skulls made every run a little bit DIFFERENT, bringing the feeling that there was always something new to learn.
LIKED THE MOST
The variety of skulls, items, and skills. After many hours of gameplay, I still found new things.
DISLIKED THE MOST
It’s more of a preference than a dislike, the minimap is not necessary, without it, the exploration aspect of the game would be more challenging.
EVALUATION SUMMARY
Skul: The Hero Slayer is in early access, even though, it can be considered as a finished game with some polishing to be done. It is also classified as ROGUELITE as some elements are upgradable after death making your character stronger. The important detail about this mechanics is that every time you die, the enemy also gains XP and gets a little bit harder.
And this mechanics says a lot about Skul.
It is easy to play, but hard to beat and that keeps you going.
The more you play, the more you will learn and easier it will seem. But, the further you get more unbeatable the game becomes. If you like a SADISTIC gaming challenge, this game will torture you and you will never ask to stop.
Choices & Advice
DON’T BUY IT
IF YOU ARE 100% SATISFIED WITH THE GAMES YOU ARE PLAYING OR HAD YOUR SHARE OF THE ROGUELIKE GENRE.
WAIT TO BUY
IF YOUR GAME LIBRARY IS FULL OF GAMES WAITING TO BE PLAYED.
BUY NOW
IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A HARD & FUN ROGUELIKE CHALLENGE AT AN EXCELLENT PRICE.
GAME LIFETIME
GAME CAN BE FULLY COMPLETE THIS GAME IN 20 TO 35 HOURS, IT WILL DEPEND ON YOUR SKILL AND LUCK.
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