Skul: The Hero Slayer: Review

Fresh from early access pixel “Rogalik” Skul: The Hero Slayer Today, vying and in praise is compared with Hades And Dead Cells. Explain on the fingers what is really good to the project SouthPaw Games.

Non -trivial plot

Skul: The Hero Slayer – One of the rare plot “pants”. It is difficult, of course, to compete with Hades And in general with any game Supergiant Games In the ability to tell interesting stories, but also in the brainchild SouthPaw Games There are arguments. The main character here is the title skeleton of the rocks, and his enemies are people, led by “kind” heroes who attacked the castle of the king of demons.

The forces were unequal, almost all demons and the undead captivated, and now all hope is only on a rock. At the same time, it is immediately felt that the heroes here are extremely unpleasant personalities, people hunt demons from Xenophobic motives and in general everything is difficult and in many ways not as it seems. There is nothing super -serial in the subject – on the contrary, the game has a lot of simple, but still funny humor.

There are enough colorful characters, some of them are worked out just at the level Hades. We save many from cells or meet in the black market – this is the base where you can heal, buy new equipment and artifacts. So, they not only trade with us – you can talk with everyone, and this communication is by no means limited to short, empty phrases.

Yes, there is no need to make gifts, as in Hades, so that the characters are revealed, but without this, as many people pass about many, you will learn something new. And the story itself is really interesting and sometimes unexpectedly developing.

Rebber gameplay with its “chips” (more precisely, skulls)

By structure Skul -This is a pixel “rowla”-a platformer, and in this sense it is much closer to Dead Cells. We jump on the platforms, twist, at the same time making jerks, dodging traps and applying skills. IN The Hero Slayer To this is added the need to control your form, switching between two characteries of the character.

The basic skull gives initial skills – you can throw it into enemies and instantly move to the head. And then you will receive a reward and find a lot of various variations – ordinary, rare, unique. And there will have their own skills – by switching to Werewolf, you can rush to enemies with fangs, demolishing everyone in the way;Archilich skull will allow to call a chain from under the ground that causes damage. You can turn into a gargoyle to take off. Or, for example, to try on the skull of a thief who rushes into enemies with gold coins.

At the same time allow you to carry two skulls with you. Therefore, it is important to know well and apply the abilities of everyone, as well as take into account the unique effect, which is activated each time when changing the form (this occurs with a “rollback”): someone bounces back and throws three knives at the opponents, someone produces a magical explosion,Someone includes a meat grinder or releases a cross of darkness, which affects all the “light” around.

Skulls can and should be pumped from a pauly, which asks for special (and quite rare) bones – they can be obtained for the destruction of unnecessary skulls (or in the locations where the green doors painted with green).

Another element of pumping is the collection of a dark quartz, for which on the basis it is necessary to increase the passive characteristics of the character, increasing damage, the chance of a critical blow, the effectiveness of magic, and so on. Also on the market before meetings with bosses you can heal for coins, buy new equipment or quintessence. The latter is a powerful magical technique that allows, for example, to call for a couple of seconds such an ally that will demolish half of the reptiles on the map with his balls (magical, of course).

Harsh but prolonging hardcore

Despite all this, survive in Skul: The Hero Slayer It’s not easy even in a beginner mode, where enemies are weakened. Opponents almost always attack in crowds, “spawn” directly from the air, create some auras, and even traps around. Therefore, it is constantly hot: the smell of foul enemy meat, piles of corpses, a riot of special effects … We often get to a meeting with the boss on an honest word. You can heal in the market, but not free and often not completely.

In addition, before and after meeting with the boss of each biom, there are several rooms where you, wounded and incomplete, may well kill you. Immediately after the market, only enemy heroes go – very powerful, but not strong rivals in the region.

After each of our deaths, the enemies gain experience and become stronger, and we lose everything acquired by overwhelming work, except for the reserves of the dark quartz and the upgrades that we bought for them, thanks on this.

In general, the game is harsh, but does not cause whining and irritation- on the contrary, everything is honest, because a lot depends on where the user’s hands grow from.

Invigorating random

Much, but not everything, of course – as in any “horned”, in Skul It makes his contribution to success or defeat by random. But in the correct “sanglics” this also does not annoy, but only warm up the excitement.

Of course, in one passage, you can get into a location immediately after leaving the base, where altars often come across the mountains around the mountain, who, after destruction, begin to restore your health. And in another, you will immediately find yourself in the zone where traps and mushrooms are everywhere, and every wrong movement leads to a landing on spears.

In one race, you will buy or find a cool equipment that gives excellent effects – he very sharash with lightning on enemy or, for example, drops bombs with double jumping. After 10 minutes after the start, you will get a skull of a unique archival or dark paladin with steep skills. But in another … well, in general, there are no such gifts of fate.

But in The Hero Slayer This is realized approximately as in The Binding of ISAAC, That is, with taste and sense of proportion. In addition, with any random, even unsuccessful, there are chances to rectify the situation with your own competent approach.

Great pixel art

Hades It looks flawless, but the “next pixels” performed Skul can cause irritation in opponents of this artistic style. However, I have not been in vain said “artistic style” – in The Hero Slayer He may not be outstanding, but certainly pretty and distinguished by detailed study of locations. Together with successfully selected music, this only enhances the positive impressions of the game.

In audiovisual performance and from the point of view of the narrative Skul: The Hero Slayer, Perhaps not such an outstanding game as Hades. But a huge variety of skulls and their skills, the possibility of their transformations ensure in some way even more interesting tactics of passing and building builds.

Pros: plot and characters;rich in the capabilities of the gameplay;Audiovisual performance.

Cons: random sometimes affects the passage too much.

Skul: The Hero Slayer

The best comments

I read the review and I did not have enough of any result at the end besides the pluses and minuses. I played both Dead Cells and Hades, but I still did not understand why this game received “raisins”.
Hades, for example, bribed me by the fact that the world seems alive and real. For the most part due to the fact that all the characters are individual and the dialogs are voiced with them. All of them obey (well, almost) the rules of Greek mythology and all of them are connected by the thread of the general plot. Music and visual gorgeous.
Dead Cells is a cross between a sling and metroide. Management is good and level generation sane. And there is nothing more to say about her.
What is so unique and good Skul that they put raisins? What is new to the genre, as an independent game?

Another element of pumping is the collection of dark quartz

For some reason, a description of the element of global progression was stuck in the middle of the lines of the description of building elements

Immediately after the market, only enemy heroes go – very powerful, but not strong rivals in the region.

Only at the first level

After each of our deaths, the enemies gain experience and become stronger

Cons: Random sometimes affects the passage too much.

Controversial. Random is just right to play the main role in the pants. Throughout the random, the random is smoothed out by another random and understanding of the subtleties of building. But at first it also seemed to me that the legend was deciding some kind of dofiga. And now, for example, I am a legendary super -trunk magic Aoyokh, since my build is better than a rare shield

A more clear minus: a bacchanalia of effects in the later stages and because of this a bunch of excess damaged damage. Well, for example, the fact that history essentially ends after the first successful wound

And the plot and characters here are far from so good to talk about them as pluses

For me personally, the game pulls the maximum on a commendable.
Skulls are both frank garbage and amazing, unfortunately, the pumping of the skulls between the biomes will not make something commendable out of the garbage, and IMBU will only increase even more, as a result, all the skulls except the couple immediately break.To play with them is a mazachism, also some skulls have a caste time, for example, Warlock who, while using the ability, receives in the face without the ability to do something.
The generation of locations is also not pleasing, they are made by hand and in a few hours you will already by heart study all the locations of the forest bioma and how, who, when it subsides.
Enemies are whipping dolls and are not of any complexity (not counting some combinations of bosses and enemies with an uninhabited attack) because of which it simply bothers the same monster in the first biomes.
Global pumping is not interesting, in ISSAC and Ror we opened objects for the achievements of a goal, at ETG and Dead Cells bought things that could fall after, there were different ways of pumping and character and weapons, right there just stats.
You are not particularly collected here, take items and skulls for physical damage, or on the magician damage, the combination is fraught with giant loss of traffic police.
The plot is interesting, but you get it a little.

The full passage will go to 1, then there is a point in playing only in order to try out other skulls if you have not yet managed to feel something, no more.

So, as a lover of sidelines, I think Skul: The Hero Slayer is laudable (on the verge of a passage).

The main minus of the game is not by the random itself as such, but the absence of any interaction with the game. You have only three choice gold, skulls, item. It all comes down to Idi, Lutay, minimally manage resources and stats, hope that you have enough stats or skille to kill a boss. Even the opportunity to go to another room, not a store, if you do not have money, or to a miniboss, if you do not want to get up, no. Pick up a quartz for pumping? Yes, forget it, he himself somehow drips there, and he does not open anything interesting. Levels are a rectum of the random rooms with enemies that there is nothing to do (yes, yes, Haydes, I also look at you at that moment.). The same Dedeles made a whole location with dead ends and various ways of further transition. The ancient horn of Legasi with a room structure allowed to bypass undesirable areas, farm optional buns, risking health, freely move between biomes and bosses, even though he punished for this.

> Surviving in Skul: The Hero Slayer is not easy even in a novice mode

> In general, the game is harsh, but does not cause whining and irritation- on the contrary, everything is honest, because a lot depends on where the user’s hands grow from.

Surviving is really difficult, but “everything is honest” is an extremely absurd statement.

In this game, animations and timings of strokes are completely broken. What is perfectly noticeable on the first boss – he attacks slowly, he telegraphes the attacks, you seem to be perfectly reacting to them – but every time you see that the hand begins to move to you and press the corruption – at that moment you have already receiveddamage. Every time. As if you must dodge a second before the animation of the attack has started at all – this is what it is at all? For five visits to this boss of honesty from my deaths, I have never felt.

The same as a whole applies to battles in general. When, from whom and for what you got damage, it is strongly impossible to understand. A crowd of opponents merging into a single mass of pixels, in which, for example, magicians are spunning somewhere and where shells fly, which completely merge with the same mass. And it’s not honest. You are beaten, regardless of your skill, just due to the complete impossibility of reacting to the threat.

You come to the first store on the way, collecting about 100+ coins (on average, if you are not able to come across continuous treasures). Prices in the store always start from 300. Superpoor store, thank you very much. The developers themselves played their game?

And pumping passive abilities is just an ultimatical shame. The fact that she herself does not cause any sensation of progress at all – this is still half -worn. +5 health, after a dozen races of still +5 health-wow, I develop, directly qualitatively growing … And HP is still a good example, there is also a considerable part of this “pumping” just increases the chances of something there-that is, something that you are notYou will never really feel. But prices? So, there is a system of three lines of the liability, in each line of 4 abilities, each ability can be strengthened many times. So. At the very beginning of the game, at zero, the situation is this: the first skill in the ruler costs 30. currencies, the second – about 60., The third is 700 (!!) unit., Fourth – 4000 (. ). This is the first level of ability, then there will be more. And these abilities of four thousand are, if anything, not “annihilate the next five screens and prevent the boss’s cone in the next three races”;This" +3% Chance of some kind". This is what, this is such a balance, it is “honestly”? This is called “Grindi for weeks until you die for the sake of the effect that you will not feel”. Why is it in the game, again?

In Hades, with which the author, on some incomprehensible basis, constantly compares this game, there were also several excessively twisted prices-for pumping weapons, for cosmetics for the hub, and for the last upgrades in the mirror. But: firstly, cosmetics are cosmetics, and it does not affect the gameplay in any way;secondly, the blood of titans is produced 2-3 e. For a successful call, that is, for every 1-2 shoots, you add some kind of gun somewhere;Thirdly, the darkness for the mirror is very cheerful from the bosses, plus bonuses from weapons, plus can be lucky for gifts with bonuses-for one race you can dial many hundreds. And how many races you will farm for four thousand dark quartz? 10, 20, 50?

The game is bored in a couple of hours. The only thing that pleases is, indeed, an excellent visual, a cool shaking with obtaining the abilities of the owner of the head, and it seems to be a plus or minus interesting story. But try to reveal it, in a circle, hungering the smallest gameplay, where you just knock on the crowd and die for nothing – thanks, no.

In short, it looks like the author had read the page of the game in Steam, rewrote everything that was there as if from the position of “personal opinion” – and Voila, the “review” is ready. It looks beautiful, and abilities switch – wow, amazing! Shame.

They already said about random, but still ..

“Much, but not everything, of course – as in any“ horned ”, in Skul, he contributes his contribution or defeat by random. But in the correct “sanglics” this also does not annoy, but only warm up the excitement.”

How does this mechanics beged in sinks! Random should bring reiglable, make each race individual, and not make gambling levels of levels!

In some way, the classic ETG regularly has to wind up the first level, so that a normal gun falls out so that you can kill the first and second boss without damage and get bonus (!) a container for health, without which there is nothing to do at 4-5 levels. Bield building in ETG is absent, or rather generated randomly, which again turns half the time spent in the game, into the restart of the level. There is a shop in the game, but in addition to economically unprofitable icing and the purchase of dummies in front of the Lich, he does not play any role. Drink a sleeve from the game and replace Bell with a chest – nothing will change.

In dead cells with a random with guns and scrolls. If the guns are still clear (although not, it is not clear. Okay, there is a special mode in the game that allows you to weed out non -granular guns, but why do cannons and amulets of a different color fall in the game in the game, when the damage is spinning from only one parameter?!), then why make spaen sweets with random?!
Moreover, in this game there is clearly mechanics, supposedly compensating for scrolling on scrolls: with successful and high pumping, half -stitched scrolls will be exclusively other colors, with an unsuccessful run, the necessary half the scrolls will fall on Midheim. But the problem is that the player has already lost a flask on the gatekeeper (and I remember how I sawed him with 13 scrolls from the crossbow), lost a flask in the temple/village for pile due to lack of damage, lost money for the purchase of food and now heNot enough for a distortion in front.

Personally, I believe that it is necessary to cut out mechanics of random races and some progression there. The first turns reiglabia and new expirence into restarting levels, and the second makes it impossible to pass the game from the first attempt and makes the player grind the conditional resource. Of the suitable solutions, I can only name runes in the mentioned cells, for which you need to run through the entire map. If I made a conditional pungent, then it could have passed on the first attempt, and progress took place through the development of the player’s skills.

Sumburny was quite a comment, but suddenly someone will interest someone.

I don’t understand how to compare the level of development of the characters with Hades. Thousands of lines of the text and the memorable characters of the creation of Supergiant Games with two or three replicas of five and a half nonsense of Skul. A dark knight who loves to knit instead of fighting? Witch? Arachna, who has “everything is difficult” with a witch? These are the three most worked out characters who have as many as five unique dialogues. Well, the witch still sweetly reads small plot scenes in Korean.

In general, everything is true, but I will fit a little for Hades.

With an absolutely identical approach to the structure of levels (a couple of rooms to choose from, kill everyone in the room, go further), Hades wins that you know for sure that you will receive a reward for the room. You always make a conscious decision, choosing a reward, and develop the character as you think it is necessary (minus degenerated cases, of course, when you generously gives you a choice of either a key or gem) – which gives us a mentioned sense of interaction with the game.
And plus to this, in Hades there are almost no useless awards-only gems, and a couple of pieces of pieces of some completely strange divine gifts;Everything else is used, combined, or at least sold, at worst, to buy something useful. This is especially noticeable with the gifts – when you scored all the main slots of abilities, other gods will most often offer you additional passives, and not replace one attack endlessly with another. That is, you always somehow grow up, and not in place stomp.

In Skull you are generally xs that you will get. There will be a chest in the room, there will be something in the chest – an artifact, a head, or just coins, it is unknown. So you just wrap the roads to the go, and always turn to the entrance that is strewn with gold – the only rule that can be brought out here.

Really turned out very chaotic)

If you summarize your comment, then the essence is this: you do not need croars, but metroids) where the abilities and other upgrades lie in specific places on the map, and your task is to get to them as efficiently as possible and with their help to pass the game. Zero random, only knowledge of the game and skill.

The greatest bewilderment is a statement about the need to “cut the mechanics of some progress there”. And the point is to play then, without progression?

Firstly, getting some double jump or attack in a fall is also progression. Good and correct (qualitative, not quantitative, which is very important), but nevertheless.

Secondly, your “conditional coward” should be a rather large game-so that all these adventures with the construction of routes and collecting pieces are somehow felt. The same Hades runs in 20 minutes-if we remove the whole random from it at all, which remains of the game? Dodge on time? All?

Thirdly, quantitative progression is generally everywhere-corny in the form of a maximum of health-and its presence does not make the game bad. ETG passes normally without receiving the cartridges of the master-just if your skill is quite high, you will pass it with any gun, because you competently control the crowd and roll it like a god, so you can’t do anything for you.

In short, for the sake of a sense of progression and novelty and play), “try it like this”, “get out of this situation”. If you perfectly know every step and you can guarantee the game, not really including even the spinal cord-then why play something? This is some kind of masturbation (well, or you are a speedranser).

The real problem of all these randomos is stores and prices that no one ever tries to balance. “We have x objects in the game, Y of them will be randomly in the store”. The fact that this is the first store in the game and half of your items costs more than the game physically allows you to trim at this point, no one worries at all at all. And the player is monstrously frustrated. In ETG, so, in Slay The Spire, in Dead Cells, this is how Skul is generally tryndets what is happening in stores. In Hades, it seems to be a little better – there at least you will almost always accumulate a hundred at least a grenade, there people thought they were doing. If this one moment was fixed, the world around usao would be better immediately.

Isaac. There are rooms, there are secrets, there is a map, there are resources for interaction with the level, there is a lot of choice, what and when to do, there is a value in the information and the study of the level. In the deadline, the structure of the level can lead you to a dead end or to the transition that you do not need, that is, again, studying the level and making decisions how to break through it through it. The gut from a series of generated rooms, depicting a fork with a choice of the one that is to get to this intestine, in my opinion, is not the most inventive and interesting type of level of level of level.

For comparison, in the same Dead Cells, I never found reasons to play, not a single reason.

I did not start talking about the attitude towards games, and did not give them a summary assessment. I gave examples of another approach, and examined the elements of gamedes from a research point of view. The fact that Dead Cells is tailored from different elements to understand how, and from that it works through one place – the theme of a separate long conversation.

Here the problem is that the Bilds have no support point, absolutely all elements are jealous, except for the barefoot, which to put it mildly raises the question, and then what is the essence of the random. Isaac, for example, randomitis everything and there are no builds in it, there is an interest to think about how you will squeeze out the maximum from the level and overcome the difficulties that have arisen. In Haydes, your build is built from weapons and understanding how to win the bosses known in advance with him, with random makes it only for modifying it by the situation, and, yes, it has many ways to influence the “random”. In the rocks you just shine what falls out, and then change it to a more suitable thing. The choice from the skull, object or storage perks is not obvious to build a build and turns into a roulette if you need to get rid of something.

In some way, the classic ETG regularly has to wind up the first level, so that a normal cannon falls

And on the other hand, we can say that it is also a greater strip without restarting as much as possible art and a type of complexity. Xs is straight about ETG, but for Isaac, I saw lovers of such a test on Twich and even quite successful.
And with Dead Cells, everything is simply ultra – the game was clearly done not under the monost, the buildup and the developers are trying to unsuccessfully break it off.

I agree that after a pair of three key improvements, further just stats increase. But without unique blessings of blessings, in general, which build can be discussed? The hammers greatly change the behavior, but this is already the element of the adjustment under the rand of which I spoke about.

Haydes is really better in this regard, there are a variety of resources for global pumping, and the complexity of the rooms is displayed, readability and significance of choosing objects for progression inside the wound, and rooms with events. But in general, I do not like this approach in roofing lines, I don’t like some hopeless, I don’t really see the pluses in it except for the simplification of development.

Well, about the random, I would argue. Accidentally passed the game on 10 attempts … almost without pumping anything for quartz. After that, he hardly reached the episcope, and then only a couple of times.

And, yes, there are many ways to influence “random” in it

Unfortunately, to influence the random of the modification of Bilda just you can’t, because there is no thing at the frequency of hammers. And other things oh how weakly generally affect the build and are more likely to be divided into "+ To damage" And “Def”.

This author has long been known for his “professional approach” Kappa

Well, maybe. I don’t have such a big horned background. For example, I noticed such garbage, if there is simply only one wounds between the matter of time, then you play wisely and try to squeeze out the maximum. And if you just sat down to shake and honor the “Pokemon”, then you patch on average somewhere on the chimera

Far from amazing.

Moreover, the problem is not that the game is bad, but in the secondary, and the absence of pluses without fat “but”.

– An interesting idea with skulls on paper, but for the most part is the usual change of weapons.

– An interesting tie, but absolutely cardboard characters and a smeared plot.

– The mechanic of the battle resembles Hollow Knight, but more clumsy and slow.

– Good pixel art, but the uniformity of locations and decor.

– There is a global progression, but lazy and tied on a percentage.

In general, the maximum is commendable. Come out 8 years ago – it would be a breakthrough. And now the game is too secondary. Alas.

By the way, in Ancient Abyss, they interestingly drank an element of metroids (?) to the development of the character? In short, to the study of the conditional map. I have not played it myself yet, but somehow I feel.

If in the cells you knock out the conditional rune of the spider and get an exit to an alternative location (well, as in metroid), then in the ancient abyss the passage to alternative Loki is realized through objects.

Found/bought an ice grenade – froze the river, went to an alternative location.

Found/bought a hammer – broke the wall, went to Loku.

Found/bought daggers – cheap, flew over a cliff, went to Loku.

I found nothing but a conditional sword – I didn’t go anywhere, you go to a default boring location.https://betfredcasino.es/