![]() I’ve seen four or five so far, and they are fairly tough. Because you start at level one every time, it is entirely reasonable that you might get tired of looking at the stage 1 maps. The game stitches levels together from a selection of pre-rendered maps. Of course.Īnd of course every game is different. ![]() You also meet and rescue NPCs throughout the game and they will appear in the Witch’s castle to offer Skul more bonuses like free skulls and powerups. The traits are mostly typical HP, ATK and DEF upgrades, but there are a few more creative ones. ![]() This often means changing your pace of play, or changing your style of combat and being able to adapt in a dynamic game.Īs you’re mowing down swarms of enemies, you’ll collect “dark quartz” which works as XP when you revisit the Witch’s castle (Skul’s base) and pay the Witch to unlock and upgrade your traits. Plus, you’re forced to work with whatever skulls you find along the way, whether they’re your favorite or not. The Witch is here to attend to your inventorial needs. The action is incredibly fast-paced and strongly relies on your own ability to manage a crowd and take advantage of a constantly-changing field that is often completely flooded with enemies, with both melee and ranged attacks. ![]() And killing one group may very well trigger a next group to teleport onto the screen and pile on. You’ll find yourself taking out enemies by the dozen. The ability to jump and dash and be generally agile on the battlefield are every bit as important as choosing the right skull and upgrading the right stats. There is a lot of button mashing, but the controls are as slick as any traditional platformer. I’m sure there are happy things through this portal…Ĭolorful pixel graphics notwithstanding, Skul is much more in-your-face in its style of combat. But there are some big honkin’ differences between how the play pattern is implemented in Skul: The Hero Slayer vs. I hated this pattern of play in Dark Souls. Go back to the base and upgrade your skills.Like any self-respecting Souls-like game, Skul follows the pattern of: The strategy in choosing skulls and the luck in finding ones that work for your play style (they are randomly selected in each playthrough) adds a surprising layer of depth to the game. Skulls are divided by their types-such as Power or Speed-and certain items you can find in the game will enhance skulls of a certain type, or give enhancements for the number of skulls you have, and other subtleties. The Jester also has a special attack that throws a multitude of daggers from the air, damaging enemies in a wide swath on the ground. Every third tag results in an explosion that deals extra damage as well as splash damage. The Jester skull lets Skul throw daggers that tag enemies. Two skulls, five items and one bad mammajamma.įor example, the Spear skull equips Skul with a dashing charge that deals extra damage and moves him through enemies to help him maintain an effective position. You can hold up to 2 at a time, and switching between them can unleash special attacks. Equipping a new skull will give you a new weapon set, new moves and in some cases radically change Skul’s appearance. The skulls are imbued with the skills and abilities of their original owners. ![]() He has the ability to switch out his default skull for a variety of alternate skulls he finds throughout the game. The protagonist (Skul) is just a skeleton, after all. Skul’s SkullsĪs you might expect, skulls are a common theme in the game. You know… like a beat-em-up.īut that’s not to say Skul is a traditional, arcade-style beater. It’s very pink in the castle.Īnd while there are some elements of platforming, Skul’s gameplay is based much more heavily around keeping your enemies from overwhelming the protagonist and deftly jumping and sliding to position Skul for the most efficient hits. So when I requested a review key for Skul, I was expecting exactly that: A platformer. It’s nothing personal, just that the owner of the site ( me) has a particular soft spot for retro-style platformers. It’s no secret that pixel platformers get preferential treatment on this website. Skul: The Hero Slayer adds a couple of missing elements to the mix and has created a game that has the intensity of a beat-em-up with the precision of a platformer and the depth of an RPG. For me, Souls games and beat-em-ups both tend to feel repetitive and button-mashy. To be totally frank with you, neither genre is one I typically play or enjoy. ![]()
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