Waking up as a tiny, adorable skeleton nicknamed ‘Little Bone’, I was instantly charmed by the cute designs of this lovable character and that’s only where my love for this rogue-like, chaotic story began. ‘Skul: The Hero Slayer’ by SouthPAW Games, describes just what you need to do; defeat the humans and corrupted monsters to return the Demon King and his entourage to their home, the castle.

The actual combat system of the game is entertaining enough, however, the controls are entirely different from most combat systems I’ve learned before. The gameplay and monster mechanics however are but a small part that has to learn after mastering the combat system. This can be hard as the only glaring issue I had with the title was the combat system on PC.

I notice with most games similar to this style they particularly use WASD, however, the system here has skills you activate through A and S, making me continually try to walk and accidentally activating a skill instead.

The game also utilises an attack and jump which are crucial and having these mapped to X and c meant it was a true skill to be able to adapt to these keys quickly to get on your way. Thankfully, there is the ability to remap the keys to a more comfortable set out.

Moving onto other parts of the game, the boss mechanics were simple as long as you could master your skill placements. As you hack, slash and platform through maniac waves of enemies you must hone these magic skills so you can use them to full effect. A particular skill I think is awesome is the starter skill of throwing Little Bone’s head and teleporting to wherever his head lands.

As confusing and frustrated as I was at the beginning for the controls, I did come to enjoy the storyline of the game, mostly because I adore the cute little main character striving to do his best to follow through with the orders of the people who treated him well, especially after seeing snippets of his backstory.

Other than the story, I massively enjoyed the art style. It’s fantastic and beautiful in its own stylistic way. There was clearly a lot of thought put into each of the pixelated characters and nurtured to the point of this game, which shows just how much they cared while creating the game. It very much feels like a retro game in a modern setting. It’s unique but oh so familiar.

The design of the characters and the pleasing looks of the surrounding map coupled with the detailed characters are just the surface of this game. The flow of the music and sound effects fits so well into the often fast-paced action with that same retro styling, comforting or intensifying particular scenes throughout the game.

Overall, once you fix the default combat system this game is a thrilling ride through a kingdom in dire need of purging. A beautiful nod to past games, this is one modern game that although seems retro stands out on its own two feet confidently.

Written by: Caitlin