It is something I’ve been asked a lot and the elevator pitch has always been something I struggled with. On the surface, Slayin’ is “An action game where you control a little knight who runs back and forth poking at enemies to slay them while also collecting their treasure and trying to avoid getting hit.” And on the outside, Slayin’ probably did appear to be just that simple. But the hope was always to add depth to something that might be labelled as “simple”.
The original Slayin’ tried its best to make an arcade style game that felt easy to play, but asked players to “get in the zone” when the difficulty began to ramp up. Taking hits was inevitable, but learning how to minimize damage and heal through coin collection became the dance that entertained those who “got” what Slayin’ was doing.
Now with Slayin’ 2 that goal is still the same. Players have more ways to “poke at enemies” but the balance between damage and healing is still there. Combos now play a more pivotal role in survival as they increase the healing potential of treasure. The multi-plane setup means that chaining a combo has become more tricky, as finding the closest enemy to chain might not be on the same plane as the player. Then keeping a combo going through a boss is an additional challenge, but one that might be the only way to maintain enough healing through treasure to survive.
Add unique character stats, unique weapon abilities and charms that grant additional effects to the mix and you can see there are a lot of ways to play Slayin’ 2. The dance is still there. The steps are a bit trickier, but also a lot more fun.