Slave Zero X

As promotional copy claimed and players confirmed, Slave Zero X is a 2D single-plane character action game with sensibilities cleaving closer to Guilty Gear than genre-benchmark DMC. At its most basic, SZX elects to impose a restrictive movelist cancel hierarchy which acts to filter unconsidered actions into a trajectory towards failure. Many attacks are appear to be high commitment, discouraging thoughtless use. Layered above this hierarchy is a meter system which grants seemingly finite access to less conditional cancels that, when employed judiciously, become the fulcrum on which a more elaborate sequence of attacks may turn. More highly skilled players will be able to leverage the components of this metered system into a free-flowing assault which presents no room for rebuttal. In essence, players are at first faced with the illusion of a stiff, cumbersome avatar which the game then asks them to dispel of their own accord. Many criticisms of the title reveal that not all were able or willing to meet this challenge. While tutorialization of all major mechanics is, in my opinion, fully adequate, a cursory review of S-rank and boss kill videos will reveal that one of the game's secret moves (not a combination of techniques, but a single move) is a mainstay in effective boss/miniboss elimination. Such a pivotal ability should be laid bare in an accessible movelist, not propagated through word of mouth. While enemies wield movelists of the size typically accorded to chaff in games of this sort, the moves themselves are often more like those granted to human opponents in fighting games. There are low startup jabs, hyperarmored grabs, the works. They'll still get juggled like training dummies in earlier levels, but as they start to quite literally fill the screen in later levels, the combat focus shifts to crowd management and, should you falter, triage. Appearances can be deceiving. Exceed pragmatic combat and express yourself through violence.

As someone who really loves the original Slave Zero game as well as the Episode Enyo Quake mod, seeing more of this universe was a real treat for me. And as someone who loves games like Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2, as well as other spectacle fighter games, this game was such a blast to play through from start to finish. Let me make one thing clear, if you heard people say this game is tough, then head that warning because this game is absolutely BRUTAL. Enemies will punish every little mistake you make, to the point of combo-ing you to death. The combat is also incredibly fast, frenetic but you also have to be extremely precise with your moveset, dodging, parrying, etc in order to succeed. You have to welcome the challenge in order to really succeed at what this game wants from you, you have to be willing to try and retry many times until you can get that winning blow, because it is a game that holds back nothing and expects you to learn the game in and out to get past even a mini boss. But when you nail that combat and understand what the game asks of you, it's pure ecstasy. Pulling off insane combos, timing your EX attacks, maximising burst potential and using your fatal sync to keep you in the fight felt so natural. When you harness your skills and annihilating huge groups of enemies that turns the screen into a beautiful mess, then you know the game is something quite special. There isn't a single thing I dislike about the game's presentation at all, I think it hits that 32-bit era look and style perfectly. It is visually beautiful, with excellent audio, fantastic voice acting and a surprisingly interesting story that would have been quite beloved if it came out back in the PS1/PS2 era and with very likeable and genuine character writing that really helped immerse me in the world a lot. Slave Zero X is VERY niche and not for everyone, but it is a really awesome and unique spectacle fighter, and when it clicks then you're in for a hell of a good time.

great game for those who like combo over power op like anime , great visuals and gameplay

While the combat system, clear levels and bosses, and score grading makes it feel like a classic "video game" Slave Zero is elevated to new heights with a refreshing dystopian cyberpunk setting that evokes the worst of Warhammer 40k, in all the best ways. You get what you pay for, and it delivers.

Hope you like getting stunlocked.