Slain: Back From Hell

I really wanted to like this game, but sadly I cannot recommend it. I enjoy the cheesy heavy metal theme and the visuals are astonishing for pixel art and a testiment for the love of the game's developers for their product as much as their willingness to support it after the botched launch to provide us with a version more close to their original vision. Kudos to that attitude. The gameplay ruined my experience, though. I don't mind hard games and I'm prepared to feel some frustration over a challenge from time to time, but what remains from playing Slain is not the triumph over a challenging foe or level but countless moments where I became outright angry at the game. First of all: Some (not all) checkpoints are too far away from each other, forcing you to repeat already overcome challenges ad nauseam and that's punishing, not deliciously difficult. And then there is the combat system. Your attacks stagger your opponents, preventing them from striking back, except when they don't. You'll get into situations where you cannot react to a multitude of incoming attacks with anything but a 'door's closed' block, but the standard block makes you lose health, so you're just out of luck by times. Incoming attacks are sometimes obfuscated by the visuals while you're fighting a group of enemies. Enemies can spawn on top of you, damaging you in the process. Merely touching enemies makes you lose health even when they're not dripping with acid, making many attempts to dodge blows from a wave of enemies rather futile. In the end, I've never managed to get into a flow while playing this game and got no feeling of personal progress as a player, either. I simply threw as many attempts at a challenge as necessary, hoping that I wouldn't suffer too much unnecessary damage in the process so I could make it to the next checkpoint. That's one way to beat a game, but it didn't feel very compelling to me. In the end I was merely too stubborn to give up, I guess.

nice sound, nice levels, nice controls but if you want play it in high resolution... game get too squared. play it in low res. 20" inch monitors to truly enjoy this game. Also little hard game, try it if you are some kind of oldschool gamer and enjoy games 2d platformer like actraiser, mystic defender, castlevania.

I am not able to configure the controls! Setting left/right for the D-Pad does not not work! The gamepad works finde for "The Witcher" to "Super Meat Boy" and "Hollow Knight". Broken controls are not acceptable.

Control Issues, Sound Issues. Game play mechanics still need work. Hope Patch(es) will clear this mess up. the art is great.

I am writing this review after getting 100% achievements on GOG. This game is HARD!! and AMAZING!! also way too good!! I still feel like going back and playing it again!! The story in short is your character is woken up by a spirit to defeat the evil that has taken over the world. During this journey you will encounter many different kinds of enemies, foot enemies, ranged enemies, tough enemies, mini bosses and excellent bosses. The boss fights are hard, but after learning their attack patterns you will be able to beat them. To get achievements for the boss fights is even harder and it feels really satisfying when you manage to do it. The soundtrack is phenomenal, loved it so much that I bought the Deluxe Edition Upgrade. Highly Recommended!!