Slain: Back From Hell

I never played the initial version of the game that caused so many complaints, but I just finished the final version and loved it. It's definitely heavily inspired by Castlevania, so if you're a fan of the early games, you'll have a good idea about what to expect. It's more on the challenging side, but never ridiculously so. There are checkpoints that are about the perfect distance apart, never too close so as to make things too easy, but never so far apart that you'll rip your hair out. I loved the gameplay, music, sound effects, and sprites, but what really impressed me the most was the gorgeous backgrounds and environmental effects. For a game that has an SNES throwback look, they really worked magic here and there was a lot of attention to detail. If you're really in the mood for a classic Castlevania fix, I can't think of a more perfect game than this. I didn't know what to expect, but I had so much fun with this game that I will definitely be coming back to it. I really hope there's a sequel because this game deserves one.

Here are my specs: Ubuntu Mate 16.04.3 64 bit - CPU: i5 CPU 3.30 GHZ - Memory - 8 GB - Video Card: GeForce GTX 960 Driver 384.90 The game runs excellently. I read about bad performances with this game and seen some older youtube videos about it but I took a chance when this game was on sale and it run smoothly from beginning to end. The art is excellent 16/32 bit style, I tried the different filters the game offers in the settings but I've found it to be too distracting from the original art work. The music is great if you're into metal. Goes very well with the game settings. I found myself head banging along when defeating some of the bosses like a old school grunge dork. The game is difficult but not depressingly so. The final boss can be intense but I've found some of the early bosses to be more difficult like 'Mother Beholder.' This is a MUST play if you are into Castlevania (1 to 3) like games. Excellent. Look forward to the next one.

This game would be a fun side scroller hack and slash game but the fact that the game does not let you bind the keys the way you want is a deal breaker for me. Any developer that does not give people the option to bind the keys the way you want fill me with rage.

This game was a free giveaway from the developers (all you had to do was subscribe to their newsletter and they would send you a code to download the game from gog) and I'm happy that I didn't have to pay a single cent for this buggy mess! I installed it on my Windows 10 laptop only to find out that 4 years after its initial release, it is still afflicted by the same annoying bug first reported upon its release: Every time I died, the game would freeze in the "You have been slain'' scene and the only thing you can do to continue playing is Alt+Tab to minimize the game, shut it down, start again and load your last savegame. A lot of people have reported this game-killing bug to the developers since 2016 but they never bothered to fix it. It's a pity because the game has really nice graphics and responsive controls and it actually cought my interest for the 45 minutes I played it before I found out that I had to quit the game and reload it every time I died. It's ironic that Digerati chose this particular game to give away for free because after playing Slain I doubt I will ever buy any of their games in the future.

Action packed side scroller with some platform elements. The graphics are cool and detailed with in-your-face sound effects and a great soundtrack. If you are familiar with platform games then this game is a cinch. The variety of attacks adds a nice touch to the gameplay. No dull moments here. You swing your sword and use Mana attacks to kill demons and monsters without much of a break. I personally love games like this. It keeps you on your toes. If you like games with non-stop excitement and action, this is for you. If you want a drama story where you spend more time watching your character talk to NPCs, then I'd steer clear of this. The frenetic energy of this game attracts players who want to get right to it and start hacking bad guys to pieces. If that sounds like you, then get this game ASAP. Also, no bugs or issues were detected. Install and play immediately!