I've never posted an overtly negative review of a game before, and I hate that Slain might be the first, but I picked up a copy on GOG, and I have to say, it feels extremely unfinished. As long hoped, the visuals are absolutely top-notch, with all kinds of gorgeous pixel art and environmental effects enriching the world. And, of course, the soundtrack absolutely rips. These are the qualities that made the trailer so compelling, and they do not disappoint. However, the gameplay itself feels like a rough alpha of something that could be much improved with further development. Controls are loose and sloppy. With the music volume turned down, there are minimal sound effects in the game, to the point that taking and giving damage are hard to identify because of the lack of audio feedback. I tried playing with no music, just as an experiment, and I feel like I'm watching a near-silent graphical demo. I want so badly to be satisfied by the gameplay, but, as it is, the sense of "oomph" I'd expect from so much metal (literal and figurative) is weirdly lacking. Navigating the menus is laggy, and there are layout issues that make it difficult to read the menu over the death screen. The game also locks up completely when I try to load the credits from the main menu. I worry that this is maybe an example of the player/fan community's enthusiasm pushing the game to release before it's finished. I've been following Slain for months, and I'm as excited as most to finally play it (hell, I raced over to GOG and created an account just to buy it), but I was pretty shocked at how rough and incomplete the game feels. Just my two cents. Maybe for some the awesome visuals and animation will be enough, but I really need more impact and grit and tightness from the controls to get into this one. My sense is that (major) patching could correct a lot of this stuff; but the development delays and community anxiety up until this point might complicate that.
