REVIEW : Void Slayer (PC)
You were robbed of your life by unnamed gods. Your stubborn soul was flung into the abyss, and it was only through your incredible willpower that you were able to rise above it. But the battle has only just begun. Hordes of deformed beasts will try to push you into the mindless void. How long do you think you’ll be able to keep going? Void Slayer is a one-of-a-kind arena shooter in which each hit you take takes up some of your trying to fight area. With the aid of a double jump and a dash, you can avoid it. Use two distinct attacks to take out your adversaries, one per hand. Keep a look out for terrifying obelisk formations that act as corridors for your enemies. Not only will destroying them close the portal, but it will also award you with valuable jewels that may be used to improve your equipment.
Void Slayer is a dystopian arena game with a novel twist: you can’t die immediately, but receiving damage damages the arena’s floor, leading you to plummet to your demise if you don’t keep order. During gameplay, you are given very little information and there is no tutorial. The mechanics, on the other hand, are uncovered by the player through sheer experimenting – I would suggest activating damage figures in the courses to help with this even more. To summarise, being hit leads floor tiles to dissolve, filling the fountain in the arena’s centre allows you to restore broken tiles, and eliminating the frightening towers that appear in the arena earns you a big point boost each tower. Now, I’m a big fan of arena shooters, but I don’t think game creators take many variations with the genre’s essential concepts. That said, I’m confident in saying that the player-damage-to-arena-size mechanic is both novel and enjoyable in this game.
Everything feels good: the movement is fluid and responsive, the player assaults are strong and well-balanced, and the overall look and atmosphere are fresh and inspirational. I honestly think the fundamental principle here opens up a lot of possibilities for new games – I’d love to see some more arena kinds, because having bits of the arena become usable/unusable at random might offer a lot of variation to each arena. Consider one with large vertical pillars or staircases, giving you additional options for escaping.If you take too much injury, an important escape path will vanish, quickening your end. Moreover, I’m not certain if the lack of music is intentional or otherwise, but it would be wonderful to hear some. With some further UI refinement and possibly some explanation, this game could be a fantastic post-Early Access title. Madmind Studio has made it a goal to start expanding out into game styles that many gamers are familiar with, and to create them in methods that haven’t been done before. They even established a special side team called Madmind Studio: After Hours to create smaller titles just for entertainment in a different approach.
The first of their games that meets that criteria is Void Slayer, which is the most basic arena shooter I’ve ever played. However, sometimes simplicity is exactly what is required. You could either enter the match, check the leaderboard, fiddle with the parameters, or stop after it has loaded. That is all there is to it. Because this game lacks a progression system or an experience, there will be no need to save or load. Every time you start the game, it’s a new run, and the only information stored is the records for your best run ever, which are also displayed on the global scoreboard.
It is also simple to play the game. You have a left mouse button attack that is a beam that uses energy and recharges when not in use, a right mouse button attack that is a melee-type swipe attack, a dual jump with the space bar, a solo dash with the shift key, and your standard a,w,s,d movement keys. As it’s what the usual game employs, there isn’t much to get cold when it regards to the controls. Your objective is to stay alive for as long as possible. Periodically, obelisk towers will come up and begin spawning monsters. The gem at the top of the building will be broken and will no longer produce monsters if you remove it. As the contest progresses, these buildings will proceed to emerge at a faster rate, but there is still a limitation to how many can be in the battlefield at any given time. That isn’t because of difficulty; it’s because the arena swiftly fills up with all kinds of adversaries! There are several enemy varieties, but if you don’t handle them effectively, they will swiftly crowd the region. Miniature orbs that are easy to kill appear first, followed by small dragons that make fire orbs, bull-like ground smashers, shield-shaped guardians, whirling laser orbs, and an advanced form of the orbs that travel faster and dash. Because your melee strike is more powerful than your beam, when you come close to a group of foes, use it.
Managing and comprehending the dash system is one item that can save you time. While you only get one dash that recharges quickly, you can use dash points to gain more. A purple light will appear beneath the obelisk buildings and the lamps above the battlefield. You can dash up to that place once you see the flame. This allows you to walk around the arena without touching the floor, run up to the tower and melee assault the crystal, or even pull oneself out of near disaster before falling into the void. The healing system is the major feature that distinguishes this game from other arena shootings. The arena’s HUD replaces the conventional HUD. Boards from the battlefield peel away when you take damage. Although the order in which the panels fall appears to be random, it appears that the game is structured to maintain an external layer for the players until the last piece of health is taken. If you manage to replenish your reservoir, your health will be replenished, but this requires some skill, so good luck getting to a health refill spot! This is all quite straightforward, just like the gameplay. The enemy sound effects are subtle enough so when there is a large throng of foes, it doesn’t sound like a swarm. There is some simple music that isn’t intrusive and is more of an action ambience, while the music isn’t annoying and is more of an action atmosphere. The game employs dynamic colours in its graphics. The battlefield and adjacent surroundings are extremely dark, making it difficult to tell which boards have fallen by the wayside and which remain, however all key areas in the game are highlighted with a bright colour. It will be difficult to adjust to the game’s aesthetics. Void Slayer is as simple as it is entertaining!
REVIEW : Reverie Knights Tactics (XBOX Series X)
