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Slain - A homage to gory hack-&-slash games of the 80's & 90's (Out now on PS4)

Started this today. A few levels through and I'm really liking it so far. I guess it's markedly better now than at launch since this is really solid stuff so far. I love the soundtrack.

^Are the sprites done by hand or are they 3D models that were rendered at low resolutions to give them that pixel art look?
Not sure, but I think this would imply the former?
Criut9aVMAAIXjg.jpg
 

brau

Member
Not sure, but I think this would imply the former?

Started this today. A few levels through and I'm really liking it so far. I guess it's markedly better now than at launch since this is really solid stuff so far. I love the soundtrack.

^Are the sprites done by hand or are they 3D models that were rendered at low resolutions to give them that pixel art look?

All hand painted.

You can catch Andrew do some of these over on Twitch. Just follow his twitter to see when he is on.
 
Wow, looks fantastic. Is the first Slain even all sorted out yet? As in, have the patches fixed most of all of the gripes people had at launch?
Yeah, I believe most would say the game is actually pretty decent now. Even on Steam the game's rating went up to "Very Positive" after the Back From Hell update
 
I tried to like Slain but had to get a Steam refund.
Something about it rubs me the wrong way.
Combat for starters feels lesser to castlevania, even the NES games.

Feels like there is no weight to fighting and certain features like blocking feel obnoxiously applied.

I'm not saying the game sucks, I'm just saying I didn't like it enough to continue playing.
Love the style though!
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
I tried to like Slain but had to get a Steam refund.
Something about it rubs me the wrong way.
Combat for starters feels lesser to castlevania, even the NES games.

Feels like there is no weight to fighting and certain features like blocking feel obnoxiously applied.

I'm not saying the game sucks, I'm just saying I didn't like it enough to continue playing.
Love the style though!
Did you play it at launch, or after it was re-launched as "Back from Hell"?

Combat is much better now. Attacks have weight and feedback to them and it certainly controls better than NES Castlevania... particularly the jumping.
 

Piccoro

Member
Only learned about this game yesterday through the PS blog, lol.
As a metalhead, I'm totally gonna buy this game on PS4 tomorrow! And thanks for the Vita version, devs! :)
 

Figboy79

Aftershock LA
I've had my eye on this game for a while, and didn't realize it was hitting PS4 until I saw the blog post the other day. Purchased it today, but really looking forward to the Vita version. I've been itching for a good 2D side scroller in the vein of Castlevania, and this looks to be it! I admit the gorgeous art guaranteed a purchase anyway, but it's great to know that the game underneath is also solid!
 
I just discovered this game on PS Store and watched the trailer, I was super excited by what I saw... but impressions in this thread have pushed me away.
I like a challenge, but I hate unfair difficulty.
So conflicted now.
 

Horseticuffs

Full werewolf off the buckle
Wow. The art design looks like a step above the original. Those designs are very reminiscent of Warhammer 40K though. (And Kain, is that you?)

I freaking LOVE the science fantasy direction that they're going with the sequel. It's really the only way they can take it, in my mind.


To the developer; Please. Please. Please. I beat the game in its original release. Loved it. It was tough as nails but I did it. That wolf chase was brutal but within an hour of play time it was done.

The relaunch, as much as I love it and appreciate the effort you've done and hope for your success, is hard on a totally different, unfair, and unfun level. I can not make any meaningful progress in the game since the reboot. I don't know if I've had some kind of unknown head trauma that I'm not remembering, or if I'm just getting too old for this shit ala' Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon, or what, but I seriously can't even make it anywhere into it, and it isn't some grand puzzle stopping me. Just general difficulty.

Look, I'll buy Slain 2 regardless just because it is Slain 2. Just please work to fairly balance the difficulty. Thanks! I really love your work and will proselytize your stuff to anyone who'll listen.
 

MaLDo

Member
Was there a dev posting here?

My only complain with Slain is how pixels are not grid aligned. I mean, it's impossible to add a CRT shader (a third party one, because the built in shader is shit), without losing pixel detail. That's because sprites can move freely without position constrictions that using a fixed grid involves.

So we can see constantly different sprites layer only displaced a fraction of a pixel.

I guess fixing this for Slain with a patch at this point is very unlikely, but I hope for they can for the sequel.


EDIT: For clarification, built in CRT shader loses pixel detail for the same problem too.
 

Corpekata

Banned
I freaking LOVE the science fantasy direction that they're going with the sequel. It's really the only way they can take it, in my mind.


To the developer; Please. Please. Please. I beat the game in its original release. Loved it. It was tough as nails but I did it. That wolf chase was brutal but within an hour of play time it was done.

The relaunch, as much as I love it and appreciate the effort you've done and hope for your success, is hard on a totally different, unfair, and unfun level. I can not make any meaningful progress in the game since the reboot. I don't know if I've had some kind of unknown head trauma that I'm not remembering, or if I'm just getting too old for this shit ala' Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon, or what, but I seriously can't even make it anywhere into it, and it isn't some grand puzzle stopping me. Just general difficulty.

Look, I'll buy Slain 2 regardless just because it is Slain 2. Just please work to fairly balance the difficulty. Thanks! I really love your work and will proselytize your stuff to anyone who'll listen.


This is sort of baffling to me. The reboot not only has much better mechanics and ways to deal with enemies but more frequent checkpoints and saving.
 

Horseticuffs

Full werewolf off the buckle
This is sort of baffling to me. The reboot not only has much better mechanics and ways to deal with enemies but more frequent checkpoints and saving.

I get it. I can't offer any explanation. There's just like something that isn't clicking here for me. Obviously the gaming world stopped and took notice of the quality in the game with the reissue, which I'm totally happy about. The game deserves all its success.

I'm totally baffled. I beat it almost twice in the initial release but I got distracted by something else. I've put maybe 2-3 hours into the re-release and it's been like hitting my head into a wall. Maybe it's one of those things I need to give it a few months and come back to but it's quite perplexing to me. I've never really had something like this happen to me with a game.

Regardless, this is probably just a "me" thing. People who own Sony hardware should definitely give this a shot as it's very worthwhile.

I may need to try the deft maneuver known as the Gertmann gambit and try drinking a 40 to loosen up first.
 
Have to say, I'm very positively surprised that they honed up to their mistakes and fixed the game after the game was a huge mess at release. Good on the devs.
 

IbukiLordSA

Member
Eager to hear feedback on the PS4 version, quite interested in picking this up, just need that little extra push before I go all in.
 
Just coming in here to post about the PS4 version too. I love the art but last I remember reading the gameplay left a lot to be desired - did they ever improve it to a reasonable level?
 

xrnzaaas

Gold Member
So does it play more like Shadow of the Beast or more like Castlevania? If it's the former then I'm very interested in the PS4 version, because I love the art style and how wonderfully it's animated.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
To the developer; Please. Please. Please. I beat the game in its original release. Loved it. It was tough as nails but I did it. That wolf chase was brutal but within an hour of play time it was done.

The relaunch, as much as I love it and appreciate the effort you've done and hope for your success, is hard on a totally different, unfair, and unfun level. I can not make any meaningful progress in the game since the reboot. I don't know if I've had some kind of unknown head trauma that I'm not remembering, or if I'm just getting too old for this shit ala' Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon, or what, but I seriously can't even make it anywhere into it, and it isn't some grand puzzle stopping me. Just general difficulty.

Look, I'll buy Slain 2 regardless just because it is Slain 2. Just please work to fairly balance the difficulty. Thanks! I really love your work and will proselytize your stuff to anyone who'll listen.
Wuuuut

I suck at video games like this and I admit I only played the relaunch but it was hard but fair for the most part. Where are you stuck?

The wolf chase was relatively easy, to be honest.

Just coming in here to post about the PS4 version too. I love the art but last I remember reading the gameplay left a lot to be desired - did they ever improve it to a reasonable level?
I thought it was pretty good. Here is my review on Steam.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/morriganstark/recommended/369070/

So does it play more like Shadow of the Beast or more like Castlevania? If it's the former then I'm very interested in the PS4 version, because I love the art style and how wonderfully it's animated.
I never played Shadow of the Beast, but it reminds me a lot of the Classicvanias, but with more friendly controls (like the jump and combat isn't nearly as stiff, it's pretty fluid, you can adjust your jump direction/length etc.)
 
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