Skelattack

Skelattack is a side-scrolling platformer with a lot of heart, but it ends too quickly and the obstacles it places in front of you are hampered because of it.

A strange little thing, Skelattack seems to lack confidence in itself, wanting to be one of those hard-as-nails "masocore" platformers while not really committing to the tight design that defines that subgenre. As a result, it's a game that'll make you seethe with frustration not from deliberate and challenging level design, but from sloppily-constructed traps that seem to think such things are excused by a multitude of checkpoints. It's definitely not a disaster, but Skelattack leaves a lot to be desired.

Skelattack doesn't know what it wants to be but despite this I did end up getting just a little more enjoyment than aggravation out of it.

Skelattack is a beautiful and endearing indie game with a soul borrowed from a FromSoftware game. It’s gorgeous, challenging and so compelling. When you put it down, it won’t be long until you pick it back up for another go. It is let down by some awkward controls and uninspired combat but on balance, I came away with some really positive feelings for Skelattack.

There is as much substance to Skelattack as there is meat on Skully. This is the barest of effort to put into a platformer's design. The over reliance on frustrating-to-control wall-jumping, and terrible combat that takes forever is what kills the experience. What is tragic is that Skelattack runs very smoothly, and is devoid of bugs or glitches. The developer was clearly competent on the construction of its product, but the concept that holds everything together is such a weak foundation. Most of this can be cheesed thanks to the generous i-frames, and how every level's start has a checkpoint. This makes so much of Skelattack redundant and pointless.

If this is the kind of quality we can expect from Konami in the years ahead, there could well be a renaissance on the cards. They have Ukuza Games to thank for crafting a compelling, stunning, and overall, very entertaining platformer that, surprisingly, you’ll be smiling through as opposed to grimacing.

In any event, Skelattack is a great-looking, albeit completely frustrating game that will surely delight and infuriate folks. Even though I tossed my controller aside more than once in my playthrough, I can't help but feel the allure to try again. I know I'm going to grunt and moan the entire time, but the look and lore of this game are too much to ignore despite my complaints.

Skelattack is a game of exceptional mediocrity, a frustrating adventure with an identity crisis and a balance problem. It screams potential that it never even comes close to reaching as it draws obvious inspiration from numerous places, but fails to capture the charm and intention behind those progenitors. Its story and art is its strongest aspects, but the stagnant gameplay drags down what could have otherwise been a pretty good concept. There's a core of a good idea here, but like it's lead character, there's simply no meat on these bones.

Skelattack is a fun little romp through the underworld to save it from the pesky humans. Its biggest flaw may just be that you’ll feel like it’s over too soon. However, the story is a little deeper than you may expect, though not super deep. Skully will uncover truths about his own past life, the true motives of the humans, and more. However, the lore text is entirely optional, as you will only see the lore you’ve collected if you go to the Aftervale library to read it. So it won’t annoy you if you don’t care about it, though I personally like it. It provides some extra details beyond the main story. My adventure in the afterlife came to a victorious end after a handful of hours or so. My playtime is too short to get an exact number from the profile screen on my Switch. This game doesn’t have the most replay value in the world, but you can always replay it to try to find stuff you missed last time. It is still fun and charming enough to be worth more playthroughs anyway. All in all, Skelattack is a fun, charming little indie game. It is available in the Nintendo Switch eShop for $19.99, though this price point may be too high for some based on the amount of content. You can also find the game on Steam, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. Will you risk breaking your bones to save the underworld and dare to learn about your own past life?

Skelattack boasts one of the most unique premises and stories that I've had the pleasure of experiencing in a long time. If it featured tighter controls and better balancing when it came to its platforming challenges then it would be a must-play Metroidvania.