Skul: The Hero Slayer

Skul: The Hero Slayer puts skull-swapping and fast combat front and center in this bone-afide retro rogue-lite.

Skul: The Hero Slayer has been a pleasant surprise for me. It’s charming, plays great, and has real legs. The devs understand what makes roguelites so popular. That “one more run” mentality where those runs aren’t too long, feature a lot of variety that you can control, and they feel good to play. As this is finally on Game Pass it’s an easy recommendation no matter where you can play.

Despite a balance far from perfect, Skul is genuinely fun and it's an interesting take on rogue-lites.

It is lacking a thorough tutorial at the start of the game which can leave players frustratingly dying a lot really early on. But Skul: The Hero Slayer is a captivating indie game that offers a really challenging experience with plenty of replay value.

The game moves at a good pace and when finding the perfect combo of skulls and items, the gameplay is very satisfying. When in the midst of high-intensity action, there are some framerate dips but it rarely hindered my fun; in fact, it kind of felt good to know that I had caused so much chaos that the game couldn't handle it all. In the vein of run-based, combat-styled platformer games, Skul the Hero Slayer proves that there's still life in these old bones yet.

Not everyone will appreciate Skul: The Hero Slayer's high degree of challenge but I absolutely loved learning the ins and outs of its world.

For me Skul: The Hero Slayer was a highly entertaining action rogue-lite experience. With multiple skulls of widely varying playstyles to discover, it’s hard not to make another attempt at the difficult gauntlet ahead. The challenge is very high and the grind may seem like a lot for some gamers. But in a strange way I found some inspiration in this I don’t often feel in gaming. Skul is a fragile skeleton that fails more than he succeeds. But it’s in his attempt to try and win the day that makes him quite likeable. I guess in life some of us will lose more than we win. But we get up everyday and keep going because sooner or later life will throw us a bone. I guess what I’m trying to say is Skul is pretty darn great. Whether you take life lessons from it or not, this is a colourful pixelated rogue-lite that is far from bare bones.

Despite the minor problems, Skul is an immensely enjoyable, constantly surprising and great looking roguelike adventure that comes well recommended.

Rougelite/like is one of the most overused genre so trying to provide a truly new experience in this space that actually stands out in the crowd is really hard, fortunately Skul: The Hero Slayer has managed to put its own spin on this tired formula to become a title well-worth trying.

Overall, Skul: The Hero Slayer is a great roguelike where we play a very funny antihero trying to save his masters from actual heroes who have come to flex how powerful humans are.