Slayin 2

Overall it's a package we think is well worth the asking price, something that's brilliantly simple in principle, but reveals its intricacies and hidden difficulty as you play through; it wouldn't be entirely out of place in a late eighties arcade.

The story in Slayin 2 is about a kingdom under siege. After the king has been kidnapped, the kingdom falls and inevitably becomes overrun with monsters. It’s now your job to rid the world of these foul beasts and save the kingdom. While it’s not hugely original, it gives you a purpose to go on a monster-hunting spree.

Slayin 2 was a great time, both solo, and in co-op! Whichever way you play, the story mode offers plenty of fun unlockables and secrets, adding lots of replay value to the mix. The arcade mode also serves as a decent means of scorechasing, but without a local or online leaderboard, it feels a lot more shallow than such a mode deserves to be, though at least each character can have their own highscore.

Slayin 2 has some UI issues, and its gameplay doesn't stand out for me. However, if you're looking for a game to just play while passing time, you could certainly play worse.

Slayin 2 is a very good conversion from mobile to Switch. The graphics are excellent and I appreciated the extra effort the developers put into expanding the game. If you loved the game on mobile I would highly recommend upgrading to this version. This game feels designed for the arcade crowd looking for a good challenge and are willing to replay levels over and over again. Unfortunately, this design doesn’t suit everyone, particularly in co op. I thought this would be a fun game to prop on a coffee table, throw a joy con at my co op partner and we could have some good casual gaming. However, the difficulty spikes and grindy game play put my partner off. A darn shame. Nevertheless I personally enjoyed the experience alone, even if I did struggle to get into the flow of the game play now and then.

Since I’ve always been a big fan of classic arcade-style gaming there’s something about the simplicity meets challenge of Slayin 2 that really speaks to me...

FDG and Pixel Licker could have replicated the original Slayin experience, slapped on a new coat of paint, published on Switch, and called it a day. Instead the studio transformed the rogue-like template into a more substantial role-playing adventure complete with story, side-quests, secrets, unlockable characters, and upgrades aplenty.

If you want some mindless arcade-style fun then Slayin 2 is definitely worth playing for its immediately gratifying gameplay.