Slain! Is a Metal Take on Old School Hack-And-Slash Games
(Image by Wolfbrew Games)
A new game takes a passion for heavy metal music and combines it with the classics from the past.
Slain! is a side-scrolling, hack-and-slash, puzzle-platformer from Wolfbrew Games, a two-man independent studio.
Slain! takes its inspiration from metal music and games from the ’80s and ’90s like Ghosts ‘n Goblins, Golden Axe and Altered Beast, with definite vibes of Castlevania too.
The main character is Bathoryn, a long-haired, weapon-wielding, bearded warrior who needs to liberate six towers, each controlled by an overlord. Players will fight all kinds of enemies from the underworld like skeleton soldiers and demon monsters, with plenty of blood and gore on the way to the bosses.
The game features fantastic pixel art visuals, with highly detailed gothic stages and dark environments filling the backgrounds.
To add even more authenticity to Slain!, Curt Victor Bryant, a former guitarist and bassist of the iconic metal band “Celtic Frost,” made the game’s soundtrack.
Slain! is first releasing for Steam and other digital stores this Thursday for $12.99 on the PC, Mac and Linux. The game will also launch for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Wii U and PlayStation Vita a few months later in May or June.
There will be a Deluxe Edition that includes the game’s full 20 song soundtrack, a digital postcard, wallpaper and more extras.
(GIF by Wolfbrew Games)
Slain! will feature a tough and sometimes punishing difficulty like the old school games it takes inspiration from. The game promises that it has “No leveling, no grinding, no crafting.”
There are three weapons in the game, each with an elemental power to them like a fire sword or ice axe. Enemies can be decapitated to get health back and can also restore the player’s mana. The mana system is used for certain magic attacks. Stages have puzzle elements designed to block the player’s progress. Levels are filled with deadly traps that can lead to gruesome deaths.
Andrew Gilmour and Asa Dang are the two developers at Wolfbrew Games. Gilmour has more than 25 years of experience, having worked for companies like 3DO, Naughty Dog, Ritual Entertainment and several more studios. Dang has over eight years in the industry, previously at Sensory Sweep Studios and indie team Frozen Codebase. He was last at Rockstar Games working on Grand Theft Auto V.
The game is being published by Digerati Distribution, which has put out indie titles like The Sun and Moon (2014), Letter Quest: Grimm’s Journey (2014), Joylancer (2014), Three Fourths Home (2015) and will help release the upcoming To Azimuth by [bracket]games.
Slain! has been in development for over two years. The game was first called The Seven Towers. In February 2015 the studio ran a Kickstarter that raised over $19,000 to help finish the game’s development. Originally Slain! was going to launch in October 2015 but faced a few delays, with its most recent in January caused by the game being too hard.
Watch the launch trailer for Slain!:
Quarter Disorder 
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