Slayin 2

Genre: Arcade

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Slayin 2 is an Arcade-style game released on Nintendo Switch in 2020 that is the sequel to the original iOS game Slayin, released on that platform in 2013. Like its predecessor, Slayin 2 has players moving back and forth over a field running through enemies with their chosen class’s weapon, but Slayin 2 adds an extra element to the gameplay by having the action take place on a background and foreground field that players hop between.

This game uses a 2D pixel art visual style in a medieval fantasy setting that’s colorful and well-animated, and while I don’t personally care for the character designs here, I still have to admit that everything here looks polished and well-crafted. This is paired with a decent energetic soundtrack. All in all, this game’s presentation gives a retro-style feel that’s really nice.

As for the gameplay itself, I’ll say that it does offer a fairly original approach to its simple arcadey action. Players automatically attack enemies when running through them, so long as they’re facing the right direction. This makes the strategy of the game less about attack timing or deciding which move to use as it is about managing which enemies you’re fighting so you don’t leave one of the two fields unmanageable, and building up your combo meter to get special attacks set up.

While the premise is simple and may sound easy, I actually found the challenge level here to be overly hard for my tastes – enemies build up extremely quickly, and it can be difficult to visually parse them as they start to blend together. In addition, things start getting frustrating when some enemies must be approached from the rear – this is already tedious due to how fast you move compared to them, but this is made more so if you’re playing a class with a lower range, meaning that enemies other classes can approach from the front require a rear approach now too. Often, you get so swamped with enemies, and so many are unapproachable, that receiving damage seems unavoidable.

In the end, I still appreciate Slayin 2 for its unique Arcade-style gameplay, and players looking for a challenge may appreciate how the game swarms them with enemies, but I think that most players will find this game to be far too frustrating to be enjoyable.

tl;dr – Slayin 2 is an Arcade-style game where players run through enemies in the foreground and background, trying to keep the horde of enemies manageable. Unfortunately, that often feels like a difficult task thanks to how quickly enemies spawn, and is made more difficult by enemies that players cannot approach from the front, often resulting in taking what seems like unavoidable damage. While the gameplay here is fairly unique, it may be too frustrating for most to enjoy.

Grade: C

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