Having recently played and reviewed Hades, I felt I had gotten my peak “rogue-lite” fix. Unfortunately for Skeletal Avenger, it doesn’t match the highs or lows of such game, even if it does try to take many elements from it. Developed by 10tons, what we have here is a mixed bag of good and bad, but all of which mostly may land to personal taste.
In Skeletal Avenger, you play as a resurrected skeleton who is trying to figure out what happened to him and to avenge his own death. The idea is cute and simple, there is even a fun mechanic where you even throw your own head as a weapon, just remember to pick it up! I personally was not very fond of the low poly resolution design of the game. I don’t know if it was a creative choice or an economical one, but it wasn’t the most fun to look at, and the dungeons are not very complex/populated with unique scenery. The entire game is only 255.4MB on PlayStation 5!
However, for a “rogue-lite” game, I found the rules of this hack-n-slash version pretty forgiving. Normally in this genre, when you die you tend to lose everything and mostly start from scratch. With Skeletal Avenger, you pretty much only lose your progress in the dungeon you were in and lose blood gems, which is a currency that you accumulate to finish a dungeon. Whenever you die, you return back to the necromancer’s crypt and you select a new Skelton to inhabit. When selecting a new body, you have a couple options, with each being a different perk already tethered to you.
The controls themselves are very straight forward. Light attack, heavy attack, and a pretty nifty dash that has three charges. Every run you play you continue to collect gold coins that help you purchase upgrades. The coins also don’t go away when you die, which I found to be a bit of a relief. Health, though is scarce, even when you complete a dungeon you do not get any health back. When going through dungeons you are given the option to choose different routes to go, some routes have more health potions or fountains than others, but the ones that do may have fewer good items to upgrade your character with. The sense of progression is still there and it’s pretty nice, but there was something I found lacking in my overall enjoyment that makes it difficult for me to want to continue on and on.
The biggest highlight for me is the local co-cop. Doing everything with a friend makes the grind through the dungeons a lot more fun and tolerable. There is a catch, that if either one of you dies, you both are sent back to the crypt and have to start over. All in all, Skeletal Avenger didn’t leave the biggest impression on me. For gamers new to the “rogue-lite” genre, while there are better ones out there, this would definitely be a good entry point to get yourself accustomed.
6.5/10
For more information, visit: http://skeletalavenger.com/
PlayStation Review
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
More Stories
Pinfest 2024 Overview
Grounded Fully Yoked Edition Review for Nintendo Switch
The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty Review for Steam