Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer - Review
We are the X Slayers… it is we who fight The Psyko Sindikate. Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer is an absolute 90’s fever dream of a Doom clone. More of an in-universe spiritual successor to Hypnospace Outlaw, Slayers X is the creation of Zane Lofton. Zane Lofton was a fourteen year old boy in Hypnospace Outlaw who was widely enjoyed as a character. To play on the wild and zany nature of the Hypnospace universe, Slayers X is created as the dream game of the fifteen year old and his best friend.
Slayers X is an incredibly wild game. It uses an in universe character, making a game that is self-referential and breaks down the fourth wall, but only the fourth wall of the internal universe. Zane Lofton is portrayed as a rebellious 37 year old who never really grew up from the boy who drew all the designs and ideas for Slayers X in his notebook back in 1998. The game itself feels right out of the 90’s with a ludicrous amount of out dated humour, poor jokes and technospace design to really pain this idea of what would be the greatest game ever, for a fifteen year old in the 90’s. At its heart, Slayers X is a fast-paced and highly enjoyable Doom Clone with a surprisingly decent if not incredibly dumb story.
Slayers X uses a very specific type of humour to get itself across. If you aren’t a fan of 90’s frat boy, basement dwelling, ‘I had sex with your mother’ humour, than Slayers X may not be the game for you. If you enjoy sentient piles of poo, hating your mum’s new boyfriend who is your dweeb manager at your sucky job and being part of a secret society of fighters. Then Slayers X will definitely have you fighting the Psyko Sindikate like a true X Slayer in no time. The humour of Slayers X is a huge part of it. The story is designed in the way that a fifteen year old would have thought the world’s greatest game would play out. With a main character who thinks they are super cool, despite being wildly uncool. In a secret society with special powers and a powerful weapon, that are very uncool. In a world that has been destroyed and is slowly being overtaken by a group of Psykos, who are definitely very uncool.
The ingenuity of the game however comes from the fact that the stupidity and ludicrous nature of the overarching comedic theme lends itself to enjoyable gameplay. A simple doom clone style game, the slight adjustments to make itself its own title are just enough to give itself its own identity. Killing enemies will drop a resource called Hackblood. Hackblood is used to allow you to fire off projectile lasers from your S-Blade, and later on in the game to unleash massive death lasers with the Hackblood talisman. Despite how eccentric everything comes across, there is nothing that is included into the game lore for the sake of the joke. The X Slayers exist to stop the Psyko Sindikate, because they are the ones that can channel the Hackblood and use the Hackblood talisman. They are the only ones that can stop the Psyko Sindikate, because of this. Thus they have a secret society to ensure that they are trained and ready to fight off the Psykos when the time calls for it. It’s nothing amazing, and it reads and plays like a 90’s edgy teenage drama, but that isn’t bad. The game knows what it wants to achieve, and does a good job at staying true to that. Through good and bad.
The few characters that are introduced throughout the game are actually pretty well written. Melvin is your mom’s sleazy boyfriend, who is also the manager for the Dollar$aver. Mikey Sykey is the first X Slayer and Zane’s Mentor. A cool guy with a deep and powerful voice, who wears cool robes and is definitely very cool. Even the rats are given personalities because they are the best allies of Zane. When you spawn them with explosive sludge launcher, they then proceed to continue to attack the Psykos. They are your best allies after all. The character’s are stupid, dramatic and over the top. The voice acting is perfectly awful, and just hearing Zane tell enemies that he had sex with their grandmother over and over is far funnier than it should be. The character’s really shine, even in their lack of actual development. There is something to be said in being able to keep a one note joke landing over and over without growing boring.
The overall experience doesn’t overstay its welcome either. A full completion of the story and the few additional maps you unlock after beating the game should only take three to four hours. Meaning that you can jump in, have a good laugh for an afternoon and see all that the game has to offer. This shorter length goes a long way for replay value too, as it means you can jump in, speedrun a session and get on with your day. The gameplay loop is enjoyable enough without being overly difficult even on higher difficulties, but isn’t too simple that it feels mind-numbing either. There’s a large enough amount of secrets and Easter eggs to find too, and there is always a new joke to hear. A tight experience that knows the appropriate length of time for its own toilet humour.
Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer is a tight, enjoyable experience that will have you laugh for hours at a time. Incredibly self-aware, it doesn’t allow the cringe aspect to lower itself, and as a result you have an experience that hits on all levels at all times. It does a great job of encapsulating what the greatest game ever would have been in the mind of teenage boys in the late 90’s perfectly, whilst feeling like it has jumped straight out of that period of time too. A strong addition to the Hypnospace universe, that allows for a plethora of future content using in universe characters as the masterminds behind future titles. An incredibly enjoyable, if short, experience.
The Score
8.0
Review code provided by No More Robots
The Pros
+Incredibly funny with appropriate nuance
+Gameplay is quite fun and approachable
+Post-game levels are a fun little addition
The Cons
-Runs the risk of becoming unfunny quite quick
-May not be enough game to justify the price
-Weapons are somewhat bland
