Achievement in 'Slain: Back from Hell‘
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Several months after the initial release you can definitely claim that 'Slain: Back from Hell‘ has done an interesting evolution: back in march critics totally 'slayed‘ the game, branding it as a bug-ridden mess with bulky gameplay and a massive lack of variation. Overall it was more a lame attempt on side-scrolling-arcade-games from the 80’s and 90’s than a great memorial.

However 'Slain' provided one aspect that even a lot of bigger and better games lack: a team of developers that was willing to see bad decisions, accepted them and did their best to improve the game. They started releasing lots of updates and fixes to improve nearly every aspect of the game and listened to the (small) community: the gameplay was improved and the fights became more diversified, they re-wrote the mostly 'meh‘ dialogues, eliminated most of the bugs and added some more content to improve the games‘ overall length (e.g. additional bosses).

At least once a week there was a new update and now in August they re-released the game as 'Slain: Back from Hell‘ (and even handed out a gift key copy for persons who already bought it). And to cut a long story short: their work was not in vain - Slain has improved massively over the last months.
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One thing that can be seen nearly instantly is that the graphic style and the design definitely looks beautiful. It‘s not only colorful and dark at the same time but it also fits the overall metal-gore style perfectly. In combination with the (mostly badass) metal soundtrack Slain is definitely an interesting retro-arcade-adventure for ears and eyes.
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Take your sword and start slicing skeletons, witches and other demonic beings into little bits while trying not to be killed by their weapons, spells or some nasty traps. Every now and then you will be confronted with a jumping passage or a boss fight to bring some diversity to the way you die.

The battle system comes with handy charged attacks, blocks, ripostes and some (chargable) mana powers and you will definitely need their help to get further in this hellish realms. At first some timings and hitboxes seem a bit weird but you get used to it pretty fast and then the system feels easy and mostly comfortable – there’s not much to complain about though I’d have liked some more depth and some additional weapons (the metal sword, the fire blade and the ice axe feel quite alike).

The difficulty level is set pretty high and you will see the 'You have been SLAIN‘ screen a lot. Everything (aside from probably one or two NPCs) wants to kill you and the enemies and traps are quite capable of doing so. You’ll die a lot and if you plan to get all of the achievements you can probably say goodbye to your nerves and patience - the menu option 'Restarting from Checkpoint‘ will become your best friend when trying to beat some nasty bosses without taking damage (yes, I'm talking about you 'Mother Beholder').

The overall length of the game is approximately around five or six hours. Sadly there’s not much replay value aside from some hidden talisman parts and the achievements. Some more hidden rooms and stuff to explore would have been an interesting addition to the game.
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As already mentioned the levels are quite linear and there’s nearly nothing to explore. That's a shame as the areas look interesting and provide a bit of lore as well - the potential for additional paths, rooms and secrets is definitely there. Moreover the game has some annoyingly hard passages due to spamming mobs or difficult ambushes. This can be very frustrating and even if you're used to challenging titles and tough sequences, you will probably end in hating the game or at least some areas as much as you like other parts.

In addition the game has some achievements that are right out of hell as well. One example here is to finish the whole game without loosing a life. Sure…
...I love challenges but that sounds like a total nope.
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'Slain' is a great example to show what can happen when developers care about their product. After their failure with the initial launch of the game (they released it early due to internal problems) they accepted their mistakes and made lots of patches to fix the problems. Now the game is very different compared to the first release and it’s finally the game it should have been from the start: a nice little homage to oldschool arcade-action adventures.

Maybe the Metascore of 44 was deserved back in march when it was first released, however now the game is a lot of fun, the developers care about their product and still continue to support it - I’d give the game at least an 7.5 out of 10. Because I bloody love gory-retro-hellish-viking-styled fantasy-metal-monster-slayers (...even with some flaws and a lack of depth).

By the way: your character is able to headbang to celebrate the victorious slaying of a boss and his hair is definitely fabulous. Metal as f*ck.
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This endorsement approved by The Reviewers' Union, providing better standards for reviews and reviewers.

[h1]Hail the Great Horned Metal God!: Headbang after every single boss has been defeated.[/h1] [b]Achievement in 'Slain: Back from Hell‘[/b] __________________________________________ [h1]Introduction[/h1] Several months after the initial release you can definitely claim that 'Slain: Back from Hell‘ has done an interesting evolution: back in march critics totally 'slayed‘ the game, branding it as a bug-ridden mess with bulky gameplay and a massive lack of variation. Overall it was more a lame attempt on side-scrolling-arcade-games from the 80’s and 90’s than a great memorial. However 'Slain' provided one aspect that even a lot of bigger and better games lack: a team of developers that was willing to see bad decisions, accepted them and did their best to improve the game. They started releasing lots of updates and fixes to improve nearly every aspect of the game and listened to the (small) community: the gameplay was improved and the fights became more diversified, they re-wrote the mostly 'meh‘ dialogues, eliminated most of the bugs and added some more content to improve the games‘ overall length (e.g. additional bosses). At least once a week there was a new update and now in August they re-released the game as 'Slain: Back from Hell‘ (and even handed out a gift key copy for persons who already bought it). And to cut a long story short: their work was not in vain - Slain has improved massively over the last months. __________________________________________ [h1]Graphics and Audio[/h1] One thing that can be seen nearly instantly is that the graphic style and the design definitely looks beautiful. It‘s not only colorful and dark at the same time but it also fits the overall metal-gore style perfectly. In combination with the (mostly badass) metal soundtrack Slain is definitely an interesting retro-arcade-adventure for ears and eyes. __________________________________________ [h1]Gameplay[/h1] Take your sword and start slicing skeletons, witches and other demonic beings into little bits while trying not to be killed by their weapons, spells or some nasty traps. Every now and then you will be confronted with a jumping passage or a boss fight to bring some diversity to the way you die. The battle system comes with handy charged attacks, blocks, ripostes and some (chargable) mana powers and you will definitely need their help to get further in this hellish realms. At first some timings and hitboxes seem a bit weird but you get used to it pretty fast and then the system feels easy and mostly comfortable – there’s not much to complain about though I’d have liked some more depth and some additional weapons (the metal sword, the fire blade and the ice axe feel quite alike). The difficulty level is set pretty high and you will see the 'You have been SLAIN‘ screen a lot. Everything (aside from probably one or two NPCs) wants to kill you and the enemies and traps are quite capable of doing so. You’ll die a lot and if you plan to get all of the achievements you can probably say goodbye to your nerves and patience - the menu option 'Restarting from Checkpoint‘ will become your best friend when trying to beat some nasty bosses without taking damage (yes, I'm talking about you 'Mother Beholder'). The overall length of the game is approximately around five or six hours. Sadly there’s not much replay value aside from some hidden talisman parts and the achievements. Some more hidden rooms and stuff to explore would have been an interesting addition to the game. __________________________________________ [h1]Cons[/h1] As already mentioned the levels are quite linear and there’s nearly nothing to explore. That's a shame as the areas look interesting and provide a bit of lore as well - the potential for additional paths, rooms and secrets is definitely there. Moreover the game has some annoyingly hard passages due to spamming mobs or difficult ambushes. This can be very frustrating and even if you're used to challenging titles and tough sequences, you will probably end in hating the game or at least some areas as much as you like other parts. In addition the game has some achievements that are right out of hell as well. One example here is to finish the whole game without loosing a life. Sure… ...I love challenges but that sounds like a total nope. __________________________________________ [h1]Conclusion[/h1] 'Slain' is a great example to show what can happen when developers care about their product. After their failure with the initial launch of the game (they released it early due to internal problems) they accepted their mistakes and made lots of patches to fix the problems. Now the game is very different compared to the first release and it’s finally the game it should have been from the start: a nice little homage to oldschool arcade-action adventures. Maybe the Metascore of 44 was deserved back in march when it was first released, however now the game is a lot of fun, the developers care about their product and still continue to support it - I’d give the game at least an 7.5 out of 10. Because I bloody love gory-retro-hellish-viking-styled fantasy-metal-monster-slayers (...even with some flaws and a lack of depth). By the way: your character is able to headbang to celebrate the victorious slaying of a boss and his hair is definitely fabulous. Metal as f*ck. __________________________________________ This endorsement approved by [url=http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/groups/trureviews]The Reviewers' Union[/url], providing better standards for reviews and reviewers.