TLDR: Slave Zero X is a sensational game with an even better story but with such glaring flaws it becomes almost difficult to reccomend. 7/10
starting with the good
The story is genuinely sensational, it has fully enthralled me all the way to the end and i love the story progression with shou and isamu and shou and x.
this games combat is amazing* but with a massive asterisk. When you're in control you are an unkillable demon with some of the most fun beat em up moves ive ever played, but you have almost no defensive options other than parry and parry doesnt even work when most enemies have meaty attacks that linger past your parry timing.
The graphics speak for themselves, the style is so stand out beautiful and the game takes clear inspiration from devilman, guilty gear, dmc, and all the maps were made in the quake engine afaik which honestly helps the style even more
the sections for each calamity really show the calamities characters well, and add a new challenge, thorman is a barebones section as it teaches you the game, enyo has the sniper on you so you're constantly moving, uriel has mostly chase scenes and it really just enhances the games storytelling through gameplay
now the negative
The difficulty: i dont think the game is too difficult, but the game doesnt scale difficulty well at all. The way the difficulty works is instead of giving you more chances to outplay the opponent, the game just spams enemies and minibosses with super armor that will lock you in hit stun until you die. it is insanely frustrating and doesnt actually make it more difficult to win, just more infuriating to play against.
secondly, the game doesnt have great save points, as you finish a section and die 2 sections later and it will reset you to the beginning of the level in some levels instead of the section you died on.
In all, I hope this game gets a DLC, I hope it gets updates to add a difficulty selector, I hope that X-Shou is a guest character in a fighting game or that they make their own spinoff fighting game as its clear that fighting games inspired the combat heavily, and I generally do recommend the game to anyone looking for a beautiful spectacle beat em up with a great story, but I cant recommend the game to anyone getting it for the difficulty because it wont challenge you, but just make you irritated in the later levels with enemy spam and hit stun
starting with the good
The story is genuinely sensational, it has fully enthralled me all the way to the end and i love the story progression with shou and isamu and shou and x.
this games combat is amazing* but with a massive asterisk. When you're in control you are an unkillable demon with some of the most fun beat em up moves ive ever played, but you have almost no defensive options other than parry and parry doesnt even work when most enemies have meaty attacks that linger past your parry timing.
The graphics speak for themselves, the style is so stand out beautiful and the game takes clear inspiration from devilman, guilty gear, dmc, and all the maps were made in the quake engine afaik which honestly helps the style even more
the sections for each calamity really show the calamities characters well, and add a new challenge, thorman is a barebones section as it teaches you the game, enyo has the sniper on you so you're constantly moving, uriel has mostly chase scenes and it really just enhances the games storytelling through gameplay
now the negative
The difficulty: i dont think the game is too difficult, but the game doesnt scale difficulty well at all. The way the difficulty works is instead of giving you more chances to outplay the opponent, the game just spams enemies and minibosses with super armor that will lock you in hit stun until you die. it is insanely frustrating and doesnt actually make it more difficult to win, just more infuriating to play against.
secondly, the game doesnt have great save points, as you finish a section and die 2 sections later and it will reset you to the beginning of the level in some levels instead of the section you died on.
In all, I hope this game gets a DLC, I hope it gets updates to add a difficulty selector, I hope that X-Shou is a guest character in a fighting game or that they make their own spinoff fighting game as its clear that fighting games inspired the combat heavily, and I generally do recommend the game to anyone looking for a beautiful spectacle beat em up with a great story, but I cant recommend the game to anyone getting it for the difficulty because it wont challenge you, but just make you irritated in the later levels with enemy spam and hit stun