Skul is one of the best roguelikes I've played. It gives the player a lot of freedom as to how to play and build while still remaining a challenge even after a good 200 hours. The final boss still finds new ways to end runs, which is equal part impressive and bs.
My problems with Skul really boil down to two general complaints. The first is that it feels like hitboxes linger for longer than they should. This is at its worst against a few bosses and a few hard mode enemies, but man does it feel bad to dodge through a move and still get hit by it. The other problem is that, at higher hard mode levels, there is less overall freedom in builds due to enemy stat inflation. This one can be remedied a good bit by playing on lower difficulties, but I still wanted to point it out. You can get away with more wild and less high damage builds on level 8-10 as long as the item/skull synergy is there and you play well.
There are three big positives that I want to touch on here: item balance, skull balance, and hard mode. Item balance is done extremely well in this. There have been plenty of runs where I'd bring a common item or 3 into the final boss because they are still good. A lot of the rare and unique (tier 2 and 3 respectively) items often have stronger but conditional effects to them, meanwhile a lot of common items are stats. Beyond that, the inscriptions are another key factor here. Inscriptions are like set bonuses, and every item comes with 2 of them. It is a solid decision most of the time to keep an item purely for its inscriptions if you can't easily replace them.
Skulls are essentially your class/characters in this game. You can have two of them at a time, and swap them out throughout the run. Like with items, skulls have a rarity assigned to them. Unlike with items, skulls can be upgraded. This makes the game so much more interesting to me, as every skull is viable and sometimes you might want to keep a skull in a lower tier. There's a healthy variety of skulls to choose from, and they each have 4 skills to utilize, altho you only get to use 2 at a time. These skills can sometimes completely change what items you want for your build.
Last and certainly not least is the hard mode, aka the dark mirror. This may be the best implementation of a hard mode I've seen. It upgrades the bosses, adds a new element to the adventurer fights, adds new enemies, and gives the player new advantages for each level you complete. That last part is what sold me on it the most, as a lot of games only stack the odds against the player. You get things like being able to choose your starting gear, stat upgrades for excess bones, a machine to lock in 2 different inscriptions, etc. Also, these upgrades are permanent. You can go down to a lower level and keep these benefits without needing to deal with the increased stats or new enemies.
Skul is a phenomenal roguelike. It will beat you relentlessly for a good while, but it also isn't merciless. There are a lot of things to play with and I'm still finding fun combos after 200 hours of playing.
My problems with Skul really boil down to two general complaints. The first is that it feels like hitboxes linger for longer than they should. This is at its worst against a few bosses and a few hard mode enemies, but man does it feel bad to dodge through a move and still get hit by it. The other problem is that, at higher hard mode levels, there is less overall freedom in builds due to enemy stat inflation. This one can be remedied a good bit by playing on lower difficulties, but I still wanted to point it out. You can get away with more wild and less high damage builds on level 8-10 as long as the item/skull synergy is there and you play well.
There are three big positives that I want to touch on here: item balance, skull balance, and hard mode. Item balance is done extremely well in this. There have been plenty of runs where I'd bring a common item or 3 into the final boss because they are still good. A lot of the rare and unique (tier 2 and 3 respectively) items often have stronger but conditional effects to them, meanwhile a lot of common items are stats. Beyond that, the inscriptions are another key factor here. Inscriptions are like set bonuses, and every item comes with 2 of them. It is a solid decision most of the time to keep an item purely for its inscriptions if you can't easily replace them.
Skulls are essentially your class/characters in this game. You can have two of them at a time, and swap them out throughout the run. Like with items, skulls have a rarity assigned to them. Unlike with items, skulls can be upgraded. This makes the game so much more interesting to me, as every skull is viable and sometimes you might want to keep a skull in a lower tier. There's a healthy variety of skulls to choose from, and they each have 4 skills to utilize, altho you only get to use 2 at a time. These skills can sometimes completely change what items you want for your build.
Last and certainly not least is the hard mode, aka the dark mirror. This may be the best implementation of a hard mode I've seen. It upgrades the bosses, adds a new element to the adventurer fights, adds new enemies, and gives the player new advantages for each level you complete. That last part is what sold me on it the most, as a lot of games only stack the odds against the player. You get things like being able to choose your starting gear, stat upgrades for excess bones, a machine to lock in 2 different inscriptions, etc. Also, these upgrades are permanent. You can go down to a lower level and keep these benefits without needing to deal with the increased stats or new enemies.
Skul is a phenomenal roguelike. It will beat you relentlessly for a good while, but it also isn't merciless. There are a lot of things to play with and I'm still finding fun combos after 200 hours of playing.