Idle Slayer | a Review
originally published on 30/09/2023;
Hello everyone, I am the active and not at all idle G.E.M.Simov, a beast from the East, come to tell you about Idle Slayer.
Simple review details - I rank games on an out of 10 basis, granting up to 3 points in 3 categories, as well as a last, single point from my own self, depending on my experience with it.
In addition to that, this is an IDLE game. Those are barely proper games and so I will put in less effort with reviewing them than I would otherwise.
Gameplay
Idle Slayer almost has decent Gameplay, but it fails halfway through.
It is an idle game, which love starting off with many avenues for activity. Idle Slayer does that - it informs the Player that there's a need for the Player to actively participate in the playing of the game by clicking the Left Mouse Button.
That is a falsehood, because it is only important in the very early stages of the game, after which it becomes totally pointless to click. But let me elaborate - the game takes place on a plain. The Player Character runs in one unchanging direction along that plain, and can be made to jump (by using the Left Mouse Button and clicking).
Jumping is useful, initially, because it allows the Player Character to go through Coins, which are one of the multiple currencies in the game, and are needed to progress.
Collecting enough Coins allows the Player to purchase Equipment or Upgrades. Equipment starts providing the Player with Coins every second, and having higher level Equipment increases the number of Coins provided.
Upgrades increase Coins per Second either directly, or indirectly, by doubling, quintupling or 50x-ing the Coins per Second provided by Equipment. They also increase the value of Coins collected via jumping, they provide the opportunity to collect other currencies by killing enemies, whilst also providing the Player with the opportunity to encounter and kill enemies. They also unlock new things to interact with - bonus boxes - which when jumped into provide some kind of bonus; as well as Quests. More on that later.
The currency unlocked by upgrades is Souls. Well, not quite - the currency is Slayer Points, which are earned whenever a certain number of Souls has been collected. It starts off at a very reasonable pace, but then it becomes ludicrous - as does everything else. 1 Soul, from 1 Enemy, for 1 Slayer Point. Then 2 Souls, then 3, then 179492 for 1 Slayer Point.
There are means of increasing how many Souls the Player earns, some through Upgrades, others through Slayer Points.
Here's the idle mechanic - Ascension. The Player sacrifices all their Equipment, Upgrades and Coins in exchange for the Slayer Points they have accumulated. Those Slayer Points increase the Coins per Second of the Player by a percentage, equal to the number of Slayer Points owned by the Player.
Additionally, Slayer Points can be used to unlock "Ascension Perks", which are situated on a Tree-esque field. Those perks increase Coins per Second by a large margin, increase Souls earned, provide a variety of other bonuses and even unlock new Mechanics.
Mechanics such as the "Portal", which changes the map and leads the Player Character to a different set of Enemies. Enemies come into use not only with Soul collection, but with Quest completion. Quests require the killing of a number of Enemies (usually extortionately high, such as 3000), and, upon completion, allow the purchase of a new Upgrade. The Player needs to be in a specific world to kill specific Enemies, and so the "Portals" come into play.
Other Mechanics include the Bow - which can be used by Clicking while in the air LM(following a jump), which is the only way of killing certain Enemies. It is inefficient and more bothersome than entertaining, because half the time no arrow is fired by the Bow, and half the time it is fired later than the Player has inputted the command.
Lastly, there are "Minions". Minions are a means of increasing the amount of Slayer Points earned in a very strange, lazy manner. A Minion starts at level 1, and can be sent on a Mission. That requires an amount of Slayer Points, and the Mission takes at least 3 hours to complete. For the first few missions performed by a Minion, the Player will LOSE Slayer Points. However, for every finished Mission the Minion levels up by 1. Every level had by a Minion increases the amount of Slayer Points awarded upon Mission completion.
This mechanic winds up being important, because there are means of increasing Coins per Second by the level of certain minions, which increase can be stupendous. As a result of that, it needs to be engaged with.
Then there is another mechanic - Divinities - which is, essentially, Ascension for Minions. Prior to that, there is a mechanic that allows the “crafting” of new upgrades, done so via the use of Materials, which Materials have a slight chance of spawning when an Enemy is killed.
Ultimately, all of this leads into the ULTRA Ascension. What does that do? Well, it sacrifices everything - including Slayer Points, Perks and Minions (which do not get lost via normal Ascensions) - in exchange for more Perks.
Then there is an EVEN MORE ULTRA Ascension, which scraps even more things and gives the Player access to more Upgrades. There are also entirely new mechanics that show up hundreds of hours after the Player has started playing the game - such as wall jumping in the different bonus stages, or a funky "Rage Mode", or an even funkier "Wind Dash", and so on and so forth.
All of that complexity is the norm for Idle games, and while the way the Perks are done is interesting, it is nothing new.
What is problematic is that things happen slowly. The pace at which currencies are accumulated lessens with every new Upgrade (be it Equipment, a Perk or else) and the amount of time required is oppressive.
That’s bad, because the pace needs to remain constant. These games are, usually, bad, because a point is reached that necessitates either spending hours of sitting and waiting for something to happen or spending money - as can be guessed, this game does both, and provides the Player with the opportunity to buy insanely powerful upgrades that make everything easy as tea.
In essence, Idle games are built around presenting the Player with an engaging beginning, which features insane growth, coupled with lots of activities - I need to click here to upgrade this, then I need to go to the other page to click this, so that I can upgrade it, then I need to click to jump - that slow down to such a crawl that the Player feels as though they have lost whatever had been given them. A problem.
Then, a solution for that problem is sold to the Player. The game is purposefully made worse, so that it can be improved via purchases. A game that is purposefully designed to be fun only at its beginning, and as un-fun as possible at its later stages as a means of provoking a purchase, is fundamentally bad.
However, I must award a point for the beginning - it was engaging enough that I stuck around. In addition to that, the aforementioned Ascension Perks are neat, too. 1/3
Presentation
Idle Slayer is a pixel-based game that, on a surface level (from screenshots) looks decent. However, in-game, things are different. Not only does the movement become choppy after spending more than a few hours in-game, the overwhelming brightness is a bit too much. Aside from those few gripes, however, things look pretty good.
They also sound quite alright, though there are a few issues that plague the UI. Even so, the issues are purely cosmetic, as they are related to the means of displaying Achievements and purchased Upgrades, which are not important in the slightest.
Overall - this Idle game does what most Idle games do - look appealing and trick Players into booting them up. 2/3
Story
There is none. Standard practice for idle games. 0/3
Legendary Point
Does this random, standard Idle game get the legendary point, so craved and wanted by all and none at the same time?
No. Predatory monetization, bad gameplay… Need I say more? 0/1
Conclusion
3/10. For an idle game, it's the standard. One can spend hundreds of hours "playing" it, and if one's used to the standard (i.e. BAD) idle games, it will be bearable. Ultimately, though, don't play it.
On the wall of shame it goes. That's giving it too much credit, too, but I will put in the effort to frame it, procure a nail and hammer it into the wall, so that this thing can hang as a reminder of what not to do, and how even indie stuff gets violently twisted. Alas…