Slashing, hopping, and exploding my way through each area again and again only managed to endear me more and more to the world and its characters, not counting the few aggravating enemies like those castle servants that made me want to pull out my teeth with carpenters’ tools.This walkthrough is designed to help you with approaching the game as you take on the role of Skul. Even where the story stumbles, Skul’s retro world of skeletons and knights is absolutely dripping with charm, from its beautiful, pixelated art style to its role reversal in which the demons are the good guys and humans are monsters to be slain. That said, there are some compelling characters that shine through, like the shape-shifting witch who helps you along your journey and (my personal favorite) a cowardly death knight who loves knitting and interior design. The translation from its original Korean dialogue into English is fairly poor at times, and the brief snippets of conversation that take place after each boss battle come off stiff and a bit awkward – which isn’t helped by the fact that the twists and turns of the story are about as predictable as they come. While it is a heartfelt story, its tale of the age-old conflict between the Demon Kingdom and the evil Nation of Men is not particularly well told. “Speaking of poor timing, last year Hades raised the bar for storytelling in rogue-lite action games to godly levels, which makes Skul’s look a bit dimmer by comparison. But with a solid build and no small amount of practice, making it to the credits is an attainable and enjoyable reward that salves the burn of dozens of failed runs. There are five distinct areas to fight your way through, each with a unique roster of mobs, environmental hazards, awesome retro soundtracks, and a big boss battle lying in wait to knock your block off at the end. As someone who’s seen the endings of games like Dead Cells, Hades, and Darkest Dungeon, it took me over 20 hours of attempts to defeat the final boss and get my first clear (a successful run taking about an hour). Even boons like that won’t make it easy, because Skul is, as you’d expect – nay, demand – from a game of this type, downright difficult. Some are as simple as increasing your magic damage or movement speed, but others might even define your entire build, like the fairy followers that become more powerful the more you manage to collect, to the point where you can summon a demigod ally if you’re able to gather all five in a single playthrough. “But each playthrough is not just defined by the heads you choose – the variety of random items you collect as you go is much deeper than that. The diversity of styles is extremely impressive. During one successful run I used a magic-casting sorcerer to rain down hellfire upon my enemies, and the next I upgraded a soldier skull to be the ultimate undead general with the ability to summon a dozen friendly underlings at a time. In games like this I usually search for a build that fits my playstyle and then stick with it as much as possible, but in Skul I found myself willing and able to play with just about anybody, no matter how wildly different they were, and have a great time. That said, it’s still always a great feeling when something amazing does drop into your lap to instantly make you a badass, especially since you can keep your favorite parts of your previous build around in that second skull slot anyway.Ĭritically, every single character is not only genuinely fun to play, but feels totally viable in the endgame. This is fantastic because it means you’re not always at the mercy of getting that lucky loot drop you can control your own destiny by building a more common skull up over the course of your run to make it every bit as viable in the endgame. Some of these options are powerful as soon as you find them, while others are weaker and need to be upgraded during your run until they reach their final, most powerful form, which means that you can either grind your way to greatness slowly as you progress or just get damn lucky and find an amazing skull that has you scrambling to adjust your entire build around it. Some skulls aren’t even usable without a second skull to rely upon, like the Bomber skull, whose sole purpose is to self-destruct as quickly and devastatingly as possible, forcing you into your alternate skull form. For example, you might want to play as one of the many slow but powerful melee classes like the Predator to brute force your way through combat, but you will likely need a fast-moving skull in your second slot to switch to when you get caught in a tight spot and need to make a quick exit. “In fact, rapidly swapping between your two equipped heads and using their skills synergistically is essential.
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