Monster Slayers is a downloadable game that combines in an avant-garde way the roguelike and the card game genres. The title approaches the topic in an unusual way, offering players interesting gameplay. The game is mainly about going on a journey, including dungeon crawling, and defeating bosses on the way. In the game, randomness plays a major role, as is the case with card games. Nerdook Productions, the devs behind the game are also known for their other titles: Reverse Crawl and Vertical Drop Heroes. The title is based on Dream Quest by Peter Whalen, offering a somewhat similar gameplay style. Monster Slayers was released on March 23, 2017, and is available on Windows PCs.
How to Download Monster Slayers
Monster Slayers can be purchased from Steam for € 8.99.
The Story in the Game
The story of Monster Slayers is not very detailed. It tells about the struggles of heroes traversing uncharted areas and dungeons inhabited by various creatures. At the beginning of the game, you will choose one of the several different classes available. This will have an impact on the style of your gameplay. There are six classes available:
- Thief,
- Scout,
- Barbarian,
- Knight,
- Priest,
- and the Wizard.
As you can see, the range of characters is not too different from what other roguelike titles or classic RPGs offer.
The Inspirations in Monster Slayers
As we mentioned, Monster Slayers, in the mechanics’ department, draws upon a handful of roguelike and card games. The character classes, the permanent death system (although with small possibilities to save the game), dungeons and underground areas, fog of war style mapping and boss battles are taken from the roguelike games. On the other hand, the combat system consisting of using the cards and the decks building system are an obvious offspring of the game such as Magic the Gathering or Hearthstone. Each of the opponents requires a different tactic and a bit of luck. The exploration is limited by the system of campfires. Only after reaching one of them you can your progress and unlock the rest of the area. When you go down into a dungeon, you find a simple map on which you can see what locations are available to you and what else you need to discover.
Monster Slayers also contains elements of classic RPGs, of which we should mention the dialogue options. The voices of the actors who do the dubbing for the characters are extremely atmospheric and add a lot of value to Monster Slayers. Fighting is turn-based. You see the cards your character holds and those that belong to your enemy. Each boss has unique cards that are not available to other opponents. In a wide array of cards that we can use there are many types. You will find the cards that are active, passive, the ones that can be played during your opponents turn (interrupts), status-changing cards, and more
The design of the Monster Slayers is maintained in a dark, comic book atmosphere. The action takes place on animated two-dimensional backgrounds, on which you see two-dimensional figures. In the game, you can see the inspirations form flash based titles, including the previously mentioned Dream Quest, which interestingly, was created by the same person who created Blizzard’s Hearthstone.
