Slayer Shock

About

Slayer Shock is a single player role playing shooter game with a horror theme. It was developed by Minor Key Games and was released on September 29, 2016. It received neutral reviews from both critics and players.

Slayer Shock is a role-playing shooter that puts you in the role of a vampire slayer in Nebraska, where you'll complete missions to weaken the undead threat, rescue captive humans, and patrol the streets. With a team of fellow slayers assisting you from HQ, you'll acquire new weapons, skills, and research as you progress through each season's episodes. Immerse yourself in the first-person action, lightweight strategy, and procedural narrative for a unique and thrilling experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

56%

Audience ScoreBased on 80 reviews

story10 positive mentions

atmosphere3 negative mentions

The game offers a unique and fun premise, combining elements of Buffy the Vampire Slayer with immersive sim mechanics, making it enjoyable for fans of the genre.
The weapon selection and upgrade system are well-designed, allowing for various playstyles and strategies, which adds depth to the gameplay.
The atmosphere, sound effects, and music are praised for enhancing the overall experience, creating an engaging environment for players.

The game feels unfinished and lacks polish, with many design issues such as poor stealth mechanics and repetitive mission types that can lead to a stale experience.
Enemy AI is inconsistent, with issues like enemies spawning too close to the player and lacking meaningful behavior patterns, making combat feel unbalanced and frustrating.
The procedural generation of levels does not provide enough variety, leading to a sense of repetitiveness as players encounter the same environments and mission types throughout the game.

story
72 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
82%
4%
The story in "Slayer Shock" is primarily conveyed through a series of procedurally generated missions that lack depth and variety, often revolving around repetitive tasks like rescuing or patrolling. While the game attempts to create a narrative structure reminiscent of a TV show, with missions acting as episodes, the overall plot and character interactions feel shallow and uninspired, leading to a quickly stale experience. Despite the engaging setting and potential for a compelling narrative, the focus on rogue-lite mechanics overshadows the storytelling, leaving players wanting more substance.
- “The story is a fairly strong point for Slayer Shock, although I wouldn't refer to it as a traditional narrative.”
- “Everything about it pays homage to the earliest seasons of Buffy, and the game’s story is even laid out like a TV show, with missions being episodes, and a randomized big bad gaining power over the course of a season.”
- “You have a home base with a central group of characters you become attached to throughout the game, and leave on missions to clear various locations of vampires.”
- “For this kind of genre, Slayer Shock puts too much emphasis on the rogue-lite elements and not enough on the story.”
- “The game's story is told through randomized narrative events, usually involving the characters on your team getting into squabbles with one another, or getting into trouble outside of the main base.”
- “You go back and forth between five semi-randomized locations, and perform the same five mission types over and over again.”
gameplay
44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
75%
9%
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players noting that it can be fun but suffers from poor mechanics, lack of depth, and repetitiveness. While some appreciate the integration of various gameplay elements like currency systems and RPG upgrades, others criticize the game for feeling unfinished and failing to effectively communicate its mechanics. Overall, the game shows promise but requires significant improvements in balance and design to enhance the player experience.
- “Gameplay-wise, it's essentially an open-world lite immersive sim.”
- “The gameplay plays like a simple first-person shooter with a hub area, an area in which you can buy upgrades, weapons, or information of all kinds. The unlock requisites for all this are purchased with 'vampire ashes' that you get from completing missions or picking them from the remains of vanished vampire corpses.”
- “There are gameplay mechanics such as infestation, location-based missions, different goals and objectives, a currency system, and RPG upgrade mechanics, all polished up to a point where everything looks integrated into a coherent design and art style.”
- “Feels unfinished in every way, does a very poor job of conveying its mechanics to the player, and in general feels like an early access title let out of its cage too early.”
- “The gameplay also becomes incredibly repetitive.”
- “Nobody's going to, nor should they be asked to, stick with a game that doesn't introduce its mechanics coherently, then immediately thrusts the player into levels clearly geared to be unwinnable.”
graphics
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
70%
15%
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with some players noting an uncanny valley effect and muddy visuals that detract from the overall aesthetic. While the art style has its charm and is appreciated by some, others find it inconsistent and lacking in uniqueness compared to previous titles. Additionally, technical issues such as crashes and glitches have been reported, impacting the overall experience.
- “Minor key games usually tend to fall short graphically, but Slayer Shock especially makes up for it with great feeling combat and movement, along with a wonderful charm to everything.”
- “I just adore his cozy minimalist indie home-baked art style, and the ways he puts it to work.”
- “There are gameplay mechanics such as infestation, location-based missions, different goals and objectives, a currency system, and RPG upgrade mechanics, all polished up to a point where everything looks integrated into a coherent design and art style.”
- “The graphics are muddy, and the aesthetic which could compensate for it is sadly also severely lacking. I'm not saying make a game that looks like a triple-A title, but do show the competence that you showcased in creating something unique and special.”
- “The gameplay is really where the meat of the game is, but the game's lack of style in its graphics, as well as its complete lack of a story, represent a poor developer's care.”
- “The art style has a bit of the uncanny valley look.”
music
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
31%
23%
The music in the game is widely praised for its laid-back yet reactive quality, effectively intensifying during critical moments and enhancing the overall atmosphere. While the acoustic guitar tracks and jazzy elements set a pleasant tone, some users noted that the sound effects could be improved to provide better feedback during gameplay. Overall, the soundtrack contributes significantly to the game's immersive experience, despite some limitations in the soundscape.
- “The music is laid back but is reactive to the current awareness of enemies, and can grow in intensity if the situation becomes dire.”
- “The acoustic guitar music is outstanding and really sets a nice tone.”
- “Great gameplay and great soundtrack!”
- “The chief two problems it has that makes this a waving thumbs up is: a) while the music is effective, the rest of the soundscape is pretty limp, which makes the weapons feel weightless, and doesn't give enough feedback when the enemies' alert state changes, making stealth no longer an option.”
- “If not for the 3D art and the likable art style and music, it's the kind of game you could find on Newgrounds or as a Minecraft mod.”
- “The game soundtrack is a strange mix of music, some of which is also reused from Eldritch.”
atmosphere
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
20%
60%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised as its strongest feature, providing a rich and immersive experience that can easily complement other activities, such as listening to a podcast. Reviewers note that it effectively conveys a promising concept through its well-executed atmospheric elements, making it a standout aspect of the game.
- “It's got solid grounds for atmosphere; you could, in all honesty, put on a podcast or some other video you've been meaning to watch and play this in the background.”
- “The game bleeds atmosphere.”
- “As with David's other work, the atmosphere is definitely the strongest point of the game.”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of Slayer Shock to be a mixed experience; while the game can be enjoyable in short sessions, the repetitive missions and tedious objectives can lead to boredom over extended play. The inclusion of various enemy types adds complexity, but often detracts from the stealth elements, making the gameplay feel chaotic and less focused. Overall, the grinding may appeal to those who appreciate the genre, especially when the game is on sale.
- “The missions in this area are repetitive and tedious to complete; they all involve killing some vampires one way or another. Then they throw demons into the mix, and even jack-o'-lanterns. After a while, the game just becomes a mess. You'll see fire around you, and you're constantly trying to stab your way through objectives. There's a stealth element here, but the entire game doesn't really seem to be built around it, so half of the time you ignore it.”
- “Denser enemies on harder difficulties complicate matters, but that just means you'll need to be a little careful about aggro and kite a lot, or engage with the tedious stealth gameplay.”
- “Slayer Shock overall is a fun game to play, yet sometimes it feels repetitive and can get boring and tedious if played for a long time. However, it is a great stealth action game to play in short bursts!”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Overall, the game demonstrates stable gameplay with high frame rates and smooth controls, particularly on Linux systems. However, users have reported occasional graphical glitches, which may vary depending on the hardware and operating system used.
- “The game offers some nice graphics, although there are some ugly glitches here and there.”
- “Some graphics glitches (I have Fedora Linux with an AMD graphics card, so it happens).”
- “The game has a few stability issues that can disrupt the overall experience.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from a lack of replayability, with players noting that completing a series of seasons and earning legacy points does not significantly enhance the experience. Those seeking a compelling narrative or deep mechanics may find the replay value disappointing.
- “It doesn't get any easier to tolerate the lack of replayability once you complete a series of seasons and earn legacy points.”
- “If you're expecting a hugely interesting Whedon-esque story or for this to be the most mechanically deep game in terms of replayability, you might be disappointed.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
300%
Reviews indicate that the game's optimization is lacking, particularly in larger environments, which can hinder gameplay that relies heavily on stealth. Players may need to invest significant time to navigate these unoptimized areas effectively.
- “The game allows for a significant investment of time in environments that require a high level of stealth, even if they are larger than expected and not fully optimized.”
- “I appreciate how the game encourages players to strategize and optimize their approach to navigating complex environments.”
- “The optimization of gameplay mechanics enhances the overall experience, making it more engaging and rewarding.”
- “The game requires a huge level of stealth in environments that are larger than expected and poorly optimized.”
- “The optimization issues make it difficult to fully enjoy the gameplay experience.”
- “I found myself frustrated by the unoptimized environments that hindered my progress.”