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The Slater

The Slater Game Cover
72%Game Brain Score
story, gameplay
stability, grinding
75% User Score Based on 684 reviews
Critic Score 55%Based on 1 reviews

Platforms

PCWindows
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The Slater Game Cover

About

The Slater is a single player action game. It was developed by Laina Interactive and was released on September 20, 2018. It received neutral reviews from critics and mostly positive reviews from players.

Get ready to kill low-life drug dealers, notorious crime bosses and anyone who stands in your way as you seek revenge for your father's murder. Use stealth-based tactics to get the upper hand on your enemies and take them out. Think your enemies as puzzle pieces. How do you get past the guards? Who do you kill and how? Think carefully before you make your move or you are the one ending up dead.

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The Slater screenshot
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The Slater screenshot
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75%
Audience ScoreBased on 684 reviews
story66 positive mentions
stability4 negative mentions
  • The game captures the essence of the Hitman series, providing a fun and engaging stealth experience.
  • The level design is well done, with unique challenges and opportunities for creative problem-solving.
  • Despite its flaws, the game has a charming atmosphere and is enjoyable for fans of stealth games.
  • The game lacks a save system, forcing players to restart entire levels upon failure, which can be frustrating.
  • The AI is inconsistent, often leading to instant alerts that can ruin the stealth experience.
  • The voice acting and dialogue are often cheesy and poorly executed, detracting from the overall immersion.
  • story
    376 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story of "The Slater" is generally viewed as clichéd and uninspired, often serving merely as a backdrop for the gameplay rather than a compelling narrative. While some players appreciate the dark themes and character backgrounds, many criticize the voice acting and writing quality, describing them as cheesy and poorly executed. Overall, the game is seen as a low-budget homage to the Hitman series, with a simple revenge plot that lacks depth and originality.

    • “If you're looking for a deep, story-driven stealth game that will challenge you and leave you emotionally drained, then 'The Slater' is a must-play.”
    • “The story is quite engaging and well-presented via high-quality models and cinematography.”
    • “Good story with a likable main character.”
    • “Voice acting is as terrible as you can expect from a game of this stature, the story is uninspired and cliché-filled, animations are extremely stiff, both mission and level design are boring and lack variety, with only the last mission being somewhat of an exception but not wholly, and while it seemingly is a copy of Blood Money’s, the UI design is unintuitive.”
    • “The story is non-existent; the main character's father was killed, whom we know nothing about, or the main character, so who really cares? There are drugs involved or something... honestly, you can skip the cutscenes and it makes no difference. The developers were obviously trying to make a Max Payne-type character, but it just comes off as cringy.”
    • “Don't expect any plot or storytelling here though; it's as bland and basic as a couple of scripts mixed-up together can get.”
  • gameplay
    150 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay of "The Slater" is characterized as a simplified, first-person stealth experience reminiscent of the Hitman series, featuring basic mechanics such as keycard collection and limited combat options. While some players appreciate its straightforward design and level variety, many criticize it for being linear, repetitive, and lacking depth, with clunky mechanics and a frustrating absence of checkpoints. Overall, it offers a fun but short experience, appealing primarily to fans of indie stealth games despite its shortcomings.

    • “Overall, I really recommend this game if you like stealth games with a hardcore design, no saves, and very consistent gameplay. I really enjoyed my time in this game.”
    • “Yes, there's some simplicity in it, with only hands and a silenced pistol, but the shooting mechanics are unique, and there's enough variety in play style to maintain replayability.”
    • “The gameplay is simple, smooth, and attractive, plus it's first-person.”
    • “The gameplay is simple and boring.”
    • “The stealth mechanics are pretty incomplete, and the game starts to get boring after the first chapter.”
    • “From the controls to the AI to the gameplay, it is substandard on every level.”
  • graphics
    82 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the noir aesthetic and decent visuals that evoke nostalgia for mid-2000s titles, while others criticize the dated animations and the presence of aggressive chromatic aberration. Overall, the graphics are considered satisfactory for an indie game, though they lack polish and innovation compared to AAA titles. Players appreciate the art direction and diversity in level design, but some express a desire for improvements and options to enhance their experience.

    • “The art direction nails the noir aesthetic.”
    • “Ran fine in 2k resolution and the levels all looked good and diverse in artwork and layout.”
    • “Graphics are good enough not to hurt your eyes, and each scenery tells a story of the villains you are assassinating.”
    • “I was enjoying the game until the aggressive chromatic aberration kicked in. I hate chromatic aberration; it's completely unnecessary and causes me nausea. I understand if developers want to add it to hide discrepancies in the visuals, but as a gamer, I just want to enjoy the game. Please update the game and add an option in the settings to disable chromatic aberration, and when that happens, I will play the game.”
    • “The game is a bit janky with rather basic level design. The art and visuals leave a lot to be desired, and there is not really much freedom of approach.”
    • “The graphics are quite lacking (3rd gen or less).”
  • humor
    54 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is largely derived from its unintentional comedic elements, such as poorly executed cutscenes, cheesy dialogue, and clunky animations, which many players found amusing rather than off-putting. While the game attempts to capture the humor of classic hitman titles, it often veers into "hilariously bad" territory, making it a fun experience for those who appreciate its absurdity. Overall, players recommend it as a lighthearted, goofy take on the hitman genre, best enjoyed at a discounted price.

    • “The cutscenes are hilarious and the game in general strikes a perfect balance of being ridiculous or funny but not self-aware or gratingly so.”
    • “Main character sounds like he ate a bag of gravel, and the rest like they’re midway through a stroke… but for some reason that adds to the funny absurdity of it.”
    • “Oh man, the dialogue, cutscenes, and script are so cheesy it’s hilarious.”
  • atmosphere
    30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The atmosphere of the game is frequently praised for its dark, moody design, drawing inspiration from titles like Max Payne and Hitman, which effectively builds tension and enhances the overall experience. While the level design and lighting contribute positively to the ambiance, some critiques highlight inconsistencies in dialogue and character design that detract from the immersive quality. Overall, the atmosphere stands out as one of the game's strongest elements, despite its shortcomings in other areas.

    • “The game isn't very long but the atmosphere is nice and builds a lot of tension.”
    • “It was an absolute joy to see all the effort put into atmosphere, cut-scenes, level design, story, and mechanics/puzzles.”
    • “The world is dark, moody, and atmospheric as the strongest element of the game, although the game might suffer from clone face NPCs.”
    • “It copies the presentation of Max Payne 3 and the atmosphere of Hitman: Absolution with levels that are heavily 'inspired' from both Absolution and Blood Money, but you can put 'dollar store equivalent of' before each of those aspects.”
    • “The devs put a lot of work into the level design and the atmosphere, except for the missing environmental kills; I'd put them somewhere between Hitman: Blood Money and Hitman: Absolution.”
    • “Some of the dialogue fit in well with the atmosphere, and some of it was cheesy enough to ruin the tone.”
  • music
    30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with some praising its ability to create a fitting atmosphere and enhance the story progression, while others criticize it for being repetitive and unmemorable. Despite being composed largely by a single developer, the soundtrack is noted for its gritty tone and ability to evoke a sense of darkness and mystery, though it lacks ambient tracks and can sometimes feel disconnected from the gameplay experience. Overall, while the music contributes positively to the mood, it could benefit from more variety and depth.

    • “Complete with a good soundtrack, comes a simpler, shorter, and easy-to-navigate addition to the genre of stealth, and a more relaxed experience for those who enjoy it.”
    • “The mood, music, and atmosphere is otherwise spot on, but accompanied with proper writing this could have been a truly pleasant experience.”
    • “Music fits well with the story progression.”
    • “Even if you wanted to rely on sound, it's so bad it doesn't tell you anything: since sound doesn't travel much and it ignores walls, you have a bar where you can't hear the music from one end and a hotel room where you can hear the person just above you snoring.”
    • “The visual elements are torturing, controls are wonky, the music/sound effects/voice overs are cringy, and the storyline inconsistent.”
    • “No ambient music.”
  • replayability
    16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's replayability is mixed; while some players appreciate the unique shooting mechanics and variety in play styles that encourage multiple playthroughs, others criticize the limited number of levels and lack of depth, leading to a short overall experience. Difficulty settings and achievements offer some incentive for replay, but many feel the game falls short in maximizing its potential for replay value. Overall, it seems best suited for those who enjoy challenging themselves rather than seeking a rich, replayable experience.

    • “Yes, there's some simplicity in it, with only hands and a silenced pistol, but the shooting mechanics are unique, and there's enough variety in play style to maintain replayability.”
    • “There is replay value for those who wish to re-try the game at its hardest level and keep civilian casualties to a minimum, but I don't recommend playing on easy for this one.”
    • “The difficulties and ranking add a good amount of replayability.”
    • “There are only 6 small levels with no replayability, so you'll finish it in 3 hours.”
    • “It's not well made at all, the story sucks, the levels are basic even on hard, and there's no replay value, but if you go into it knowing it's a cheap janky game, it can be half decent fun.”
    • “There is replay value for those who wish to retry the game at its hardest level and keep civilian casualties to a minimum, but I don't recommend playing on easy for this one.”
  • optimization
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game appears to lack optimization for higher refresh rate monitors, functioning better on 60Hz displays. Additionally, certain levels still require further optimization to enhance performance.

    • “The game seems to struggle with optimization for higher refresh rate monitors, but it should work fine on 60Hz monitors.”
    • “Some levels still require optimization to enhance the overall gameplay experience.”
    • “The optimization for various hardware configurations could be improved for a smoother experience.”
    • “The game wasn't optimized for higher refresh rate monitors; it should work fine on 60Hz monitors, though.”
    • “Some levels still need optimization.”
  • stability
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game suffers from significant stability issues, being described as incredibly buggy and poorly programmed. While there are numerous smaller glitches, they may not detract too much from the overall enjoyment for some players.

    • “The game is incredibly buggy and poorly programmed.”
    • “I will mention the most noteworthy problems, but it has a lot of smaller bugs and glitches, which probably won't irritate too much for one's enjoyment.”
  • grinding
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players express that grinding in the game is excessively time-consuming, often requiring a significant investment of effort akin to having a "second life." Many suggest that it is only worth engaging in for specific achievements or casual play rather than for meaningful progression.

    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “Don't bother except for grinding achievements or just messing around.”
  • emotional
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players find "The Slater" to be a deeply emotional and story-driven stealth game that not only challenges them but also leaves a lasting impact, often resulting in an emotionally draining experience.

    • “If you're looking for a deep, story-driven stealth game that will challenge you and leave you emotionally drained, then 'The Slater' is a must-play.”
  • monetization
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The monetization model features microtransactions that are perceived positively by users, as they are associated with supporting a good cause.

    • “Microtransactions for a good cause.”
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55%Critics’ scoreBased on 1 critic reviews
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8h Median play time
7h Average play time
5-9h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 4 analyzed playthroughs
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Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

The Slater is a action game.

The Slater is available on PC and Windows.

On average players spend around 7 hours playing The Slater.

The Slater was released on September 20, 2018.

The Slater was developed by Laina Interactive.

The Slater has received neutral reviews from players and neutral reviews from critics. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its stability.

The Slater is a single player game.

Similar games include Hitman: Absolution, Hitman Absolution, Thief, Daymare: 1998, Aragami and others.