Skelattack is a 2D Action Platformer that puts quite a twist on the whole dungeon delving for treasure setup. This time around we witness the greedy adventurers plop into the dank dungeon that we call a home and steal all of the undead’s stuff. It is up to our skeleton character named Skully and his bat friend Imber to fend off those that have once again invaded in the hopes of finding sweet loot. Before heading out to confront them, we are given three spells to choose which are cast by Imber who is always floating behind us. Our choices are a healing spell, an air-based ability that allows us to triple jump and finally one where we are able to summon a pillar of fire to damage our foes.
Skully is not defenseless either, he wields his trusty sword, and while not having great reach due to his stubby little arms, it is balanced out by his great speed and mobility. There is a bit of blood spurt whenever we connect with an attack though don’t expect anything too violent. Skelattack is hardly a serious title and has a ton of innocent charm to it, from its dialogue to the art style. Indeed, this dreary dungeon has quite a bit of life to it thanks to our fellow skeleton brethren scattered all over the place. They are not the fighting type you see and have hidden themselves to avoid the dungeon delvers sacking the place.
It’s not just skeletons down here either. There are different monster NPCs to talk to. They don’t help us in any way, but they do bring life into the setting that very well could have felt serious otherwise. Like any self-respecting dungeon should have, there are traps thrown about to catch the unwary adventurer off guard. Unfortunately for us, it seems the humans are too smart for them and they ultimately only serve to make our unlife that much more difficult. If you do end up dying then no worries, we were already dead after all so we’ll simply rise again from the last blue torch we have lit. There are no lives either so feel free to take a risky jump for that dangerously placed shiny coin. Dying does cause you to lose a bit of cash though, so it may put a strain in your coin purse if you don’t pick it back up from where you met your demise.
Unlike our lucky winged companion, we must jump to reach our destinations It is as much Platformer as it is an Action game and while dead easy at first, you’ll soon be greeted by challenging areas to navigate. There is controller support, and the movement is fast & responsive. It will take some time to get used to the wall jumping however. Most games will have you press the jump button to kick yourself off a wall though in this you simply press the opposite direction on the dpad. This leads me into a slight issue I felt this title currently has. Either your character sprite is too big, or the areas feel too cramped on a few obstacles. Not impossible by any stretch of the imagination, it just seemed a tad off.
Another odd little nitpick I had was with some dark gray tiles that they used for the environment. It doesn’t look like part of the background but we can in fact jump right through them. Moving on from those few oddities, Skelattack is pleasantly open-ended. You will not just be going to the right all the time. There is quite a bit of vertically and also levers to pull that allows you to proceed. The level design felt like old DOS platformers such as Duke Nukem where exploration is a must which is a big plus in my books. Your primary goal remains absolute, however, defeat all those purse snatching humans. One can not move on from an area if any are left to forage around people’s stuff.
At the end of this level, we will be treated to a boss fight much larger than your typical enemy. It is a satisfying fight to send off this demo. That will not be the end however. We will be given a taste of the hub-world that leads to the other levels and contains a shop as well as a library to read all the lore you’ve found throughout your journey. In said shop you can upgrade your sword for a measly 20 coins and in turn will be able to slash an opponents fireballs right out of the air which is as awesome as it sounds. Over Skelattack definitely seems like a promising title to look forward to when it releases on the 19th of January 2018. Until then I’d suggest checking out the demo on the developer’s website which I’ll link below and treat yourself to a half hour of jolly good fun.
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