Release Date: June 3, 2016
A third-person action game that combines hack and slash and roguelike elements. Heart&Slash started out as a minor project of an indie developer, which grew in time thanks to the financial gathered on Kickstarter. The action takes place in a distant future, where humanity no longer exists. In the game, we assume the role an unusual robot who wants to discover his own identity and become loved.
Heart&Slash for PS4, PC and etc. is a third-person action game that originally combines a classical brawler with roguelike and draws inspiration from such productions as Mega Man, and ADOM. Initially, the project was being developed by Juan Raigada alone in his spare time. With time, the development team grew and, thanks to the funds raised on Kickstarter, the game was commercially published.
The action takes place in a distant future where robots are the only thing that remain after humanity died out. Not all of them match the stereotypical image, though. As a result of a faulty installation or pieces of humanity hidden somewhere within, there are units that can find their own identity and even—just like the protagonist—be loved. In the game, we assume the role of such a sentient robot called Heart. He tries to break free from the tyranny of an all-seeing leader known as QuAsSy (short for Quality Assurance System).
The gameplay mechanics of Heart&Slash can be described as a mix of a classical slasher such as Devil May Cry and contemporary indie roguelike games (e.g. The Binding of Isaac). While playing, we traverse randomly generated locations set in three different worlds, all of which have dissimilar style and enemies. Our task is to effectively eliminate hostile robots and fight fierce battles against powerful bosses. Combat itself resembles hack ‘n’ slash productions. We have a large weapon arsenal (melee and firearms) at our disposal. This isn’t everything, though—as we progress, we can replace parts of our robot, giving him a number of new abilities such as teleportation, stopping time, ability to walk on walls, or a system for detecting weak spots of our enemies.
As befits a roguelike game, death is permanent and forces us to start over. Each subsequent attempt not only changes the appearance of the map but also the enemies’ and secret rooms’ (that contain valuable collectibles) setup. Things are not overly difficult, though, because the progression system is permanent which means that the protagonist retains the previously acquired skills.
Heart&Slash offers a single player mode only and is devoid of any kind of multiplayer competition.
Heart&Slash for PS4, PC and etc. by aheartfulofgames features a rather cartoonish graphics that utilize cel-shading, which is unusual for the genre. The game’s visuals reference the contemporary indie productions (and their minimalistic, old-school graphic style) on one hand but on the other pays a tribute to the past century’s titles, putting playability and fun before realistic graphics.
Platforms:
PC Windows June 3, 2016
PlayStation 4 June 24, 2016
Xbox One June 3, 2016
Nintendo Switch December 22, 2017
Developer: aheartfulofgames
Publisher: Badland Indie
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System Requirements for Heart&Slash Video Game:
PC / Windows
Minimum System Requirements:
Intel Core i5 2.66 MHz, 4 GB RAM, graphic card 1 GB GeForce 550 or better, 1 GB HDD, Windows 7.
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