Skul: The Hero Slayer

The player (you!) takes on the persona of Skul, a demon powering or possessing a skeleton. Inverting the usual hero versus demon trope, in this game you are the good guy, trying to rescue the Demon King who has been attacked and taken prisoner (along with all the other demons save Skul) for no other reason than the heroes wanting to prove that they are heroes and can do hero stuff.

The Demon’s King unwonted removal has seen the kingdom left in disarray, and the lack of anyone left to keep things running smoothly threatens to create major upheaval. Skul arms himself as best he can, and goes off to try and take on those ‘heroes’ of the Carleon Kingdom who mistake noise and bullying for bravery and chivalry…

Skul, on the other hand, is small and untrained, having to learn as he goes along, and shows what true heroism is, by trying to rescue the Demon King, not to prove anything or gain any reward, but simply because he was the only one left to make the attempt.

Tips to – ha! – Get Ahead!

The game is hard, especially at first, but if you pay attention to how the enemies act and fight, you will soon learn the best way to dispatch them or avoid their attacks which tend to be fairly formulaic.

Skul’s best weapon is his head, literally in one case as he can take it off, throw it at an enemy and then teleport to the head to pull himself back together. But that’s not the only head game in town: you can use different skulls to harness unique and diverse modes of combat and the wide range of weapons they offer (see below for some examples).

New skulls are found every four or five rooms along – after the first room which is designed to give you enough to get through the next few eventually, after some frustration! The high-powered skills are more rare than the common ones, as you might expect.

Skulls with powers you don’t want or already have can be broken into bone fragments that are then used to power up those that you do keep. There are up to forty unique skulls altogether, and you can use two at a time, swapping as you need to in order to get the best out of the powers on offer.

Collect relics as you go, and be sure to keep your eyes open for the companion pieces that share the same attributes to the ones you already have. Dual-attribute relics can enhance each other, giving you more power and superior attack or offence for a time.

A couple of final pointers: watch out for Dark Quartz as it taints whatever – and whoever – it touches. However, it doubles as currency so you will not be able to avoid it completely! The trees are sentient, and can sneakily snake their roots underground to trip you up and release little puffs of poison gas to boot, so keep an eye on the ground as well as in front of you!

The controls are simple: X is attack, use C to jump, special attacks use A, S, D – and if you really get stuck the witch will guide you. There is a steep and sometimes frustrating learning curve to tackle, especially at first, but once you get through the first couple of rooms, you’re away and will really begin to enjoy yourself.

Brings a New Meaning to Using Your Head

As described above, Skul can use various skulls to boost power-ups and give him new powers and modes of combat. With over forty different skulls to choose, here is a selective sampling of what you can look forward to:

Mummy – unusually for mummies who are better known for curses and bandages, this one arms you with a gun and makes you impervious to traps, which is handy. Perhaps the Mummy ate Indiana Jones at some point, and acquired his weapon and some niche skills? Either way, it is a useful one to keep an eye out for!

Wolf – speed and a brutal up-close clawing attack are the gifts that this beasty’s skull bestows upon you

Minotaur – seismic powers are yours wearing this skull, unleashing an attack when a horde of enemies is drawing uncomfortably close and in larger numbers than you can tackle one on one

Jester – chucking knives is not most people’s idea of a good joke, but this skull lets you do precisely that, and doubles-down on the matter by then having the knives explode!

Gargoyle – used to being up high and occasionally portrayed with wings, this gargoyle skull lets you fly, so you can soar over enemies and avoid a messy and protracted battle. Or just get yourself to a good place to turn the odds of winning in your own favour

Rock Star – music is the food of life, so play on, especially with the helpful band that this skull materialises to help you out