Skelattack Demo

No one ever stops to think about the poor ogres and trolls that dwell in the dungeons, given the fact that adventurers are more interested in the treasure they guard. Granted, in most cases the said trolls are harming people every now and again, but there are also creatures that never leave the dungeon, so they are only a threat if you are stubborn enough to go in there.

Skelattack is a 2D action-platformer in which you play the role of a skeleton as it tries to defend its dungeon from a pack of adventurers who decide to raid his lair in search of gold and epic weapons. Although the roles are reversed, the gameplay is pretty much the same, which means that you have to avoid traps, fight enemies and overcome tough platforming challenges in order to stay alive.

Your skeleton also has a few special abilities to fight back against the invaders, such as magic spells that can be used to damage opponents. This is a pretty neat addition to a fast-paced platformer, especially since some spells require precision and intuition in order to be cast efficiently. As an example, the fireball deals damage a couple of tiles in front of you, but you have to judge the distance by yourself every time you cast it.

Other than combat, there’s also the platforming to worry about, because even skeletons can be defeated by circular saws and pits full of spikes. Granted, you respawn at the last checkpoint whenever that happens, but it’s still frustrating to go through the same sections over and over again. Thus, you have to get better and better when it comes to negotiating obstacles, and the levels become more unforgiving later on as well.

The controls are very snappy, which is good news in a fast-paced platformer, and even more so since you can use a gamepad for extra comfort. A keyboard works just fine too, but the key mapping is a bit annoying on the default setting. As for the graphics, they are certainly not bad, but the backgrounds can become a tad repetitive after a while, since there’s not much to them to begin with.

Skelattack is but a short demonstration at the moment, but the gameplay is pretty polished and enjoyable. Thus, a full adventure could easily be created using the elements found in the demo.