Skul: The Hero Slayer ▶ Trailer
Skul: The Hero Slayer screenshot 1Skul: The Hero Slayer screenshot 2
ActionIndieAction RoguelikePixel GraphicsRoguelike2DRoguelite

421 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 596

Peak in the last 7 days: 754

Skul: The Hero Slayer Steam store

Game description

Guide 'Skul' on his quest to single-handedly take on the Imperial Army and rescue his King from captivity, in an action-packed rogue-lite 2D platformer for the ages.

Basic info

DeveloperSOUTHPAW GAMES
PublisherNEOWIZ
PlatformsWindows · macOS · Linux
Steam DeckVerified
Release dateJan 20, 2021
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows 7+
ProcessorDual core from Intel or AMD at 2.8 GHz
Memory4 GB
GraphicsNvidia 450 GTS / Radeon HD 5750 or better
Storage1 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 449 reviews from the past 1 year

85.4/ 100
Top 40%

Steam rating: Very Positive (93%)

Metacritic: 80 /100

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 22, 2026)

Swapping skulls to change playstyles keeps Skul: The Hero Slayer fresh, and this action roguelite scores 85.4 across 449 analyzed reviews.

👍 Strengths

154 reviews find it fun, and some call it a good casual roguelike to play without pressure. 75 praise the combat depth, with item and skull combinations that reward careful building. 51 say it is highly replayable, with each skull and higher difficulties making every run feel different. Content Volume ranks 138th of 1351, and Gameplay ranks 430th of 1396.

👎 Where it falls short

72 reviews call the difficulty punishing, citing unfair spikes, dense bullet patterns and too little healing. 30 point to balance issues, with physical skulls favored and weak characters hard to use on the highest difficulty. 21 dislike the controls, describing awkward dash cancels, imprecise platforming and keyboard play that feels worse to some. Visuals & Sound ranks 594th of 1249, and Pricing & Fairness ranks 893rd of 1399.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“game is very fun despite control difficulty” · 154 reviews
“rich combat system and varied item combinations” · 75 reviews
“post-game content and higher difficulties provide insane replayability” · 51 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 74% of reviews · Top 40% of the games we've analyzed

Strategy +3.46 · Depth of builds, tactics, and meaningful choices
Positive “rich combat system and varied item combinations” · 75 reviews
Negative “only three viable builds out of eight theoretical playstyles” · 2 reviews

Progression 22% · Difficulty 41% · Onboarding 12% · Freedom 1% · Controls & feel 18%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 24% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Story +2.70 · Plot, quests, writing, and the ending
Positive “story perfect with plenty of twists” · 18 reviews
Negative “story didn't translate well from Korean to English” · 2 reviews

Characters 4% · World 3%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 46% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

Replayability +3.38 · Reasons to play again — runs, randomness, New Game+
Positive “post-game content and higher difficulties provide insane replayability” · 51 reviews
Negative “eventually reaches a point where you've seen most of what it offers” · 4 reviews

Volume 15% · Variety 16%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 20% of reviews · Top 50% of the games we've analyzed

Visuals +3.30 · Graphics, art style, and animation
Positive “looks great and combat feels fun at first” · 33 reviews
Negative “character effects obscure visibility of own character” · 3 reviews

Audio 6%

Playing with others, the community and servers

Not enough data — only 0% of reviews mention this.

Playing together — · Fun of playing with friends, teammates, or rivals

Community 0% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 17% of reviews · Bottom 40% of the games we've analyzed

Balance -0.33 · Whether classes, weapons, and builds are evenly matched
Negative “character balance issues, weak characters very difficult at highest difficulty” · 30 reviews

Anti-cheat 0% · Pricing 5% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 9% of reviews · Top 40% of the games we've analyzed

Developer support -0.03 · Updates, patches, and how devs respond to players
Negative “devs don't release many big updates” · 9 reviews
Positive “devs fixed initial bugs over several years of updates” · 2 reviews

Stability 2% · Performance 2%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

Was this analysis useful? Sign in with Steam to vote

🎲 What kind of gamer are you? Find your title in 3 minutes.