Have you ever thought, “Hey, we need this as a side-scroller!” when playing Devil May Cry or any of its sequels? If the answer is even a half-maybe, then Poppy Works and Ziggurat Interactive have the perfect bundle of frenetic combat for you. Introducing Slave Zero X, a prequel to a relatively niche third-person title that launched in 1999 called Slave Zero. Out is the third-person perspective, and in is a similar but sharpened art design ripped straight from the trenches of H.R. Giger’s mind, Elon Musk’s favourite letter, and an entire genre shift that fits the setting.
You are Shou, a Guardian hellbent on ending the reign of the Sovereign Khan (shortened to SovKhan, thankfully). The Guardians are a group of elite soldiers who oppose the Khan’s oppressive regime that he upholds with Slaves, horrifying living machines that are forced into subjugation by the SovKhan to operate as weapons of war in the constant struggle for humanity. The sole mission of The Guardians is to stop the Slaves from overrunning Megacity S1-9, but Shou steals a Slave unit prototype with the notion of an ‘if we can’t beat them, join them’ mindset.
As the Slave Zero X protagonist combination of Shou and X, there are hilarious back-and-forth segments between them that build needed comradery, which helps you care about their mission, similar to the Tales series party interactions. Although X resembles a red-skinned Xenomorph, they’re surprisingly adept at receiving human emotion and acting human.
X has many capabilities that make your 1-2 human-slave punch ‘super.’ Aside from combat though, X uses this to even amuse themselves. During one segment, X mentions how their favourite messages to intercept are ones where adversary soldiers are soiling themselves with the thought of facing X, and it’s a genuinely funny moment.
“Slave Zero X is at its best when you are embroiled in combat.”
But Slave Zero X is at its best when you are embroiled in combat. The tag-team protagonist duo knows how to handle a sword, and you have a surprising amount of freedom when engaging with enemies. Firstly, you have your run-of-the-mill light attack, heavy attack, parry, etc. But X also has access to a Fatal Sync, which grants a Dark Souls ‘chosen undead’ mark above your head and allows you to spam every special move in your arsenal until your special gauge runs out.
When you swing an attack at the same time as your enemy, you clash weapons, and neither take damage. This happens often, and the sound effects are sublime. Clashing weapons in this way takes all the energy of a Dragon Ball energy struggle and throws it into a flash moment, especially during boss fights, which are tense and sweaty affairs. Slave Zero X implores the player to work the kinks out of the game and potentially break it by juggling enemies so well they can’t fight back.
Aerial combat perfectly meshes with ground slashing and can be combined as such. Hitting launch attacks, then turning enemies into mincemeat with a basic combo, culminating in a Ninja Gaiden-like Izuna Drop, feels great to pull off. Sometimes, the final hit on lesser enemies explodes them into fleshy pink meat piles yanked from Doom, which is incredibly satisfying. This shows the developers at Poppy Works lean into their inspirations rather than shy away from them, and this is a good move.
There are some sore spots to work out in Slave Zero X. During combat there are enemies who deploy grab attacks at a random clip. This can become incredibly frustrating, as there’s no way to get away from the irritating grab animation that constantly replays, and it does a great amount of damage to your HP gauge.
“Slave Zero X is an improvement on its ancient predecessor in every way and plays like a solid hack-and-slash experience.”
To build on this, checkpoints are incredibly sparse in Slave Zero X. In level 2-2, there’s a segment where you face 4-5 of these grabby enemies with large hammers, then immediately face a mini-boss that hits like a truck with a screen-spanning flame slash attack. Upon death against this beast, you restart at the beginning and need to contend with grabby hammer enemies again.
This crucible of patience can weaken some players’ resolve and just feel unfair. It’s not just this one segment either, it happens a lot during gameplay, especially during the later levels and feels remarkably like the unfairness present in Bloodrayne: Fresh Bites, which was also published by Ziggurat.
Slave Zero X is an improvement on its ancient predecessor in every way and plays like a solid hack-and-slash experience. Story elements, strong sound design, and comradery between the two focal protagonists feel organic, and the setting lends a sense of urgency to the mission Shou and X are engaged in. There’s even a Crimson Citadel mode after the credits roll to continue the action, which feels a lot like the Bloody Palace present in Devil May Cry 4, which allows the most bloodthirsty the option to continue the mayhem.
However, cheap gameplay elements, inconsistent checkpoint placement, and the enemy’s ability to spam grab attacks can derail the experience with frustration. Slave Zero X is a good action title, and fans of the genre should give this one a look.
