Mist Slayer is an interesting take on the roguelike genre, but sadly, it’s a bit rough around the edges.
Mist Slayer is a fun and interesting take on the roguelike genre. The roguelike genre has been around for quite some time; the genre itself gets its name from the game Rogue. Rogue became famous for its lack of a save feature and brutal gameplay. Since gamers are natural-born masochists, it would only make sense that many would try their hand at replicating the brutal Rogue Experience. The latest of these attempts is Mist Slayer.
Mist Slayer is a competitive action roguelike, which is both developed and published by Moju Games, a small indie developer who seems to have only recently popped into the gaming scene. Mist Slayer also seems to be Moju Games’ first and only major release. There was quite a bit of hype surrounding Mist Slayer, as it was even featured in the Eastern Game Fest, which was hosted on 12 April 2023.
Considering how highly anticipated the game was, especially from a first-time developer, there is understandably quite a lot of pressure for the developer to deliver an excellent roguelike experience. So, how did Mist Slayer fair? We’ll get into that.
Our story begins with our character waking up on a strange, flat plateau. Where are we? How did we get here? Who is that floating robot? Your spherical metal companion is none other than Misty; they will act as our guide and, in turn, will explain certain things to us and even share with us some of the lore about this strange, mist-covered land.
In Mist Slayer, we are a wandering hero who has been sucked into an alternate dimension and must aid a Goddess in freeing her land from a strange mist that corrupts all that walks into it. Now you’re thinking, wow, that sounds impressive, but sadly, you only learn that you’re from an alternate world from reading the Steam page.
Combat in Mist Slayer is relatively simple; you will have a basic attack, a special attack, and an ultimate attack, along with aerial variants. You will need to use all of these different attacks in tandem with one another because, along with your attacks, you will also have a Combo Score. This rating goes from SS, which is the highest rating, down to D, which seems to be the lowest.
If you want to increase your attack rating, then you need to constantly be switching through your different attacks and getting in damage as quickly as possible because what matters is how fast you do your attacks, not how much damage they do. Increasing your Combo Score will also increase the amount of Rage you earn, which is what you use to fuel your ultimate attack.
Aside from attacking, you will also have the option to guard, sprint, dodge and jump. Jumping is pretty self-explanatory. Your character jumps, and this lets them use their aerial attacks, which is useful for dealing with flying enemies; as a melee character, jumping also doesn’t use any stamina. Yes, Mist Slayer has a Stamina Bar, similar to the one seen in Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild and its sequel, which means you need to manage it if you don’t want to become a punching bag.
As for your other types of movement, dodging allows you to move out of the way of enemy attacks and can also be used to create some distance between you and the enemy. Sprinting, on the other hand, allows you to quickly dash across the map, nifty to quickly go from Altar to Altar or for evading hordes of enemies, or even dodge a boss attack.
Combat itself feels very snappy and responsive, which is great and all, but the whole thing goes down the toilet because of two major issues that Mist Slayer has. The first of these issues is the fact that there seems to be no way to aim where you hit. That’s not to say you can’t lock onto a target; in fact, your attacks auto lock on to the nearest in your field of view. It just means that you can’t change targets until your current target is dead.
The game does tell you that there is a way to switch targets, but it just does not work 90% of the time. The second of these issues is the enemy AI, which seems to break whenever you dodge or attack from a distance, causing them to zigzag around the map like headless chickens. Sadly, that also means that combat is an absolute cakewalk, especially if you play a ranged character, as you’ll be able to get several potshots in before the enemy corrects itself.
This cannot be said about bosses, which seems to be where the developers have put most of their time and effort. Bosses will appear after you have fully cleared a level; however, players will plan carefully as there’s no telling which boss you’ll get. The bosses themselves are incredibly well done and completely unique from one another, and each has their own sequences of well-coordinated attacks that should keep players on their toes.
That’s the keyword, though, “should”, because while yes, they have great designs and yes, they have well-sequenced attacks, it sadly all means nothing if the base combat system is terrible, which it is. The lack of a proper target-locking system means you’re more likely to die from an attack, not because you got sloppy but rather because you couldn’t aim your camera in time or got swamped by grunts.
The good thing about Mist Slayer is that the game seems to have taken the playstyle variety from Rogue and added their own unique twist. The twist in question is Altars, which will be dotted across your map and will only be activated as you have enough spirit, which is a type of glowing energy you acquire by either defeating a certain number of enemies or, if you’re lucky, you can find it chests, which are also dotted across the map.
Once you have acquired enough Spirit Energy, you will earn a Spirit Orb that you will then use to unlock an Altar. Now, which Altar it unlocks is completely random, so yes, you can defeat a group of enemies around one Altar, but the one across the map gets unlocked, which is incredibly confusing.
Once an Altar is activated, Misty will clear the area of Mist, which isn’t exactly elaborated on. You would think it would stop enemies from spawning, but nope, it just seems to clear the Mist from the surrounding area. Altars come in a variety of types, and there are Altars based on the five elements: Metal, Wood, Fire, and Earth.
These elemental Altars are what give you your temporary abilities that will change from run to run. Some elements work well together and can strengthen their combined effect, while others work against each other and weaken your skills and abilities, so be mindful of what abilities you choose and their elemental effects.
The other type of Altars are Inscriptions, and these strange stone arches often add new effects to your pre-established skills. Unlike Elemental Altars, you can only have one inscription active at one time. Weapon Seals are another Altar you will encounter, and these can change your base attacks, such as changing a charged arrow into a sniper-like aiming mode.
Last but not least, we have Life Altars, which don’t give you new abilities, but they do heal you up quite a bit. Using Altars is a great way of building a playstyle that will work for your run, and due to their random nature, you never know what you’re going to get and need to build based on what’s available.
In Mist Slayer, you will also have the option to choose between four different classes – Buckler, who is the balance sword and shield fighter. Archer, the fast and nimble long-distance attacker. Assassin, the fast but fragile speedster. And finally, Claymore, the heavy hitter with an even heavier sword. Each of these characters has their own strengths and weaknesses while serving as a good base. Some, however, are a stronger base than others. Out of the characters, it would seem that Archer has had the most attention put into her.
Now, you would think that her being the ranged attacker, she would not be that strong, but that is far from the truth. In fact, she is an unstoppable force. When in combat, Archer seems to break the enemy AI the most, and most often, she can kill a field of enemies relatively quickly without getting a scratch. Compare this to other characters who all seem to be melee-focused and not that different from one another; by that, I mean incredibly underwhelming.
As you progress through Mist Slayer, you will gain levels, and these levels unlock a variety of shops that you can use to get different types of upgrades. Misty Realms allows you to unlock permanent buffs for your runs; Power Sanctum allows you to permanently increase the strength of certain elements, Chrono Port allows you to unlock and upgrade the various player characters, Sealcraft allows you to unlock more seals for your character to discover when exploring and finally, Court of Illusions, which is where you will buy cosmetics items for your character, which does not add anything to them in terms of combat.
Mist Slayer also features an excellent soundtrack that mixes epic guitar riffs and tribal war drums that get you pumped and ready for action. Said action is, sadly, just watching a wolf zigzag for a minute before you can attack.
To say Mist Slayer is rough around the edges would be an understatement. The game suffers from an extreme lack of polish and refinement, with many of its base systems and mechanics being completely broken. Now, considering that Moju Games is a relatively new developer, it is clear that they have bitten off far more than they can chew.
Mist Slayer lacks polish where it needs it most, such as its combat system, and has instead had focus put on where it needs it the least, such as trivial cosmetics and flashing Archer’s panties whenever she moves. The only redeeming thing about the game is its soundtrack.
