Stillborn Slayer is an action roguelike game from developer Meridian4. It was originally released to Steam in 2023, but has now been released to Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch, priced at $4.99, thanks to retro specialists Ratalaika Games. We’ve been putting it through its paces and played the first few hours for this first impression post. If we had to describe Stillborn Slayer in one sentence, it would be as if a Souls game were pixelated and then dumped into an 8-bit adventure game with bullet hell mechanics.
It sounds like an intense game, and that sums up the gameplay loop in this one. You will die, die, and die again many times in Stillborn Slayer. It’s all part of the learning, patiently upgrading each stat until you’re finally strong enough to move on. It’s filled with desperation as you just about clear rooms, then discover there is a boss battle next, and he guards your next armour upgrade. This certainly isn’t for anyone looking for a casual roguelike or modern, forgiving hit boxes.
The action in Stillborn Slayer is a mix of classic RPG and twin-stick shooters, where killing off the enemies in a room will award pick-ups, equipment, and unlock the next door or two. Each time you die, which will happen a lot, you start back at the last save point. Most of the battles are fair, even though they’re also tough. Most rooms you enter are packed with enemies who have a naturally aggressive attitude and head right at you, throwing lines of bullets.
A maneuver that requires mastering in Stillborn Slayer is the roll. It not only acts as a way across short pits, but also allows you to avoid projectiles and be invincible for a moment. It took us a few deaths to start realising the importance of avoiding attacks. Adding extra hearts to your character takes a while, and without learning the roll, we simply died all too quickly. It’s not just learning a few moves that is tough in this game; there is a stamina meter that depletes quickly, so slow, purposeful movements are needed.
Controlling our character in Stillborn Slayer was mostly fine. Our only disappointment with the control setup is how some menus, such as the inventory screen, use a mouse pointer mechanism that feels a bit off with this on consoles. This spoiled the flow of the game for us a little, but the combat and exploring were more enjoyable. There is also a large range of enemies, bosses, and room types to explore. This has a lot of variety for a budget title, and given how much patience needs to be shown to progress, there is a lot of gameplay for the price.
One of the standout features is the bosses that filled us with dread, with the amount of time it would take us to beat one. They’re unforgiving and have complex bullet patterns that require timing to the tenth of a second. Making one mistake usually ended with another death and restart, but the satisfaction from finally killing one was deep. The other great aspect about Stillborn Slayer is that with each new game, the rooms are mixed up and procedurally generated, which gives this one a lot of replay value.
Overall, Stillborn Slayer is a tough roguelike title that doesn’t pull any punches and demands practice, patience, and learning from the player. Its cute 8-bit visuals hide a difficult game that will test even the most hardened of arcade veterans. Those who want a retro challenge would do well to try this one, if they have the time to put into it, of course.
