[Oh!덕후] Official launch D-1’Skull’, a powerful challenge for the roguelike market

[OSEN=임재형 기자] Another well-made work has challenged the’Roguelike’ genre market that requires instant judgment and precise control. Neowiz’s Skull: The Hero Slayer (hereinafter called Skull), developed by South 4 Games, will be officially launched on the Steam platform on the 21st with solid gameplay. ‘Skull’ is a game that has attracted attention as a box office hit, surpassing 100,000 copies in a month since the release of Early Access in 2020.

‘Roguelike’, which was challenged by’Skull’, has a distinctive enthusiast because of its unique characteristics. The basics of’Roguelike’ are random elements, growth, and save load. Random growth is possible with items or skills, but once you die, all of the collection elements disappear. Maps to explore (including bosses depending on the game) are also random. Some games provide a mode such as’Permanent stat increase’ in addition to collection elements to lower the difficulty when playing multiple games.

‘Skull’ has all kinds of elements for the enthusiast. Therefore, it gained a lot of popularity during Early Access and was able to use it as a driving force for the official release. ‘Skull’ consists of the story of the protagonist, a little skeleton, saving the Demon King and his fellow demons. A skull or item that appears after attacking the stage allows the user to make the protagonist stronger. The stats vary from basic stats to additional effects.

What should be noted is the skull, the concept of character change. The skull, which was composed of about 20 species in the early years of Early Access, has been steadily added afterwards and has various types. Skulls are composed of several levels, such as legendary, rare, and general, and are divided into three types: power, balance, and speed. Except for basic, skulls can be awakened using’bone’ resources. This element was not present in the early access version. Thanks to the awakening, users can use more various skulls to suit their tastes.

The difficulty of’Skull’ is rather high if you fight without any upgrades at the beginning. The number of monsters is dense, and it is difficult to go up to the upper stage with the basic skull because there are cases where it can be summoned 2nd. Even the first stage boss presses the user with high stamina and damage. However, Neowiz has prepared a’Rookie Mode’ that reduces the damage in half for users who are difficult to play.

However, the difficulty, which was difficult, can be lowered by upgrading basic stats using a manastone that does not disappear after death. The basic stats are divided into 3 base parts, a total of 12, and users can raise their stats first, focusing on the skull of their preferred style. If you value magic damage, you can invest points mainly on’skull’. It was configured so that the direction of development can be specified according to the skull. The liberated fox hunter provides skulls so that users can use various play styles from the beginning.

In this way,’Skull’ has carefully structured the contents so that the user can advance to the upper stage when the user gains experience while properly setting the difficulty level. It is noteworthy whether’Skull’ will continue to be a box office even at its official launch thanks to the popularity of the last Early Access. /[email protected]

Reporter Lim Jae-hyung