Slay the Minotaur – Video Review (KyotoCrank)

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• DEVELOPER: Cache of Bones
• PUBLISHER: Cache of Bones
• PLATFORMS: PC
• GENRE: Roguelite / Dungeon Crawler
• RELEASE DATE: February 23, 2024
• INITIAL PRICE: €4.99
• REVIEWED VERSION: PC

Slay the Minotaur is a roguelike game where you wander a labyrinth, fight enemies, and collect upgrades, all while the Minotaur is hunting you down. You must be fast and decisive to become stronger as quickly as possible, because you never know when the Minotaur will find you in this cat-and-mouse game.

Visuals

This game uses illustrated 3D graphics which, although simple, offer an incredible variety of clothing options. The different areas of the labyrinth you can explore vary from one another and feature small details like statues and murals. This represents an impressive feat for a solo developer. While there is a limited variety of monsters you will encounter, unfortunately, there isn’t much variation among monsters of the same type. The exception is the humans, who will have different weapons and armor. The variety among humans is logical since you will encounter them more often than cyclops or gorgons.

Another nice attention to detail is the visual effects when your character or the Minotaur takes damage. Even if you are too engrossed in the game’s action and cannot constantly monitor the health bars, you’ll clearly know how much life you have left by looking at the bloody scratches on your character’s back or the pieces of the Minotaur’s armor that break off with every quarter of its health depleted.

Music and Sound Design

The sound design is extremely intriguing because the game contains no music but relies solely on ambient sounds. You can hear the crackling of torch fire, the rush of wind when you’re outdoors, the thudding footsteps of the Minotaur as it approaches, and the whisper of the void. Attention has also been paid to detail. For example, when you are near Aphrodite and use her shop, her face emits shimmering, mystical sound effects. When you kill enemies, their weapons and armor clatter on the ground as they fall.

Gameplay Mechanics

The gameplay is not overly demanding. You have a basic attack, a special attack, and a special ability. Your special attack depends on a blue indicator that fills up and varies based on the weapon you are using. Your special ability depends on a green indicator that fills up, and it’s tied to your helmet. Essentially, you get a dodge ability that recharges relatively quickly. In my opinion, it is useful to have a good dodge ability when fighting the Minotaur.

As you explore, you will come across different types of chests. Brown chests will give you pink pearls which you can spend to open white chests, from which you will then get a weapon or a helmet. The chests have an image indicating the type of item you might get, although the selection is completely random. Naturally, more expensive chests will have better potential loot. Also, some of them have magical particle effects and will clearly show you what you’ll get; these are the most expensive ones you can find.

Besides the chests, you will spend pearls at Aphrodite’s shop. Here you can buy upgrades such as extra health or increased damage, increased movement speed, and faster ability recharge, or consumables like health potions. However, be careful because you can only buy one item from each Aphrodite. Regardless of whether you buy just one upgrade or multiple, once you make a purchase, you won’t be able to buy more at that specific location.

This design encourages the player to leave familiar areas and explore the rest of the map, as the labyrinth layout does not change, and exploration is important to find other good items and shops. Although changing the labyrinth layout could further increase the challenge, I understand that this would be a huge undertaking for a single developer. The real fun begins when you face the Minotaur. If he gets too close, he will smell you and start a chase. Once he senses you, it’s almost impossible to escape, so it’s important to react quickly to ensure you are the hunter, not the prey.

Conclusion

All in all, I really enjoyed this game. It took me a few hours and many attempts to finish it. I also achieved an A rating, which only 6.6 percent of players have achieved, which is an added bonus. If you love challenging roguelike games, I highly recommend this one. It regularly receives content updates and fixes, so for this €5 game, you are definitely getting the best value for your money.