What happens when DOOM and Vampire Survivors meets a top-down 2D retro-style game? You get Slaughter Void. This game was everything that I didn’t expect. It’s a 2D dark fantasy slasher game, that was released in 2026. Developed by Dread Night, and published by Hyperstrange.
Into The Abyss
When you open the game, it welcomes you with a dialogue that introduces the game’s story. It explains the dark fantasy world the game has to offer. Then it lands you into the main menu. The menu is a simple pixel art, that showcases the mysterious, dark fantasy theme the game has with multiple enemies and the game’s main character. Seeing the artstyle, I instantly thought that this game is a retro style of game, so it has a unique experience to offer. The menu is not overdone, making simplicity in this case more fit for the players.
When you start a new game, it will throw you into a big room with multiple other rooms connected to it. It feels like a maze, with limitless exits and mysteries. The final, big room is your main objective to reach, which can be done by defeating the enemies in the area. This is the tutorial area. You are an Arsi warrior, who tries to clear the Void by eradicating every hostile creature of the broken realms.
This is the point when the game introduces the soundtrack as well. It’s one of the best soundtracks I listened to, featuring a heavy metal type of soundtrack. This makes you feel hyped, motivated, and that non-stop action feeling that things are about to go crazy, making you feel immersed to the game’s environment. A great way to utilize the game and the soundtrack together.
Simple, yet intriguing
The game also introduces the controls. It is really simple, using WASD to move, and your mouse for aim. It utilizes both your keyboard and mouse at the same time.
With it, the attacks are also very simple. There are 3 types of attacks the game will introduce. There’s the basic attack, which rewards aggressive plays over passive ones. The other 2 are ranged and special attacks. Ranged attacks, or as the game calls them secondary attacks, are pick-up attacks, where you have to pick up arrows which you can throw at enemies from a distance. This does the opposite of the basic attack, it rewards passive plays over aggressive ones. But watch out, you only have 4 arrows to work with at once.
Your special attack can be activated once the bar in the middle has been fully loaded up. This can be done by defeating enemies, or just chaining combos together. When it’s filled up, just press the middle mouse button, and you can defeat multiple or sturdier enemies in front of you in one hit.
Unique features for a unique world
There are multiple unique and interesting mechanisms in the game. For example, there’s the kick system, which is introduced on the tutorial level. It’s very easy to utilize, you can kick down walls or other environmental elements that will kill enemies making your area fights much easier.
The other thing is the shield. There is obviously a shield system in the game, also introduced very early on. It can be gained multiple ways, so its easy for you to earn extra protection in this fast-paced environment.
When an enemy kills you, you need to respawn. This can be done by pressing ‘R’, and it will respawn you at the start of the area. Each levels are based on one big room with multiple rooms and a lot of fights, so it makes respawn valuable for speedrun tactics as well.
Utilizing The Hub
But the tutorial is still not over! Once you complete the level, The Huntress will enter the portal before you. Obviously you follow her, but instead of meeting her, you are welcomed by The Astronormer, who informs you that she has already passed through the room. He then proceeds to show you your resting room and hub where you can safely attend to your needs like relic, sword buys. There are no enemies in this place, so this is your safest place in the Void.
The game will then show you what it can offer. If you want to put on sturdier armor and stronger weapons, you can visit The Shrine of Inurta where you can do these things. There are traders too, who are the Twins. You can buy relics here, making you stronger in the battles and giving you an extra buff that helps you a lot. To the bottom left, there’s a blacksmith, where you can buy swords which deals more damage making bigger enemies easier to defeat.
And at the very top, you will find the big portal. This portal will let you travel between the locations the game will offer. You can return any time to the base.
Enter The Void
Once you travelled to one of the Void locations, you are welcomed by different environments. If you go to the Jungle, it is built around a jungle-like environment, but if you visit the Village, you will be welcomed by more of an indoor style of environment. Either way, the environments were cared about it, and this shows it.
Each area has more and more complex and sturdier enemies. There are close combat and ranged enemies. The ranged ones have different attack paterns, one might shoot just one way, while the other can shoot at three points at once. They are easy to evade, but you have to utilize your ranged attacks too to effectively and quickly kill them. Close combat enemies are way easier. They just need to be hit once, and they die instantly. Their only strength is their speed, but nothing else.
It’s Far From a Perfect Game
Once you complete a level, a scoreboard will be shown. This shows the time it was done in, and the actual worldwide scoreboard. The quicker you finish, the more reward you will get. They will obviously become harder and harder, making fast times harder and harder to complete. The difficulty scaling is a bit quicker than expected, but can be handled easily after a few tries. One fun thing I found during my playthrough was that the actual time has to be under the given time to give you better reward. For example, the Void reward earning needed 10.000 seconds, and I got 10.000, which didn’t count as Void. So it has to be under it, even if it’s just 0.001 seconds. It makes the game more tedious than it already is.
My other returning issue was the enemy attacks. Some enemies starts an attack, die during that, and still shoot you in their death. It’s a bit unfair, but a bit of caution and they are easy to avoid them.
Final Judgement
When you see this game for the first time, you will think that “Huh, this game doesn’t look interesting.”, but I got to say that’s wrong. The more you play it, the more addicted it feels. I would 100% recommend this game if you are looking for a short, fun game to play in your freetime. The game combines a lot of ideas, and does them right, with minor mistakes that can be fixed easily, and not even noticeable. If you decide to play this game be ready, because you will need to save the Void and stop the enemies before it’s too late!
