10 Promising Video Games You Didn't Know Were Coming In 2016
3. Slain! (PC, PS4, XBO)
Our second gruelling, ultra-hard platformer on this list takes its inspiration from 90s classics like Rastan and Super Ghouls N' Ghosts. With a chugging metal soundtrack and a moody colour palette, Slain evokes the 90s while being animated and designed with the kind of technical finesse that wasn't possible back then. You control a hardy Viking-esque dude with a two-handed sword, and slash your way through environments that look like they've come straight out of the psyches of Iron Maiden - all rain-soaked, wind-swept levels with twisted, gnarled trees and giant skulls whose mouths open for you to walk into, brimming with zombies, spectres and giant hard-as-nails knights. As the name suggests, this game's not going to treat you nicely, but if it's true to its inspirations then it'll be a brilliantly-designed platformer than rewards skill and brutally punishes mistakes. And by 'brutal', we really mean it, judging by the floods of beautifully-animated blood and gore in the trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNOdWCWXoag
Gamer, Researcher of strange things.
I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.
