Welcome to our review of Skelattack, a charming platformer that was developed by Ukuza and published by none other than Konami.
Play Skelattack and save the Underworld in this fun and unique action platformer!
Being dead is not so bad when you have the Underworld to live in. A magical and expansive world inhabited by quirky, charming and sometimes deadly inhabitants of the afterlife, the Underworld also includes Aftervale. Aftervale is a happy hub where the dead come to spend eternity and come to terms with their time alive through a Remembrance.
For our hero Skully, the day of his Remembrance is shattered by an invasion from the human kingdom above. However, unlike prior attacks by the humans, they are not seeking gold or other treasure. Instead, they kidnap Aftervale’s elder skeleton Elzedon and then go after the magic that kindles the spirits of the dead, the Blue Flame. Without the Blue Flame, there is no Aftervale, no existence beyond death.
Together with your best bat friend Imber, you will need to jump, slash and flap your way though the Underworld. It’s up to you to stop the humans, save the Elder, protect the Blue Flame and confront Skully’s own life before coming to the Aftervale.
Whenever cute looking games like these hit the eshop, I have basically 2 alarms going off. Does the graphic style really work for this game and will it play well? There is a lot to discuss here because I need to answer one question negatively. First, how is the style?
That is actually the positive side of the game. The style blends surprisingly well with this game and I applaud the effort put into the game design. The platforming is “the usual” for the most part though I would like to have seen one change to the system, but more on that later on. The biggest upside to the game however might be the presence of hundreds of save points. Yes, it is one of those technical platforming games that forces you to time your jumps perfectly or you reset to the previous save point.
Sadly while doing all the platforming, this is also where the game goes in the bad direction as I often had the impression that the controls were not very smooth and this especially when going up and down double walls. It just felt off to me. Another down point is the surrounding and the spikes that are not very bright on the Switch screen in handheld mode. No real issue on a TV, but if you ignored Fortnite, I rarely play on the TV at all.
Storywise, as per usual, I will let you explore the game and its story. I ca. n only say positive things about this so take that as my impression for now.
In conclusion, the main issue with this game is what side of the game is most important. We got a fun story, great graphics but a bad control level. That very same control is at times so inconsistent that I feel it reigns the review and my overal impression of the game.
