In the ongoing saga of sentient sword Bathoryn and his many wielders, the battle rages on against the demonic forces of Lord Vroll, spanning the vast reaches of the galaxy.
The night is dark, and the hunt is endless. Prince Akran, the last of the Wolf Knights, wields Bathoryn and the fury of the full moon to reclaim a dying land.
Will he rise, or will darkness claim all?
GAME FACTS
TITLE: Slain 2 - The Beast Within
RELEASE DATE: TBD 2026
MSRP: TBD
DEVELOPER: Steel Mantis
PUBLISHER: Silver Lining Interactive
COMING TO: Xbox, PlayStation, Switch and Steam(PC)
DEMO AVAILABLE ON: Steam
DEMO PLAYED ON: Steam
Slain 2 is the direct sequel to Steel Mantis’ 2016 game: Slain - Back from Hell, but it only continues the story of the sword Bathoryn; your character and setting are different from the first game.
STEEL MANTIS SERIES
Slain 2 is obviously a follow-up to the first in the series, however its far from the only game in Steel Mantis’ heavy-metal arsenal.
Slain: Back from Hell (2016)
You control the fate of Bathoryn, a doomed hero in a Gothic world, who seeks to liberate six cursed realms from six deadly overlords. He must battle his way through this blighted land, packed with gruesome pixel art foes before ascending (or sometimes descending) into a stronghold, all the while defeating fiendish traps and vile monsters alike. At the heart of every domain Bathoryn will confront a mighty foe - defeat it and his quest continues to its ultimate destiny. Fail, and you’ll die gruesomely – mauled by werewolves, disintegrated by floating monstrosities, squashed by great weights or torn apart by hidden blades. And you will fail…
Valfaris (2019)
Set in a far corner of space, Valfaris is a heavy metal infused 2D action-platformer and the next game from the team behind Unity Awards finalist, Slain: Back From Hell. Brutal combat. Deadly enemies. Stunning pixel art. Savage soundtrack. Get ready to rip the galaxy a new wormhole.
Valfaris: Mecha Therion (2023)
Therion returns as the hunt for Lord Vroll continues. Pilot an advanced machine of death and destruction in this explosive 2.5D side-scrolling shoot ‘em up, and sequel to the critically acclaimed Valfaris. Strap in and unleash mecha hell!
DEMO IMPRESSIONS
Even though it’s incredibly hard, I always liked the first Slain. I own it on multiple platforms, and it’s on sale fairly regularly if you’re interested in picking it up yourself. I follow one of Steel Mantis’ developers, Andrew Gilmour (@MrAwolf) on X(Twitter) for a while now, and when he first shared news of Slain 2 I was very excited.
Andrew regularly shares the pixel art and animations being developed for the game, so between that and what I knew from the first game, I was hoping the sequel would be something truly impressive.
So far it’s more than living up to my expectations.
Steel Mantis really knows how to create killer-looking pixel art that perfectly captures the dark, brooding, heavy-metal mood of the game. This is arguably the most impressive feature of both Slain 1 and 2. The heavy metal soundtrack is also great, and perfectly compliments the action (although with the blood-looking rain coming down - it would be great to get a cover or interpretation of Slayer’s Raining Blood in there somehow).
Also, the ability to transform into a werewolf and tear through enemies is pretty badass, although I do kind of wish the attack animations for the werewolf looked more impactful.
I like the new attack combos and decapitation mechanic. While the light attack might look a little too “light” the fact you can follow it into a sword swing that decapitates your foes is really cool.
There is also quite a bit of platforming / rope-climbing that your character can use to get vertical and explore various sections of the stages. There are also hostages to rescue which is a nice touch and adds to the reason for exploration.
If the demo is any indication of the final quality of the game, I think we’re going to be in for quite a treat.
OVERALL IMPRESSION
I love everything about the vibe of Slain 2. The 2D pixel-art visuals are outstanding, the setting is badass, and the music is pure metal madness. So what’s the catch? It’s HARD. Like old school hard. Like “your controller might not make it through this” hard, and for me it gets a bit too frustrating to recommend for the average gamer. Now if you like your music metal and your gameplay forged in the fires of hell, this is absolutely the game for you, but for people who like to take it a bit easier, this may be too rage inducing to be fun for long. In any case you should give the free demo a try and see if the game is for you. It’s worth experiencing in any case, and who knows, maybe you’ll find it’s particular brand of hard core heavy metal gameplay is just what the doctor ordered.
You can play the demo for yourself on Steam.
DEMO GAMEPLAY
You can watch my gameplay of the demo in the video below: