Gauntlet (2014)

I've played quite a bit of Gauntlet on Steam and Slayer Edition the PS4 since launch and I have to say that for the most part, Slayer Edition is a really great improvement over version 01 on Steam. The game now feels more like a revamp of the original arcade Gauntlet with some Dark Legacy elements. Arrowhead Studios did a great job using nostalgic sound effects, verbal cues, and even the bright saturated character outline colors to remind us of the original game. Th Campaign and Endless Modes are really fun, and come with some basic character customization that adds flexibility and replay-ability.

In the past, I've heard people say that Arrowhead's Gauntlet is like a more streamlined Diablo, and I have to agree. What's funny is that Diablo used to be called a more complex version of Gauntlet back in the 80's. So there's definitely a full circle situation going on here. Similar to Helldivers, the graphics and sound effects in Gauntlet elevate it to modern standards and are luscious to behold. Background elements like clay pots and weapon racks can be destroyed by your attacks, adding cool visual and audio effects during combat. The randomized levels are well done and add endless variety to the game. Be sure to crank up the background music too, it's perfect dungeon crawling music to pull you into the excitement.

There are 3 difficulty settings for Campaign mode - Easy, Normal, and Hard. Normal mode feels the same as Hard Mode for the original Steam release over a year ago. But the characters in Slayer Edition feel slightly more powerful than before; so it's not terribly difficult early on, but gets challenging as you progress; especially if you try to solo everything. As for Endless Mode, where you play randomly generated dungeons one after another, there is no difficulty choice. It just gets progressively more challenging over time. By level 15, the struggle can be very real, so be sure to have a good stock of potions and a decent relic equipped! Once you've reached higher tiers of gameplay, you can skip the early levels by quickly jumping forward using the teleport at the start of level 1. I didn't even realize it was there, but when I friend pointed it out, it took us directly to level 19 where we died pretty quickly.

All the classes feel very different from each other, but also feel similar to the original arcade and Dark Legacy versions of the game. The 4 basic classes (Warrior, Valkyrie, Elf, and Wizard) come with the game and you can buy the Necromancer for about $5 as DLC. She's not a must-have class, but also a nice alternative if you want to mix things up. Considering the total price of the game is only $25, including the Necromancer, I think it's well worth the money because it feels like it's a well made $40 action game. Let me explain a bit about each class below for those of you who are curious.

THOR: THE WARRIOR

The Warrior's is one tough cookie. He comes with high health and decent defense. His melee weapon swipes are slow but wide enough to hit multiple enemies in front of him, and do a full 360 degree circle swipe every now and again. His leaping chop (triangle) pushes enemy directly in front of him backward, then hits with a heavy chop killing all but the strongest enemies. The default circle attack is his whirling Destructo-Spin. The right joystick (or R2) gives you a charging attack which can be used offensively or defensively, allowing you to knock down any weak enemies in your path. You can even hit the Triangle during the charge to leap into the air and do a Conan the Barbarian style leaping chop to reach distant enemy casters. Use it as an offensive "into the fray" or defensive "get the hell out of there" combo. Potions can be used like a grenade attack, turns enemies into food, or makes Thor an indestructible giant temporarily. Warrior is a great class for beginners.

The different weapon sets offer some more variety including a leaping hammer slam, an outward shooting cleave, and a taunting shout + ranged axe attacks.

• Thor's Axe: is the default weapon set for the Warrior and comes with Destructo-Spin; an insanely powerful whirling attack that does massive damage.
• Herald of the War God: comes with Call to War, a shout that damages and taunts nearby enemies. You also get long ranged throwing axes (triangle) for those of you looking for the Warrior from the original Gauntlet and Gauntlet II games. But you lose the default leaping chop (triangle) when standing still. It will work during your charging attack however.
• Murder: comes with Demonic Cleave, a slashing attack that cleaves through multiple enemies in front of you.
• Deathpunch: comes with Turbo-slam, a leaping attack for massive damage.
• Murdock's Screaming Hammer: also comes with Turbo-slam

THYRA: THE VALKYRIE

The Valkyrie is a pretty well rounded bad-ass. She has medium health, heavy protection, and fast melee sword attacks that do a powerful mini-cleave every few attacks. The triangle button does a spear charge that will pass through and kill most weak to normal enemies. It supposedly has a couple animation frames at the beginning of the attack that make the Valkyrie briefly invulnerable from frontal attacks only. The circle throws her shield at enemies like Captain America. Holding down the right joystick will let you block ALL enemy attacks in front of you with your shield--yes that's right, I said ALL OF THEM. Not only that, but you will reflect projectiles back toward enemies and can protect any allies behind you. However take note, while the shield throw is in play, you cannot block with it. Potion options include a massive frontal slash that kills nearly all enemies, can make all allies invulnerable for a brief period, or summons 3 Valkyries to fight for you. Because of all the shield mechanics, Valkyrie is not recommended for beginners.

Her weapon sets include Zeus-like lightning strike, a halberd double attack and a Shield Charge knockdown (which is my favorite).

• Thyra's Wargear: the default weapon set for the Valkyrie comes with Shield throw; the circle button throws her shield like Captain America and if you position it right, it will bounce through an incredible number of targets, killing most of them before returning to you.
• Freedom Protector: comes with Intercept, a shield charge that can be used offensively to knock down a group of enemies or defensively as a running escape (provided there are no enemies in the way). But it also changes the triangle attack to a powerful and fast ranged javelin attack that is similar to the Valkyrie in the original arcade series.
• Final Justice: comes with Extreme Prejudice; an incredibly powerful 360 degree double halberd attack which will kill or stagger most enemies.
• Wrath of the Heavens: comes with Smite, which strikes a single enemy with a massive lightning damage from the sky, and also doing a damaging knock back to all enemies unfortunate enough to be close by. It also enhances her melee attacks with outward fanning lighting bolts every once in a while (the 6th or 8th consecutive swing).

QUESTAR: THE ELF

The Elf is quick, agile, and comes with light armor and low health. He shoots extremely fast by holding the right joystick in the desired direction, but the arrows are weak and have a short range. He can tumble out of harms way in an instant using the circle button. He can drop bombs (L2) that do significant AOE damage and can snipe (R2) long ranged enemies for moderate damage. He can also combine his bomb and snipe by holding R2 down to aim and then hitting L2 to shoot the bomb on a sniper arrow. He's slightly improved over v1 of the game because now his fast little arrows can take down monster generators. If you get surrounded, quickly drop a bomb then escape by tumbling away through enemies. His potions are crazy fun giving his a massive damaging sniper shot (kills monster generators in 1 hit), Spirit Guardians that circle the Elf and damage enemies, and a Dryad Song that heals and hides allies while active. The default setup for the Elf is highly recommended for beginners to the game.

His weapon sets are also pretty fun adding various abilities that make him feel like a Ranger, Ninja, or Arcane Archer.

• Questar's Bow: the default weapon set comes with Magic Bomb / Explosive Shot. As mentioned, it's extremely powerful Thief-like bomb trap that can take enemies out at a distance when used with snipe.
• Bow of the Deep Woods: comes with Root Field / Root Shot; like a Ranger you can cast a spell to summon grasping vines that root enemies in place. It does a little bit of damage, killing the weakest enemies, or you can use your sniper shot to shoot the vines and root enemies across the battlefield.
• Shadowstrike: comes with Smoke Bomb / Shadow Shot. Smoke bomb turns the Elf invisible for a brief period like a Ninja. Shadow Shot burrows deep into it's target quickly damaging multiple times on impact. Shadow shot also cases a weak AOE damaging and staggering most enemies. Truly amazing when you get used to it.
• The Messenger: comes with Vault Shot / Mortar Shot. Vault lets you summersault over a group of enemies while dropping a bomb on them (excellent backup escape). While Mortar shot launches a ball of fire in the direction you point causing outward exploding mini bombs upon impact. Very powerful, but cannot be used at short range as the distance is predetermined. Very much like an Arcane Archer's fireball shot.
• Gohlag's Remains: a cosmetic bow that gives the default Magic Bomb / Explosive Shot

MERLIN: THE WIZARD

The Wizard is the most complex class because he has 9 different spells that he can cast by pressing various 2 button combinations and using the right joystick to aim/cast. He comes with low health and light armor, so you really have to use your brains to get out of tight situations. Fortunately most of the spell elements have at least one form of escape or crowd control. The default elements for the Wizard are Ice (square button), Fire (triangle), and Electricity (circle). Pressing an element twice will usually give you the default attack, and combining it with a different element will give you one of the other attacks which tend to have longer cool downs (for example Fire+Fire = Fireball, Fire+Ice = Flaming Escape, Fire+Electricity = Fire Bomb). His potions will either do an instant burst of arcane energy killing all surrounding enemies, Polymorph lesser enemies into random items, or conjure a magical shield to keep enemies out while you hang back and nuke.

His weapon sets change one of the default elements to a specialty school of magic including Demon, Channeling, or Void School.

• Merlin's Spellbook: the default setup comes with Ice / Fire / Lightning and the following spells
  • Ice+Ice=Ray of Frost - massive direct damage from a slow moving beam of ice
  • Ice+Fire=Ice Shards - shards of ice raise from the ground freezing enemies in place
  • Ice+Lightning=Circle of Cold - throw a large ice circle that slows enemies caught inside
  • Fire+Fire=Fireball - quick moderate damaging fireballs for Wizards on the run.
  • Fire+Ice=Flaming Escape - turn into a wisp of fire, quickly flying forward through enemies, burning them (amazing escape)
  • Fire+Lightning=Fire Bomb - hurl a massive and slow AOE firebomb into a group of enemies devastating them on impact
  • Lightining+Lightning=Shock Circle - an electrical forcefield that blocks enemies from passing and knocks them back with light damage
  • Lightning+Fire=Shock Blast - blast a group of enemies directly in front of you with electricity, damaging and knocking them backward
  • Lightning+Ice=Chain Lightning - shoots an arch of electricity that jumps through nearby enemies damaging them
• Sinister Sentience: Demon School (replaces Ice) - turns you a heavily Fire Focused Wizard with fast burning damage and nukes
  • Ice+Ice=Hellfire - massive direct damage from a slow moving area of flame
  • Ice+Fire=Searing Blast - a blast of fire bursts forward for massive damage
  • Ice+Lightning=Burning Orb - throw a large fire circle that burns all enemies caught inside
• Endritch's Mystic Sphere: Channeling School (replaces Fire) - turns you in to an Electrical god quickly blasting enemies with a variety of electrical attacks
  • Fire+Fire=Repeater Bolts - quick firing electrical bolts that do very little damage like a long-ranged Elf.
  • Fire+Ice=Rift Jump - turn you into electricity that damages enemies as you randomly move forward through them
  • Fire+Lightning=Storm Barrage - summons balls of electricity that quickly spin around you exploding when they touch enemies
• The Hollow Chapters: Void School (replaces Lightning) - turns you into a crowd control master by slowing enemies with Void damage or freezing them with Ice
  • Lightining+Lightning=Invisibility - instantly vanish until you attack next
  • Lightning+Fire=Vacuum - pulls all enemies into a vacuum and slowing them temporarily (great escape ability), must be cast near enemies to work
  • Lightning+Ice=Dark Torrent - shoots an endless cone of Void damage from your fingertips doing light damage over time, and slowing enemies caught within the cone.

LILITH: THE NECROMANCER

The Necromancer is a new DLC character for the game. In a lot of ways, she's similar to a skeletal summoning Warrior, and a lot of fun to play. Her basic attack instantly summons a skeleton that quickly swings it's weapon in front of the Necromancer - similar to the Warrior's melee attack, but without the occasional 360 degree bonus attack. Her heavy hitting triangle attack pulls a coffin from the earth containing a skeletal warrior with a massive hammer, that slams all enemies a short distance away. Similar to the Warrior's Leaping Chop, this attack will push back any enemies directly in front of it. The Right Joystick makes the Necromancer run forward (again like the Warrior), but instead it's more like a Spirit Walk that damages all enemies she passes through. Finally, after building up energy from enemy deaths, she can summon up to 5 skeletons to defend her by pressing the circle button. She will not be able to move when summoning and they do not last forever, eventually falling apart and returning to the earth. Her potions will either create a circle of life stealing around the Necromancer for a brief period, summon a Dark Remnant that attracts enemies and explodes when they destroy it, or can Resurrect the hero who has been dead the longest.

Her weapon sets change her summoning abilities quite a bit, giving you a variety of minions to play with.

• Lilith's Sceptre: the default weapon comes with Summon Skeleton Soldiers - decent melee fighters that do reliable damage. Their kills will stack more summoning energy, getting you ready to cast again when they're gone.
• Eternal Night: comes with Summon Shades - this is a pretty sweet setup for ranged Necros because it changes two things. First, it changes your triangle attack to be a long ranged magic wand that slows and damages enemies in an AOE. Second, it changes your skeletons to Shades. You know those annoying ghosts that fly all over the map? Well now you have your own that do pretty decent damage upon impact. The shades will follow you from room to room until they die by touching enemies and I believe you get 2 Shades per point of Summoning power, maxing out at 10 at once.
• Necrotic Vessel: allows you to Summon Skeletal Archers - excellent for melee Necromancers who like to have powerful ranged allies at their back.
• Scepter of the Vampire King: comes with the ability to Dominate - take over the minds of your enemies and force them to fight for you for a number of seconds based on the amount of Summoning power you've built up. I think it's about 2 seconds per point of summoning power, and dominated enemies can still be damaged by allies. Functions similar to the Lute Relic that charms enemies.

Overall, I'm continually impressed by Slayer Edition and I hope they add new content updates, classes, and tweak the system over time. That said, I've seen a lot of players complaining about the removal of achievement upgrades, and I have to agree that I miss them as well. Those little class upgrades like building up a 10% damage to certain monsters, the Wizard's shield that protects from a single attack every 20 seconds, the Valkyrie's damage reduction and glowing wings, and so forth.. I would like to see Arrowhead find a way to re-add those bonuses to the new system with weapon sets so that players have a reason to continue playing and unlocking achievements that actually mean something to gameplay. Working toward those goals was one of the things that kept many of us coming back more often. In the meantime, I plan to continue enjoying the game as is.