Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath - Vengance of the Slayer (2023)

Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengeance of the Slayer is a spinoff of Hypnospace Outlaw. It is basically a boomer shooter made by the in-game character Zane Lofton, the nu-metal-loving edgy teenager. The main character: Zane himself. The game goes all-out on its silly premise: it's filled with characters, story beats and jokes straight from a childish edgelord's imagination. If you don't enjoy corniness or stupid jokes, you probably don't like the vibe. If you do, you're in for a ride.

The game is very reminiscent of Duke 3D in the way it looks and plays. The sprite graphics are very 90's, the weapons are over the top and the levels levels are filled with secrets and humorous details. The game doesn't do anything radically different from other shooters (apart from the absolutely killer soundtrack and a couple of pretty out-there weapons) but it just offers consistently good experience all-around. And also, the absolutely demented vibe of the game made me laugh many, many times.

In the same way as Hypnospace Outlaw hit you in the feels out of the blue, Slayers X also offers some pretty humane subtext. Zane is, not surprisngly, not as tough as he wants to portray himself. He inserts a super-strong father character for him in the story, and lot of the story revolves around a deadbeat store-manager who dates Zane's mother and whom Zane doesn't like. These are really miniscule details in the craziness of the game but I kinda like how the game manages to throw in some humanity in the mix in unexpected ways.

Slayers X is a short game, clocking in around 4 hours, and I think it's a pretty good duration for a game like this. The joke would become tiring before long. The game is still on Gamepass (but might not be for long) so if you want a short burst of madness, give it a go.