Genre: Roguelike
Developer: Lion Entertainment
Publisher: Strategic Designs

In a pre-Quake world, games with true 3d engines-- especially ones that played from the first-person-- were rarely heard of. While Slayer's gameplay takes place on a flat plane, the engine does render all manner of unenterable pits, and variable height ceilings. Enemy sprites are massive and are spectacularly high resolution-- especially the shark-like creatures that emerge from the ground. The user interface and icon sets are well designed, and the menus make good use of hardware transparency effects.

There aren't many sound effects in Slayer aside from a handful of monster noises and the "whoosh" sound that weapons make, but what is present is well done and lends the game an appropriately creepy atmosphere. The music-- Redbook, streamed from the disc-- is excellent generally, with a nice mix of straight-up fantasy work and darker, more ambient tracks.

Weapon use involves pressing the button for the corresponding, weapon-equipped hand, while spell casting or prayer usage is accomplished via the player's spell book or holy relic. Movement is a little awkward, with precise turning only possible when the player is in motion. Some of the enemies have extraordinarily challenging abilities, such as stealing the player's levels-- but one can save anywhere and at any time, making such encounters more of a fun challenge than a frustrating one. There are a number of bugs related to the seed generator, and even the very rare item that can "brick" a player's character.

In a lot of ways Slayer is like a dream game come true-- a successful implementation of the kind of formula that developers today are trying and failing to replicate; a first-person roguelike with chunky pixels, super high resolution enemy sprites, random dungeon generation, and "new game+"-anytime functionality. And all done on the 3DO hardware, which even in 2015-- the year this review was written-- never ceases to impress. The bugs are unfortunate, but the rest of the package is so solid that it's not a stretch to say that Slayer is like the 3DO's Demon's Souls-- a challenging, thinking man's RPG, with an impressive aesthetic.