Saint Slayer: Spear of Sacrilege from Lillymo Games is an old-school-inspired 2D action game set in late-17th-century Europe. Check out our Saint Slayer: Spear of Sacrilege review!
Saint Slayer: Spear of Sacrilege from Lillymo Games is an old-school-inspired 2D action game set in late-17th-century Europe. The year is 1698, and you’ll be taking on the role of ex-soldier-turned-farmer Rudiger, who must jump into action after a power-mad priest – that would be Father Pacer – decides to break the peace that was negotiated after the events of the War of the Grand Alliance. Father Pacer tries to steal the spear of Longinus, but you manage to get to the church to stop him. It’s now up to you to do whatever it takes to save your people as you become the legendary Saint Slayer, as you go after Father Pacer.
The game can be played by choosing from one of four different difficulty settings: Easy, Normal, Hard, or Classic. If you go with the Easy difficulty setting, then you’ll have 10 HP, 7 lives, 3 rosary beads, the enemy count will be lower, and there will be no knockback for your character after receiving damage. The Normal difficulty setting will have you start with 8 HP, 6 lives, 3 rosary beads, and the enemy count will be of the standard variety. The Hard difficulty setting will have you begin with 7 HP, 5 lives, 3 rosary beads, and the enemy count will be higher. As for the Classic difficulty setting, you’ll begin with only 6 HP, 3 lives, 2 rosary beads, the enemy count will be highest, there will be no orb shop – more on this in a bit – or game over revives.
As you can tell from the trailer and screens in this Saint Slayer: Spear of Sacrilege review, this particular release is paying homage to the classic entries from Konami’s Castlevania franchise on the Nintendo Entertainment System – that would be the NES – with a dash of some Zelda II: The Adventure of Link vibes. Given that this release draws its inspiration from the golden era of 8-bit games, the controls are going to be simple and to the point.
You’ll be taking control of your character by using the left analog stick or the D-Pad, jumping with the B button, and attacking with the Y button. You can perform a downward thrust by jumping and then pressing down on the left analog stick or the D-Pad. Pressing up on either one and the Y button will allow you to throw your weapon, as long as you have a rosary bead. You can use it as a platform if it gets stuck on a wall. You’ll later gain a slide ability, which you can perform by pressing down on the left analog stick or the D-Pad and the B button.
The orbs that you collect during your adventure will act as the in-game currency, and you can spend them to obtain some items that can help you with your overall mission. Visit traveling merchant Lavinia to buy, for example, an item to increase your max health, an extra life, a hint for the location of the treasure for the level that you’re exploring, a piece of food to restore a small amount of health, a halo to rise from the dead after you run out of HP, a potion to restore a bead on your rosary.
Saint Slayer: Spear of Sacrilege is an old-school-inspired 2D action game set in late-17th-century Europe. The year is 1698, and you’ll be taking on the role of ex-soldier-turned-farmer Rudiger, who must jump into action after a power-mad priest – that would be Father Pacer – decides to break the peace that was negotiated after the events of the War of the Grand Alliance. Father Pacer tries to steal the spear of Longinus, but you manage to get to the church to stop him. It’s now up to you to do whatever it takes to save your people as you become the legendary Saint Slayer, as you go after Father Pacer.
There are 21 levels to explore in this single-player experience, and you can spend your orbs to revive after getting a game over. If you don’t have enough orbs, then you can carry onward by using the password provided at the game over screen. Use it from the main menu, and you’ll be taken to the last level that you were playing. You can do multiple playthroughs and make some different choices along the way based on who you help and who you unlive, as you work on collecting all treasures and purchasing upgrades. Saint Slayer: Spear of Sacrilege launches on Nintendo Switch on April 20 with a $9.99 price tag.
Disclaimer
This Saint Slayer: Spear of Sacrilege review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Lillymo Games.
