Hack, Slash, Loot

 PC
User Score
4.4

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 32 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 32
  3. Negative: 16 out of 32

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. violentine
    Mar 7, 2013
    2
    If you're looking for a graphical roguelike this is not it. 'Hack, Slash, Loot' has only what the title says, tho even that is dumbed down. That's why the title has hitting enemies mentioned twice. You hit enemies, they hit you. One of you dies. Actually there isn't looting since what ever items you find you may choose to swap them with your old gear and that's pretty much it. This is toIf you're looking for a graphical roguelike this is not it. 'Hack, Slash, Loot' has only what the title says, tho even that is dumbed down. That's why the title has hitting enemies mentioned twice. You hit enemies, they hit you. One of you dies. Actually there isn't looting since what ever items you find you may choose to swap them with your old gear and that's pretty much it. This is to boost your damage since majority of the items just add to your stats without giving you any new options how to play the game. There are several "quests" that you may choose from with themes varying from descending into a dungeon to dungeon descending. Very bland and boring. The game is so bad that it gives you more characters as you die so that you don't want to touch the old ones ever again. So bad that it's insulting to call it a roguelike.… Expand
  2. mar3usmc
    May 7, 2012
    0
    mar3usmc
    Apr 7, 2012
    0 After playing this game for a couple hours I felt compelled to write a review for this game. Originality (0/10): There is zero originality in this game. This game adds nothing knew to gaming in the slightest. If anything the maker of this game attempted to do things that were done in the early 90s, but failed miserably in the process. Graphics (0/10): 2D Highly    mar3usmc
    Apr 7, 2012
    0
    After playing this game for a couple hours I felt compelled to write a review for this game. Originality (0/10): There is zero originality in this game. This game adds nothing knew to gaming in the slightest. If anything the maker of this game attempted to do things that were done in the early 90s, but failed miserably in the process. Graphics (0/10): 2D Highly pixelated graphics. I think one of the sprites, the archer, may have even been copied and pasted from "Realm of the Mad God" *edit* or as one poster noted is using using free sprites, and therefore reducing the games value even more. Story (N/A) Gameplay (2/10): Game play is always most important in any game. A game can be completely unoriginal, have horrid graphics, absolutely no story, and still be a very fun game. However, this game is all the former but NONE of the latter. You can start this game as one of 3 classes, all play somewhat differently from each other and have different starting stats. There is the Knight, Archer, and Mage classes; pretty generic. There are also a variety of dungeon types, all what I believe are procedurally generated within certain parameters for that dungeon type. All pretty simple and that is fine. However, you will die in this game, OFTEN! The mage is pretty much impossible to play unless you get very very lucky with drops and loot at the start. The Archer is almost in the same boat. The knight really is the best and most viable class for this game. This is a major problem. The way the game plays out the mage and rogue just get destroyed. The rules sound fine on paper but the implementation of the items and their stats sorta defeats the purpose of how damage is dealt in the game. BALANCE, in other words, is very very lacking in this game. On the note of difficulty, and you will simply have to believe this or not, I have played games since atari, I am a hardcore gamer, I have the gameplay pretty much all figured out in an hour or less, and always play all games on max difficulty. Genre is irrelevant. Unless a person just likes seeing their character/sprite/etc... die repeatedly, perhaps they find it amusing, you will loathe this game. I have died within seconds of starting a level in the game, SECONDS! (or really I should probably say 1 turn since the game is turn based, BLAH!) "Oh look, I start the level and am surrounded by 3 spawns, 1 turn, dead" I hope you get the point. The one saving grace the game play has is that the AI isn't completely retarded, not that it is all that hard to produce an AI for such a simple turned base game. The AI will most definitely do its best to kill you, guaranteed. Conclusion: Don't buy this game, and don't waste your money or time. I actually feel like I have been scammed. 5 USD isn't too much, but considering the 100s, that right, 100s of hours I got of out Binding of Isaac (GREAT SOLID GAME BTW!!!!), which was also 5 USD this game should have brought much more to the table. I like to support independent developers, but these guys, imo, give them a very very bad name. You are better off downloading an emulator for NES, SNES, SEGA, etc games and downloading roms FOR FREE than wasting your time with this pathetic excuse for a game. /end rant *edit* Soon after writing this I did beat one of the dungeons with the wizard just to make a point, and I still say this is a horrible game.    … Expand
  3. nirvycn
    Apr 10, 2012
    0
    Disapointing, basic dumbed down roguelike, limited class choice, limited races. All classes feel the same, with similar spells, just called differing names, the effects are all the same. No inventory, no story , no plot, the randomness of each play through feels very..generic
  4. Kiebler
    Jul 20, 2012
    1
    I knew, going in, that the graphics were just "retro" pixel animations. That said, even early to mid 90's games had better developed pixel graphics.

    There is no character development at all and any chance at survival is completely luck. The developer obviously jumped on the roguelike bandwagon, but failed to understand how the genre operated. All in all, the game is horrible. The    I knew, going in, that the graphics were just "retro" pixel animations. That said, even early to mid 90's games had better developed pixel graphics.

    There is no character development at all and any chance at survival is completely luck. The developer obviously jumped on the roguelike bandwagon, but failed to understand how the genre operated.

    All in all, the game is horrible. The soundtrack, however, is quite enjoyable.    … Expand
  5. askewreviews
    Sep 5, 2013
    4
    So disappointing. Hack, Slash, Loot is frustrating, repetitive and a below-average game. In other words, it takes a lot of generic roguelike elements and doesn't do anything right with them. I can't work out if it's a tribute to or a parody of roguelikes, but either way it doesn't disguise the fact that this is a very poor game.
  6. Skye4485
    Apr 13, 2012
    1
    Simple to a fault. I originally got this because I liked the art style and I love rogue-likes. But this game is missing the key features that make rogue-likes fun.
    The 32 classes are really just 2, melee or ranged. The only difference between the classes is slightly different starting stats. You start off with three "choices" and the only way to unlock more is by dying multiple times.    Simple to a fault. I originally got this because I liked the art style and I love rogue-likes. But this game is missing the key features that make rogue-likes fun.
    The 32 classes are really just 2, melee or ranged. The only difference between the classes is slightly different starting stats. You start off with three "choices" and the only way to unlock more is by dying multiple times. I've died 64 times and only unlocked 6 "classes". The wizards don't have any spells and they play exactly like the archers.
    There is no inventory management which is the main reason this game disappointed me. You can only hold what you have on, everything else has to be left on the floor. That also means potions and scrolls stay on the ground and cant be taken to the next floor, which is when you'll need them most.
    Rogue-like's also require strategy to play well. There isn't much strategy to this game. Try to get the best equipment and try position yourself so you strike first and you don't get surrounded. Other than that, you just play through this game and hope you don't get screwed by the random number generator.
    You cant even give the developer credit for the art style. Since the most interesting art, the sprites, are just taken from http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=8970.0 and slightly modified.

    I know of quite a few free rogue-likes that put this game to shame. Dungeons of Dredmor and Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. There is no reason you should sink even a penny into this game.

    I don't like to review a game without saying at least one thing good, so i will say this game has an interesting element system, and the use of quests make the game play a little more varied. Quests add better story elements than most rogue-like games, but its still not much.    … Expand
  7. Greggor
    Apr 8, 2012
    0
    There's just no beating around the bush. This is a really lousy game. At its fundamental roots, it's a roguelike game, but it's EXTREMELY dumbed down. Normally, I accept such modifications to the genre with arms wide open, since they make it more accessible to non-hardcore gamers. But this game just takes it to a whole 'nother level. Let's start from the top: You can choose one of threeThere's just no beating around the bush. This is a really lousy game. At its fundamental roots, it's a roguelike game, but it's EXTREMELY dumbed down. Normally, I accept such modifications to the genre with arms wide open, since they make it more accessible to non-hardcore gamers. But this game just takes it to a whole 'nother level. Let's start from the top: You can choose one of three characters, which are the race/class combos of Human/"Saracen" (apparently a warrior type), Woodland Elf/Archer, or Human/Wizard. First of all, not sure why they even included races, since they're entirely irrelevant. Second of all, three class options, really? And they play almost exactly the same. You might expect that you get different spells as a wizard? NOPE! You just get a ranged attack, like the archer. You might expect the archer to be sneaky or capable of theft? NOPE! It's basically just a ranged warrior. There are no keyboard controls; you just click on tiles to move, click on enemies to use your one and only attack on them, and click on items to automatically use/equip them. You don't have an inventory. This is ridiculous to me, because the key to roguelike games is strategy and management of limited resources. You don't get ANY of that in this game. You get randomly generated items dropping from randomly generated chests and randomly generated monsters. What, you're surrounded my mobs and low on health? Wish you had a healing potion? TOO BAD, SUCKA! TAKE IT! Wish you could reload after your grisly death? TOUGH LUCK, FOOL! You rolled the dice and lost; now start the f over. You start the game in a randomly generated dungeon with some starting equipment and enemies galore. Everything in this game is randomly generated. This all might possibly have been redeemable if it was even a little bit fun or even a little bit nice to look at it. It's neither. The gameplay is repetitive, shallow, and boring; there isn't even a storyline/plot. The game's art looks like it was designed by an autistic toddler; your character has MAYBe 15 pixels, total. It's not even funny. Stop laughing. It's boring and miserable, and frustrating. This game shouldn't cost $5. This game shouldn't be free. This game shouldn't exist. It's that bad. I'm not exaggerating. This is real. No jokes here. If you're bored, go flip a coin. It'll be more fun than this awful 3MB, $5 piece of garbage.… Expand
  8. mcusson2
    Apr 9, 2012
    0
    The game's gameplay, presentation and overall feeling can be summed up in one word. Disappointing.

    As a wannabe roguelike game. Gameplay is the predominant factor of enjoyment... And it is horrible. Gameplay is dumbed down beyond imagination. With 3 character classes that basically play all the same, gameplay is extremely boring since there is no strategy involved. Your characters do not    The game's gameplay, presentation and overall feeling can be summed up in one word. Disappointing.

    As a wannabe roguelike game. Gameplay is the predominant factor of enjoyment... And it is horrible. Gameplay is dumbed down beyond imagination. With 3 character classes that basically play all the same, gameplay is extremely boring since there is no strategy involved. Your characters do not level up nor collect inventory, so all there is to do is explore the current floor, fight an attrition war with the monsters around and check if the loot is better than what you have. Again, gameplay is really boring and simplified to exhaustion. Like an ounce of whiskey diluted with 39 ounces of tap water.

    While visuals should not be the main concern of a roguelike game, it can be stressed that these are uglier than ugly. Most NES games were better presented and featured more pleasant graphics. Even if they should not be important, they still manage to be a detriment to the overall product.

    While some people may be tempted to give this game a chance since it's only 5 USD, I cannot recommend it at all. Not even if it was free. This plays like a rushed school project which would not even get a passing grade.    … Expand
  9. FruitPie
    Jul 24, 2012
    0
    After Dungeons of Dredmor and The Binding of Isaac, I was feeling pretty confident in commercial PC roguelikes and decided to give this "single-player turn-based dungeon crawler", which by the pictures, gameplay style and description is rather obviously a roguelike, a shot.

    This is basically a crash course on bad roguelike design : it offers many unavoidable ways to die, but no ways to    After Dungeons of Dredmor and The Binding of Isaac, I was feeling pretty confident in commercial PC roguelikes and decided to give this "single-player turn-based dungeon crawler", which by the pictures, gameplay style and description is rather obviously a roguelike, a shot.

    This is basically a crash course on bad roguelike design : it offers many unavoidable ways to die, but no ways to curb the random number generator's wrath. Your HP doesn't regenerate AND you can't carry healing items, which makes combat a death sentence pretty much anywhere. Nothing hits with any sort of accuracy, making combat a giant dice roll. None of the characters appears to be different from the others, other than their starting gear. There's lots of different gear around that seem like they'd be useful, but you don't have an inventory, so you're stuck to what you're wearing.

    For the longest time, Poison, the most common status effect, was effectively an instant kill, as it never worn out and could only be healed by using a healing item. Which you can't carry. So Poison gave you a few dozen turns to live and either lug your sorry behind back to somewhere you found a healing item (and for whatever insane reason didn't use it right away to fix your combat injuries) or rush to the next healing item lying around, which doesn't quite work in a randomly generated game, now does it?

    You get rewarded for your foolish persistence with a new class every few deaths. I'm not sure if they're stronger than the starting classes or not (none seem to have any special abilities). If they are, this just adds some unnecessary grinding to get the game to actually play like it should - I think it takes some ridiculous four digit number of deaths to unlock all classes. If they aren't, then what is the point? The game is just giving you more ways to unceremoniously die.

    This is a basic, extremely simple roguelike and suffers for it. It has all the death, but none of the depth. All the ways roguelikes screw you over, but none of the ways they help you. This game seems to miss the point : roguelikes are generally fair. Their whole point is to give you powerful enemies and great challenges, but also give you even more powerful items and tactics to defeat those. Death is used as a learning experience - this is how you died, this is why you died, this is what you should've done to avoid it. This, however, seems to think the point of a roguelike is to die. Die early, die often, die all the time, die for no reason or fault of your own.    … Expand
  10. x2495iiii
    Apr 11, 2012
    1
    I like RPGs. I like being part of a developed, complex story. I like making the novice warrior into the powerful hero level by level. I like having different skills and abilities to choose from. I like the strategic element of having to decide which attack to use, or whether I should fight or run away. And most of all, I like taking everything that isn't nailed down in every dungeon I'mI like RPGs. I like being part of a developed, complex story. I like making the novice warrior into the powerful hero level by level. I like having different skills and abilities to choose from. I like the strategic element of having to decide which attack to use, or whether I should fight or run away. And most of all, I like taking everything that isn't nailed down in every dungeon I'm in. These are the core elements of an RPG. They're what make the genre fun. Hack, Slash, Loot is not fun. First of all, there's no story. Just some random quests that seem like pages from a D&D template. Second, there's no leveling. In fact, there's very little in the way of character progression (or even distinction) at all! Warrior 1 is exactly the same as wizard 10001 if you take their weapons away. Which brings me to my third point, no skills or spells. No blocking, no swordplay, no AoE spells, no buffs, no nerfs, nothing. Just some dismally passive elemental alignments that don't even have special animations when they're present. In fact, this game seems to go out of its way to make you seem as weak as possible. The number in front of the slash in each attack stat is supposed to be your percentage to hit, but my archer with 65% missed a solid majority of his attacks, especially at point blank range. Fourth, there's no strategy to gameplay, as you only have one option: generic attack. Running isn't possible because enemies are as fast as you and there's no teleport, and since you only have one attack to use, but no way to aim, strengthen, or otherwise influence the efficacy of this attack, all you can do is cross your fingers and mash the button until one of you dies (it will probably be you). Fifth, despite the word being in the game's title, there's no looting to be done. You can only carry what you can wear, and if you already have one, you drop it in favor of the new one. There's no inventory to speak of at all. No spare equipment in case your favorite sword gets destroyed (this can happen), no healing potions in case you're near death (no healing at all in this game, actually), no gold, no treasure, no loot. The game is quite deceptive that way. And finally, to repeat a major complaint against the game, and some of the more imbecilic arguments used to justify it: the game is hard to the point of being nearly unplayable. The key thought there is "play." You can proceed through this game well enough, if you follow a strict set of "new player" guidelines that includes "don't start fights" and "prepare to die a lot" (direct quote from the game's forum). It's less of a game and more of a test of how stubborn one is. As for the game's defenders (for example, Rewe, who quite stubbornly gave this game a 10), they claim people are idiots for thinking a roguelike would behave like an RPG or be easy to play. Check the Steam description. "RPG, Indie, Casual." RPG = RPG. Casual = easy. Hard to be smug when the game's description and title both tell potential buyers blatant lies. All in all, the game's few positive elements are heavily outweighed by its overall generic randomness, and when you top it all off with a heavily misleading title and description, you get a lot of angry customers and a very low score on metacritic. I give it a one because I like retro graphics. And that's all I liked about this game… Expand
  11. greenmagi
    Jan 24, 2014
    0
    I give this game a zero simply because it is unplayable. It is based purely on luck and nothing else. If, within the first few floors, and some might argue, within the first floor alone, you do not find a regeneration item, the game is simply over. It is unplayable without that tiny stroke of luck. I have been playing it for nearly two hours and have yet to find a single item or methodI give this game a zero simply because it is unplayable. It is based purely on luck and nothing else. If, within the first few floors, and some might argue, within the first floor alone, you do not find a regeneration item, the game is simply over. It is unplayable without that tiny stroke of luck. I have been playing it for nearly two hours and have yet to find a single item or method that effectively heals me. The most I've ever healed in one game was about 20 points total spread across about 10 scrolls/ potions.… Expand
  12. Benbobob
    Mar 15, 2014
    0
    This game is the worst I have played in a long time. There is no character development, very little strategy, and is just not fun. Some people say that it's worth it if you keep playing and unlock other classes, but I don't believe that I should have to play hours of terrible gameplay to play slightly less terrible gameplay. There is no depth to this game besides the very literal "Hack,This game is the worst I have played in a long time. There is no character development, very little strategy, and is just not fun. Some people say that it's worth it if you keep playing and unlock other classes, but I don't believe that I should have to play hours of terrible gameplay to play slightly less terrible gameplay. There is no depth to this game besides the very literal "Hack, Slash, Loot" which are all performed simply by clicking repeatedly on a square.… Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
tbd

No score yet - based on 3 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 3
  3. Negative: 1 out of 3
  1. PC Gamer
    Jul 12, 2012
    79
    Sit through seemingly countless deaths, and you'll either break through the system, and master the stats--or bounce off the game and never go back. [Sept 2012, p.71]
  2. PC Master (Greece)
    May 16, 2012
    56
    The interface uses only the mouse, and you start out with three available classes and the option to chose different quests. Your aim is always to survive and make it to the end of the dungeon. Unfortunately, the extremely limited scope of the game is quickly made evident. Hack, Slash, Loot does nothing wrong, but it fails to impress. Limited foes, a handful of items, small maps and zero character development (no experience/skills/levels). [May 2012]
  3. RPG Fan
    May 11, 2012
    26
    Hack, Slash, Loot is not a good game, and I couldn't even recommend it to the most hardcore roguelike enthusiasts. It's dull, it's frustrating, it's entirely dependent on luck and, most significantly, it's not even remotely fun to play. The graphics and sound are appalling, and a little variation in dungeon types isn't enough to save this horrid title. Go spend your money elsewhere.
    Read full review