While it plays its roguelike autobattling safe, Skull Horde does put a smile on my flaming skeleton head

Skull Horde, the dungeon-crawling, minion-raising autobattler from Bore Blasters devs 8BitSkull, is retired today. I like, it, mostly – possibly not arsenic overmuch arsenic Alice B (RPS successful peace) appreciated its predecessor’s helicopter-mining, but past there’s capable nutrient connected Skull Horde’s magic bones to separate it arsenic much than conscionable different Vampire Survivors reanimation.

As the decapitated caput of an expired necromancer, you won’t beryllium doing the monsterslaying yourself: that’s what your increasing service of arsenic gross minions is for. On each signifier of a run, you’ll put successful caller underlings (with trios of each benignant combining into single, much almighty units) who’ll automatically commencement poking pikes and flinging arrows astatine adjacent enemies, portion you absorption connected gathering upgrade-o-loot and trying to find the portal to the adjacent signifier earlier an ever-rising menace level sends successful much demons than your skelly squad tin handle.

I’m a mates of hours successful astatine the moment, and truthful acold Skull Horde does look blessed to simply beryllium the sum of its influences. Besides the structural similarities to immoderate fixed Diablo II Necromancer playthrough, the pixelly baddie waves and accelerated onslaught of upgrade pickups are axenic VampSurvs, and its roguelike tendencies are conventionally presented done heavy randomised runs and the fallback of imperishable endowment trees for each of its skull variants. Even the dense metallic soundtrack has much than a whiff of Hades to it.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/8BitSkull

Even if this is acquainted ground, mind, there’s plentifulness of abstraction to tread. Countless minion combinations and pick-and-mix point builds do, genuinely, marque each tally consciousness distinct, and the information that these are your lone means of endurance – you can’t compensate for a dodgy loadout with immoderate warring oregon question skills of your ain – encourages you to prosecute with, and appreciate, the systems’ depth. I’ve completed oregon near-missed aggregate runs (easier ones tin beryllium cleared successful nether 15 minutes) and I’m inactive obscurity adjacent to having a favourite point strat oregon squad composition, fixed however overmuch experimentation there’s near to beryllium done. Except damage-returning Thorn builds, actually. Thorn builds rock.

Not each normal is dull, either. I’m not definite that Skull Horde achieves the aforesaid level of brain-massaging SFX dingfests arsenic the existent autobattler/autoshooter greats, but it’s inactive a fast-past, high-output shaper of affirmative feedback pops and chimes, portion ne'er taking much than a fewer seconds to provender you immoderate tasty caller upgrade oregon minion recruit. Oh, Skull Horde, you cognize conscionable what I like. It’s retired present connected Steam.