[h3]Slay Together is an action-based online multiplayer experience that does what it says: Defeat progressively stronger enemies across a handful of biomes, collecting loot and crafting along the way. While it has the framework of an MMORPG, it's an unfortunately anemic experience, lacking end game content and basic multiplayer communication. The game is soon to be delisted, but the server will remain up at least through the year.[/h3]
[i]This review is intended to be informational, but since Steam forces a rating, choosing not recommended on the basis of low playerbase, repetitive gameplay, and a frustrating player experience.[/i]
For the work of a solo developer, Slay Together is a commendable attempt at the genre. It excels at open maps with collectibles, variable mobs, basic crafting. It even has serviceable mounts and character creation. But that's about where it ends. Its issues are numerous, and here is a brief summary of the major ones:
[olist][*]Sloppy gameplay tutorial: Most of the game's features are given in a static popup that guides you to various features to enhance your play. The biggest issue with this is that it doesn't teach you some of the most important features in the right order. It's possible to focus on combat and miss crafting until you're already well into the game, or as I experienced, to have no idea rolling exists to dodge attacks because it omits that entirely. The combat tutorial should be more exhaustive, and the upgrade features should have been mandatory so that players become immediately acquainted with the purpose and goal of grinding loot.
[*]Stats don't mean much: Leveling up attack speed doesn't give you much of an edge in combat, since enemy attack patterns are all identical. Defense helps, but you can roll through everything and avoid taking damage in the first place, so why bother working for the gear? I had no incentive not to grab the strongest weapon (hammer) and smash everything over the other types.
[*]No variety in combat: Whilst the game gives you four weapons to play with, enemies all behave the same. Basic kiting and dodging (or healing) is enough to dispatch every enemy, from level 1 to level 40. Some attack faster, some slower, but for gameplay purposes, they're the same enemy reskinned dozens of times.
[*]Gathering and looting is a mess: Loot drops are pure RNG and every enemy can drop anything. It seems strange to be harvesting tendons and leather from human bandits, and yarn from bears, but who am I to judge? Gathering spots are randomly generated and every map has the exact same resources, giving you no incentive to travel anywhere but the highest level you can while you farm. It's frustrating, however, when you need a specific resource, because there's absolutely no way to target it since everything is randomized. Grind until you drop.
[*]No way to communicate in game: For a multiplayer title, there's no chat, no emotes, no coordination. You're expected to group up with friends outside of the game? Very strange for MMORPG in the title.
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To be clear, my purpose here is not to bash the game, but to realistically report on its current state. After about five years of development, it's still "earliest of access," without much to do. Kudos to the developer for a solid attempt, but alas, it has failed to materialize much of anything by way of compelling content or satisfying MMORPG gameplay. Still, i wish them the best with their future endeavors as they pivot to focus on single player experiences. If you're reading this review after its delisting, don't worry, you didn't miss much.
[quote][u]Achievement Hunters[/u]: Level up to 25. Straightforward. Focus on the only questline, which gives massive amounts of gold for upgrades and XP to skip levels in the later push. Can be done solo (~5hrs), or much faster in a party. A couple tips:
[list][*]Hammer is the best dps
[*]You can enchant everything, even starting armor, and doing so gives stat bonuses for cheap
[*]Upgrading weapons doesn't do much, it's more important to immediately switch tier when you can
[*]Make a shield for early defense bonus, since you won't have access to armor for almost your entire run (impossible to gather the amount of loot necessary). Shield's bonus still works when using other weapons.
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