Slave Zero X is a gore-soaked trip down memory lane, for better and for worse

Do you like gore, biopunk visuals, and retro fighter-like combo systems? Slave Zero X might be for you. Be warned though: It's tough as nails, and not for the right reasons in many occasions.

Released a month ago, the game from the retro vibes experts at Poppy Works nails a fast & furious combat system and the striking aesthetics of its 1999 third-person shooter relative for PC and Dreamcast, but forgets that some chunks of the past were meant to be left behind.

The biopunk, 2.5D future of Slave Zero X takes players to Megacity S1-9, where the Sovereign Khan "rules with fists of iron and flesh," and the city below. The star of the show? A vengeful, sword-wielding warrior that embarks on a journey to murder the false God with the help of a stolen Slave Unity Prototype, turning the enemy's most powerful weapon against them. This lethal armor first comes across as a biomecha suit, but we quickly learn it's much more than that.

While the plot isn't the main dish in Slave Zero X, a prequel to Slave Zero, it keeps the action going and paints a rather unique world that's dripping with style and bleak elements. At first glance, it might seem like your average cyberpunk dystopia, but it rapidly becomes clear it's much more than that. If a game's vibes alone can carry half-baked mechanics and systems, you might fall in love with this one.

Mind you, I don't think Slave Zero X is anywhere close to bad or disappointing, mostly because it's been flying under most people's radars and doesn't exactly work with a famous property, but it's frustrating to play something that could be potentially great with a handful of well-placed tweaks and reworks. All in all, Slave Zero X gets its bloody job done well enough and, more importantly, doesn't overstay its welcome as an arcade-like character action game, but its rough edges undercut its strengths at every turn.

Fighting game sickos will feel right at home, as the game mostly controls like a classic 2D fighter, down to split-second mechanics like strict parries and dodges with i-frames that can mark the difference between victory and repeating a tough boss fight for the 20th consecutive time. Slave Zero X isn't 2D Sekiro, but it won't hold your hand and doesn't even offer difficulty selection. It's a tight experience with a clear vision that actively wants players to git gud or perish.

The constant balance between defense and relentless aggression is a great concept that works most of the time, as you're supposed to build up bursts of energy to push away enemies when things get dire and then activate extra juice for your attacks which also grants life-steal. Combining the correct timing of such actions with a handful of advanced moves that can keep even the strongest enemies off the ground for a few seconds longer will normally pay off big time, so mastering the deceitfully basic mechanics is very much the right thing to do.

It's a premise that should be enticing enough for many gamers looking for a retro challenge that's both sexy-looking and brutal. You might get stun-locked to death after one wrong move by a gang of cyber-goons, but next try, you may slice and dice them almost effortlessly just because you hit the perfect juggle and kept going until only bloody remains were left. It can be really satisfying at times.

On the other hand, however: collision boxes can be wonky; platforming is an afterthought which mostly sucks; and many regular enemy encounters encourage repetitive patterns to come out unscathed. There are sparks of genuinely good design in there, but most of the time, the pretty 2.5D levels and strong (albeit limited) combat mechanics are carrying the s**t out of everything else. Slave Zero X can look and feel perfect, but it often doesn't know how to best balance its encounters or make the ride as smooth as it needs to be.

Boss fights can also be either glorious and the right kind of challenging or downright frustrating due to overly generous (to your enemies) hit boxes and hard-to-break combos that can instantly drain your health bar. Couple those annoyances with a limited amount of checkpoints in some of the less short levels and a remarkably grindy, money-based progression system (I do love the callback to Link: The Faces of Evil's Morshu though) and you might walk away from the game too frustrated to ever pick it up again.

Brave through the game's ugliest bits and rougher elements and you'll be rewarded though. While the story is mostly nonsense, there are some great character moments in it, and the worldbuilding (both on-screen and in text form) is fascinating to say the least. I can see many players that choose to give it a fair chance bouncing off though. Even as someone who's beaten many difficult games, Slave Zero X has been testing my patience. The problem is... many of those bad moments came down to the game honoring the worst bits of retro gaming as much as the best ones, and nostalgia and style can only get you so far.

Slave Zero X is now available on PC (Windows), Nintendo Switch, Xbox One & Series X/S, and PS4/5.