New games appear on Steam every day, but many of them are completely lost, usually with good reason. In some cases, however, a true pearl emerges from this flood. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus found this gem with the help of YouTuber HandOfBlood.
In fact, I’m spending all my free time right now on the new World of Warcraft patch and, unfortunately, once again, League of Legends. At least if a pencil and paper evening isn’t coming up.
But the afternoon of November 16th needed something new. A casual game that I can play and stop “at any time.” Although he was already tired, he still wanted to play something.
Through a video by HandOfBlood, who is active again on YouTube after a long illness, I came across a fairly new game that is supposed to be a lot of fun for not much money: Slime 3K: Rise Against Despot (via YouTube ).
The game has been in early access on Steam since November 2, is available for only €4.99 and weighs 275 MB. I bought, downloaded, lost 4 hours, almost missed work. And today after work we will continue immediately.
The trailer for Slime 3K: Rise Against Despot
More videos
Self-reproduction
A bit like the Powerpuff Girl of indie games.
HandOfBlood roughly describes Slime 3K as a mix of Vampire Survivors, Reverse Bullet Hell, and Deckbuilder. For me, the game is more like Enter the Gungeon, just much busier.
You play as an experimentally created slime who turns against his creator, an evil AI that rules the world in the year 3000. The goal of the game is to complete different levels and defeat bosses.
To do this, you fight your way through endless waves of enemies, level up, buy new weapons and upgrade your skills, until you or the boss that appears later finally die.
There is meta-progression between levels that allows you to upgrade your slime and build decks. For example, you gain more life or special properties that strengthen certain structures.
You build decks from cards you unlock over time. Only cards you have equipped appear in the shops of individual levels. This way, you can influence the skills you can acquire and plan your developments before running.
Haha, the assault rifle goes rat-att-att-att
What made Slime 3K so exciting for me, just watching it, was the crazy possibilities and completely crazy humor. The slime constantly smiles, even when massacring thousands of people, something that, according to the description, he also likes.
The description of the assault rifle is simply “Ratt-att-att-att” and its frequency of use. Nothing else. The already somewhat questionable “eye launcher” is even a starting skill.
Builds tend to go completely crazy quickly. Already in round 4 I destroyed entire screens full of enemies with flamethrowers, gas cans, rockets, and burning tires. But there were still more and more of them.
This unlocked new skills that have to do with food and finances. Yes, there are constructions like that too and I don’t know where the journey will take us.
What sets Slime 3K apart from other games of this type are the cursor weapons. Depending on the setup, you either don’t shoot automatically, but have to actively aim, or you just have zombies and small masses do the work for you in a summoner setup.
Honestly, there’s going to be a great headline here!
With its wacky humor, the game also flirts with the fact that it’s not finished yet. Slime 3K is in early access and every time a level is completed, the game reminds you. Then he says something like, “This is going to be an awesome rewards screen. With lights and stuff. Until then, here it is.”
Even the walkthrough says that you will “only” get a (very detailed) explanation until there is “something better.” But to be honest: as a casual gamer, I don’t need much more. I’ve already had a lot of fun and I want to continue playing.
Surprisingly, Slime 3K is “only” mostly positive on Steam at 79%, albeit with only 327 votes. But I already see a rating of between 80 and 90% on the horizon.
Slime 3K probably won’t be a game I play every day for the next two years, but I will probably play it from time to time. Great for just killing a round as a smiling slime, i.e. putting it out.
If I ever find myself looking for a new game again, maybe I’ll turn to Schuhmann’s advice:
No one knows about the highly addictive new Steam strategy game – despite 92% positive reviews