SLOTS & DAGGERS

Hubert Spala
5 days ago
4 min read

When I made this blog, I had two goals in mind. A mission, of sorts, both to myself and any wistful soul that might stumble upon my writing. First, was a personal outlet. See, I love games. I know - lukewarmest sentence of the century. After all, if I wasn't a gamer at heart, deep in my meow-meow, I wouldn't be running a games dedicated blog, right? The problem is, life is short. I found myself stuck in a terrible cycle, spending hundreds of hours on popular multiplayer games like Overwatch or Darktide. Don't get me wrong, they are fun! But especially in PvP games, I realised I'm not enjoying myself much. It’s a mix of frustration and anger, with gut-wrenching rage. Yet, there are also moments of excitement and joy that make it all worthwhile.

But I also love indie games. Smaller servings of fun, mostly single-player that brought me only pure bliss. If there was frustration, it was always internal, hard-baked into the game. Challenge, difficulty, sometimes an obtuse system that I had to surgically open to get at its heart. And so I realised that I should abandon the ginormous time sinks of multiplayer, endless gaming. And instead move back to the warm embrace of tiny games. Small titles that you can complete in an evening or two. Or maybe through many sessions over the course of a week! This approach let me taste so, SO many games. Last year alone I played over 130 different titles. While previously, I was stuck on 5 to 10... It's a staggering success in my personal paradigm shift.

Brown and stylish! The game looks great, but do not trust the static screenshots - it is the tacticle feeling of every component that seels the vibe so well.

Alright, that is a lengthy preamble to SLOTS & DAGGERS, and why? Because this game is like a quintessential example of the titles I created this blog for. It is a tiny game by design, intended to be a short romp filled with moments of high elation and huffy irritation. A game that should take 4 to 8 hours to blast through. That's 2-4 evenings, depending on how well you're doing and if the happy hand of RNG touches you the right way. The best thing about this game is that it doesn't pretend otherwise. It's written on the tin. It costs, like, what, a fiver? I paid more for a big coffee at a local café, and that's even without the side of cake. And for this to work, you need to be getting your bang for your buck.

And SLOTS & DAGGERS deliver in plenty. It's a very linear, structured game. You have a map leading you through a variety of areas with the same enemies. By this, I mean each area always has the same structure, same dangers facing you. This has a purpose - you're expected to fail here and there, sample the danger and be forewarned for your future run. To know what to expect and kit yourself out accordingly. Just like in HADES, success is guaranteed by the game meta-progression. Yes, you might struggle, yes, it might take many runs to bash your head through... But each run yields you chips to upgrade yourself and in the end, no matter how bad you are at figuring the game combos or how uncaring the RNG might be, you will get enough upgrades to finally break through. Becoming too tough and too strong for the game to be able to stop you.

The game itself is deceptively simple. You have a slot. You buy passive items and slot symbols that do stuff! Damage, shields, coins, healing, you name it. The fun part is figuring out a sensible combination to make your machine sing - getting skill-based weapons, a relic to re-trigger successful crits. Maybe sprinkle in a re-roll to keep your spin going longer than it should, et voilà! You're cooking with gas. The game isn't big enough to have a deep variety of builds, but it also isn't shallow enough to rely only on one. I had successful runs with at least three different combinations, vastly different from each other in how they bust through the challenges. And that's the fun part of it all.

Meta Progression chips make sure you get stronger and better as you keep playing, until the game can no longer keep up with your power level.

But what makes this game truly stand out is the meticulous, almost obsessive attention to the presentation. Damn, this game feeds the monkey brain all the fancy flashes, lights, pings and dings that make the levers and buttons in your brain go haywire. The sweet melodies of the clinking golden coins. The tangible feel of each reel rolling and clicking into place. The mighty crunch of landing a critical on your skill check. Or the feeling of every bit of the machine being somehow real. Whenever I see a token tile showing me the next unlock, I want to bite into it like a bit of chocolate - that's how tantalisingly they hover in the air, showing off how real they feel. There's a level of polish here that you would not expect from a game so small and so, well... cheap to acquire. A true project of passion, and you can feel it in every corner of its design. Tight like skinny denim jeans on a Miami biker.

That's really about it. The game is a juicy, succulent meal, but it is gone once consumed. There's no replay value here once you cross the finish line. When all upgrades are unlocked, when you find your combos that click and let you blast through the final challenge, you're done. That is NOT a minus or point deduction for the game, perish the thought. It is, if anything, a little extra nod of respect. An indication of a job well done. I got the game for the price of a coffee. I had a fun few hours blasting through it. I will have fond little memories of it. What else could I be asking for, right?