Hack, Slash, Loot Review

Hack, Slash, Loot is the iPad conversion of a popular PC roguelike of the same name. It brings with it some fun dungeon crawling but also some not entirely welcome randomness to the affair. It's quite fun for fans of the genre but not an especially all-encompassing hit.

Streamlined in many ways, Hack, Slash, Loot gives players a choice of characters to control as well as a choice of quests. Each dungeon is randomly created so every experience is different from the last. There's also the option of diving into a randomly chosen quest or character set, which comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. Importantly, it adds plenty of variety to the experience but it can mean that Hack, Slash, Loot soon becomes quite unforgiving. The difficulty curve leaps wildly from very easy to fearsomely tough, which can affect how much fun can be gleaned from the experience.

There are limitations too, with no way of leveling-up or affecting anything more than gaining new loot. Finding new items to equip is satisfying as is often the way with such games, but it is quite restrictive. It also means that one never feels fully attached to their character, and is instead more focused on the items that they own for that particular quest.

As a game to dive into though, Hack, Slash, Loot is reasonable enough. It lends itself quite well to the touch screen format with a choice of swipes or taps dictating the player's direction. Swipes are a little annoying to use often but it's a mostly pretty effective system. Crucially, it's the kind of thing that works well for a game that's more to be dipped into than enjoyed for hours on end. Rogue-like fans will enjoy the streamlined interface, but many will wish for a bit more depth to the experience.