A Second Beyblade-Inspired Roguelike Has Arrived on Steam Next Fest
For fans of Beyblade and the nostalgia of the 2000s, a new roguelike game has just landed on Steam Next Fest. Slayblade, a top-battling game with a retro twist, is the latest entry in a growing subgenre that caters to those who grew up with the iconic spinning tops. If you're one of the many who spent hours battling with your favorite Beyblade in the early 2000s, this one is definitely worth checking out.
Embracing Y2K Nostalgia with a Unique Twist
Where its predecessor, From the Top, leaned into a more subdued and darker tone, Slayblade is all about Y2K nostalgia. The game features an airy Toonami-core soundtrack, pixelated overworld sprites, and pseudo-Beyblade designs that closely mirror the chunky, plastic-molded aesthetic of the era. The attention to detail is impressive, right down to the Wu Tang logo that can be one of your battle top components.
In Slayblade, you play as a nameless battler aiming to secure the Slayblade World Championship title. This quest not only brings you closer to uncovering the mystery of your father's disappearance after inventing perpetual motion Slayblade technology, but it also immerses you in a world of high-stakes battles and exploration.
Customizing Your Slayblade for Victory
Each of the available Slayblade parts—divided into top heads, bodies, and tips—has its own set of attributes and effects. The weight stat influences the Slayblade's impact, handling, and momentum, while each part also has an active effect that triggers when you fling your top into a "power up cube" during a match.
The combinations can be pretty potent. For example, the Wu Tang logo can halve the time until the next power up cube appears when triggered. When paired with a Buster body that summons a spin-draining ghost, you can flood the arena with vampiric phantoms that quickly deplete your opponent's life.
In one of my runs, I used a Slayblade body that places a landmine in the arena with a "Flat Earth" tip that flattens the typically bowl-shaped arena into a level plane. When my opponents slid into my explosives, they had no barrier to stop them from skittering out of bounds, giving me an easy victory.
A Promising Demo with Room for Growth
The Slayblade demo available on Steam Next Fest is short and rough around the edges. The available part selection isn't particularly deep, and each run will abruptly cut off at the point you'd enter your initial Slayblade tournament. There's also a fair amount of placeholder art and menu text that needs refining.
Despite these shortcomings, the demo is a promising take on a proof of concept that many fans of the Beyblade franchise will be excited to see develop further. Slayblade doesn't have a release date yet, but the demo is available on Steam now, offering a glimpse into a world that blends retro gaming with the thrill of top battles.
