Slaughter Void Review

I rarely review current games here on Corerunner, as I don’t play a lot of them. The last one I discussed was NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound, which I quite enjoyed. To shake things up, today’s topic is a very current game: Slaughter Void.

Slaughter Void is an indie action game that was released in early June 2026. The game is heavily inspired by Hotline Miami, which is a guaranteed way to get my attention.

Marketing for Slaughter Void seems to be close to non-existent. Currently, it sits at a measly 29 reviews on Steam. In fact, I only know about the game because Jim Mander mentioned it. It’s about time to give the game a signal boost.

Slaughter Void’s gameplay is extremely simple. We get thrown into a short level and need to kill everyone as quickly as possible. To do this, we have a melee attack, a limited number of ranged attacks, as well as kicks. We can also trigger a special melee attack after a certain number of kills.

We need all of these tools, as we die in a single hit and the levels are chock full of enemies. It’s not uncommon for a level to house more than 50 enemies of various kinds. Fortunately, we can get a shield either by chaining 10 kills or by visiting one of the statues placed in the levels. However, this shield only blocks a single hit.

While most of our enemies also die in a single hit, some of them require two hits to be defeated. Naturally, these enemies are a great target for our special melee attack, as it gets rid of them in a single strike.

Some enemy types are quite dangerous at melee range and hence are better fought with our ranged attacks. For example, the scorpions leave a deadly pool of acid blood after we kill them. At melee range, it’s very easy to accidentally step into it and die.

Speaking of dying, thanks to the game’s high speed, large amounts of enemies, and our own fragility, we will die a lot. The game expects us to finish a level in one go and as quickly as possible. It places a much bigger emphasis on speedrunning than Hotline Miami does. In that sense, it resembles a spikier version of Neon White.

Once we finish a level, we get awarded a skull depending on how quickly we finished. These skulls can be used to unlock further weapons and trinkets to customize our playing style.

However, instead of just describing the game with words, let me give you two videos to show the game in action. Let’s start with one of the earliest levels.

This is as simple as it gets: basic level layout, super short, and only the basic enemy type. What’s immediately notable about the game are the aesthetics. The game is, for the lack of a better term, very metal.

The soundtrack reminds me of a mixture of old-school death metal and hardcore punk. It’s very different from the electronic tunes in Hotline Miami but also excellent at getting the blood pumping. In contrast to modern metal, it’s not heavily down-tuned. I prefer the more old-school sound of Slaughter Void’s music compared to something like the modern DOOM soundtracks.

Visually, the game is ugly as sin. I have no idea who designed the color palette, but I’m impressed by how ugly it is. However, I like the over-the-top violence in the game. I’m especially fond of the “slaughtered” lettering shown at the end of the level.

Now that we know how a simple level looks, let’s see a more advanced example.

That’s much more complex. Way more enemy types, more room to maneuver, as well as some alternative routes. We can also see the game speeding up during a kill streak and slowing down again when we accidentally break the combo. If we look closely, we can also see that I lose my shield multiple times during the run.

Some levels also contain traps and time limits to spice things up even more. While the game is challenging, it’s not overly hard. Something like Ghostrunner is much more difficult by comparison. I think it’s also a bit easier than Hotline Miami.

In terms of pick-ups, the game is very limited. The only things we can find in the levels are additional ammunition for our ranged weapon as well as lore tablets that we can read in the level hub.

A keen observer might have noticed that I use different weapons in both videos. As mentioned, the game allows us to trade the skulls we earn by finishing levels quickly for equipment. Let’s talk about this in detail.

In the hub world between the actual levels, which is called the Astrarium, we can change our character’s equipment. We can select a melee weapon, a ranged weapon, and a relic.

We start the game with a basic variant of each. While the basic melee and ranged weapons are serviceable, the standard relic doesn’t do anything. Hence, we should quickly switch it out for something more useful.

There are different vendors in the Astrarium. We can trade our hard-earned skulls for whatever catches our fancy. These different items have a surprisingly big impact on our playstyle.

For example, switching our slow and heavy hammer for the quick claws makes it much easier to recover from a miss as our attack rate increases. On the flipside, we lose range and our special attack no longer deals splash damage but applies a frenzy effect instead.

The relics have even more impact than our weapon choices. One relic makes the game much easier by resurrecting us once and killing all nearby enemies. Another adds splash damage to our kicks, which makes them much more powerful. We can even gain the ability to turn kicked doors into deadly projectiles with the right relic. In certain levels, this is immensely useful even though it looks and feels very janky.

Overall, the game provides a surprising amount of influence over our playing style. As a result, it’s fun to experiment with different loadouts. I think that Slaughter Void in general is a well-designed game. Let me explain this in more detail.

Even though Slaughter Void builds on an established formula, it still manages to refine it in interesting ways. The game is very good at rewarding good play. Playing well grants us shields, makes us faster, and charges our special attacks.

In addition, chaining hits and finishing the level quickly grants us more skulls, which allows us to buy more items. These items make us stronger and increase the game’s variety. The mechanics interlock very nicely.

If we compare Slaughter Void with Hotline Miami, we can see that the scoring system works much better in the former. Even though Hotline Miami gave us a grade at the end of the level and rewarded quick play, this was irrelevant in practice as the rewards for scoring high were so underwhelming. Unlocking a new weapon in Hotline Miami was a non-event. Buying a new item in Slaughter Void can be game-changing.

Slaughter Void also does a great job at making enemies threatening. Even the basic enemies that we encounter from the very start of the game are deadly, as they are quite fast and can easily slip past our defenses if we mistime a hit.

Last, the game is very focused. I’ve complained about padding at length in a dedicated blog post, and Slaughter Void has no padding whatsoever. The downside of this is that the game can easily be finished within two hours. However, I think that’s okay, given the intensity of the game and its low price tag.

The game is held back by its art style, short length, and uninteresting story and lore. Hotline Miami’s setting and story were intriguing, while Slaughter Void’s are just noise. There’s a very good foundation here that just needed a little more to become truly excellent.

Slaughter Void is a good game that I highly recommend to action game fans. It’s only a small snack but more than worth your time and money. I think that the game deserves more attention, and frankly, I’m shocked at how bad the publisher and developer are at marketing it.

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