Spear of Sacrilege Review – Brilliant NES Throwback I Hated Playing – WGB

Saint Slayer: Spear of Sacrilege it’s ridiculouswith us, it’s a clever word—and the game behind it is a little more committed: a gory, gothic throwback to when games were hard and gave zero shits about holding your hand. As developer Lilymo’s sixth title in their quest to relive those days, the question is simple: is it the best? Undoubtedly, yes.

Before diving in, I have to address a possible bias. Lilymo is run by Colin Moriarty, a former IGN writer turned podcaster whose work I actively follow and support. I love what he and the Sacred Symbols team are doing—enough to support them on Patreon. I love what Lilymo stands for. And that meant I went into this wanting to love The Saint Slayer.

That’s why it pains me to say this: I didn’t. Not on a personal level, though. And the truth is, that’s not the game’s fault—it’s mine. I would like to say that this is not a game for me, but the truth is stronger than that. I’m just not the right person for the game. It came looking for a manager and found me, a person who wanted to be able to revisit the old days and found out that he couldn’t.

This is a NES-ass NES game, and it plays by a completely different set of rules. It’s hard, unforgiving, and demands a kind of rhythm that doesn’t come naturally if you didn’t grow up with it. As the first child of the 90s, the NES was already history. I was raised on the Sega Genesis and PlayStation, and it wasn’t until the Xbox 360 era that I began to understand game design, how the industry worked, and solidified the hobby as my main passion.

So yes – I struggled. I felt my ass, my pride hurts.

Playing Saint Slayer felt like trying to speak a language I didn’t understand. I couldn’t settle into its rhythm, I couldn’t read its patterns, I couldn’t understand what it wanted from me—even when the answer was obvious. My mind kept trying to translate it into something more modern. It doesn’t work like that.

However, despite all this, I can confidently say: this is a great game.

And Now, the Update.

The story follows Rudiger, a former soldier turned farmer in a gothic version of late seventeenth century Europe. But one day, disaster strikes, and Rudiger prepares to defeat a crazed Catholic priest who steals relics and leads cults as if he were shooting his own Netflix documentary. In the process, Rudiger ends up wielding the Spear of Sacrilege, a powerful poker that gradually gains power in the game. Discover 21 levels of gameplay, combat, boss battles, gore, and intrigue.

The developers describe the game as “a blood-soaked homage to the 8-bit era of side-scrolling action horror,” and that’s pretty much it. For every faltering moment or tongue-in-cheek line of dialogue, there are bodies hanging from crosses, or filthy piles of blood and bone. Because every time you get thrown off a cliff by a donkey or poke a weird monster in the eye, there’s a rescue of prisoners barely living in dungeons.

Another obvious inspiration Castlevaniafound in the level design, gothic tone, and gameplay. What sounds strong and unruly to modern sensibilities is completely intentional. He commits to jumping. The attack has no channel. Take damage, and the resulting push can send you straight into the pit and all the way to the start of the stage again. It’s punishing, but the leaking kind that defeats you but is good enough to call an ambulance later.

I like how the game makes most of the story optional. Most of the dialogue is a few lines here or there from the bosses and NPCs you meet, painting just enough of the background structure for you to mentally fill in the blanks. But if you really want to delve into the real story, you need to talk to the traveling salesman where possible, and see different conclusions. It’s worth the extra effort, to present a small, interesting story that does what it’s supposed to do—an excuse to move from stage to stage.

Rudiger has a simple moveset that suits his NES desires. He can stab harmless thugs with his spear, or throw it as long as he has enough Rosary beads. The throwing spear can even be used as a mount, a mechanic that could have been underutilized, I think. He also has a DuckTales style pogo stick bounce, another silly moment. A few recent upgrades add more movement, putting Rudiger in real danger of becoming a master.

With this food system, the devs created an evil death trap that must be fought and survived. You need to learn the patterns, figure out when to attack and when to ignore your problems and ride off into the sunset. Success must be found through failure. Maybe quite a bit for you, if you’re not an old head.

Going down to easy difficulty will help a little. You get more health and enemies die faster, but the biggest difference is the lack of recoil. And for those looking for a challenge, Classic Mode also removes lives, so death means instant failure and the urge to hit the nearest object.

You lose all your lives and you will be given the password for that stage, which you can use to jump to that particular stage from the main menu. There is a cost, however: you’ll respawn like the proverbial daisy with no health boosts or anything else you’d get from playing normally.

You also get passwords if you can find the various treasures hidden in all the levels. These passwords are really fun because they unlock goodies that you can use to play the game again, or in other challenging ways. Do you want to play exclusively with Rudiger’s first-class dirk that reaches the child’s arm? You can! And who knows how many other passwords are waiting to be discovered?

There is a modern idea: a persistent currency called Orbs. These stick with you in all modes of play and can be spent at the traveling dealer. It’s an interesting system, but I didn’t find it very useful until much later in the game, where I accumulated Orbs and tried to run on hard difficulty. At that time, my wealth helped a lot.

And if you’re still struggling, it’s possible to farm Orbs easily.

Speaking of passwords and gems, this is a game meant to be replayed, and like you wouldn’t back in the NES days. There are four different endings you can reach Saint Slayer: Spear of Sacrilegeand Trophies/Achievements for completing the game with various treasure passwords and on all difficulties.

And, a lot Castlevania– the code. The first few games will be slow and smooth, but as you get the hang of the gameplay and figure everything out, you’ll go from an hour or two to about 15-30 minutes, if you’ve really nailed it.

You can also deal with everything through local collaboration. Yes, another Rudiger can take the spear, and like most things, it’s even more fun with friends. Well, until you open the friendship fire—then it’s the cause of the damage to the friendship and therapy.

The presentation is the place where SS: The SoS he is very good in all aspects. See those pixels? Aren’t they lovely? The artist, Josh Gossage, does a great job of imitating the style of the period with a few modern touches here or there. My only complaint is that one or two levels are clear or could do with a variety of touches.

Meanwhile, the score—composed by Josh Davis—is a banger. Also, retro fit to match the era, with a few tracks that had me bobbing my head to the beat.

And finally, let’s throw some extra thanks Lilymo’s way for their continued use of Trophies. Previously, the company offered different levels of Trophy difficulty for their titles: easy on the PS4 and more difficult on the PS5 versions. This time, they chose to ditch that difficulty and instead have two separate Trophy lists, each sharing trophies while also having completely different ones. It should make it fun to chase Platinum in both game modes.

The obvious negative is that SS: The SoS it is so committed to its promotion that it does nothing new. But that’s not much of a criticism. It’s not trying to be shiny and new. It wants to be a game that would have been released during the NES days, and it succeeds in that task very well.

There are a few levels that overstay their welcome, some deaths feel cheap, and then there are my personal issues.

None of that detracts from how much it’s a fitting, touching tribute to the past Saint Slayer: Spear of Sacrilege is something. It’s not for everyone—it’s not for me—and it should be.