Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer

Slayers X keyart

**Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer** is a 2023 FPS game developed by Tendershoot (as Big Z Studios Inc.) and published by No More Robots.

## Characters

Other Characters
 Adam Chase
 Enaz

## Plot

Zane, Mikey, and Steffanie were training together in the X Slayer Training Dojo until they were interrupted by Shannon calling Steffanie, requesting her to come back to Sloppos. Afterwards, the three of them see the ground moving, and a news report appears on the TV screen showing that the Psyko Sindikate started blowing up bombs around Zane's department, making the cops evacuate everyone from Boise. Mikey requests that Zane stays in the dojo while he solves the problem, but the news shows that Zane's mom was killed by the bombings, resulting in Zane becoming sad and seeking revenge.

After Zane exits the dojo, he finds Mikey, defeated. He gives Zane the S-Blade and mentions that the Psykos found the Steel Sewer. His last words are, "I am your Da-" before he dies. Later on, Zane finds that Steffanie got captured and was attached to a rocket that took off when Zane got into Sloppos.

Afterward, Zane heads to his destroyed apartment and travels to the Steel Sewer, which is infested with Psykos, and finds out that the Hackblood Talismen is missing.

He then goes to Dollar$haver, where he meets Mevin. The two talk for a bit before Mevin mentions that he told the Psykos that they didn't have to kill Zane's mom. This leads to Zane questioning who Mevin really is before Mevin leaves on his truck.

He finds a secret door in Mevin's office that leads to an underground Psyko base and fights a Toilet.

After leaving the Psyko base, Zane goes to a rich neighborhood owned by Mevin. He meets Mevin once again, this time finding him playing Trennis alone. They talk again, this time Zane believing that Mevin is part of the Psyko Sindikate, but Mevin assures that he is not a Psyko.

Later on, he finds another Psyko base in Mevin's house. This time, it is a testing facility full of ways to torture people. Zane finds out that Steffanie is in a room, trapped in a container, and was injected with Wolf DNA. This led to her transforming into a Waregunna and fighting Zane.

After the fight, Zane finds the computer storing the Hackblood Talismen. He faces Mikey once again, this time in spirit form. The latter mentions the Talismen and puts Zane into a recreation of his favorite level of Kataklysm. Zane later finds the Talismen and leaves the computer, but not before Mikey states that the power of the Psykos is concentrated in the Boise Potato Festival.

After Zanes travels to a Mobile Home Park, he finds himself in the Potato Festival, and after cleaning the place from Psykos, he leaves the place, but suddenly, he falls into a hole, later, he escapes that hole and gets on a highway, in which he finds Mevin's truck.

Later, after moving from different vehicles, he gets to meet Mevin for the last time, they fight for a while before Mevin transforms himself into a big head. Zane gets to defeat him, and while he starts poking and talking about the fight, Krunch appears without Zane noticing, she has on her back 2 Jeztas, and start talking about Mevin's defeat and says that now the real game begins and that something will happen when Zane least expects and says "I am the Z Slayer".

When Zane gets back to the dojo, he decides to train people to become Slayers so the Psyko Sindikate never returns.

## Gameplay

The gameplay takes inspiration from other 3D FPS games such as Duke Nukem 3D and Redneck Rampage. The player takes control of Zane, who has to get to the end of a level by killing enemies, grabbing ammo and weapons, restoring health, and collecting keys all while surviving hordes of enemies and not falling into endless pits.

Each map has a set of enemies based on the difficulty selected (Not a real gamer/Normal gamer/Im awesome/Inzane). In addition, each map has secrets, such as fake walls or interactable elements.

Maps have hidden both a cheese and a group of rats with the Rat King. By giving the cheese to the Rat King, the rats will team up with Zane.

## Levels

The game features 9 levels:

* Psyko Onslot
* The Steel Sewer
* Dollar$haver Destruction
* Cult Die Sack
* Kataklysm in the Computer
* Cottonwood Mobile Home Park
* Boise Potato Festival
* Crevasse of Repugnant
* Over the Road

After finishing the game, 3 more levels are unlocked, accessed in Psyko Onslot, 2 based on levels created by Zane on Kataklysm when he was on Hypnospace, while Welcome to Boise was supposed to be a Slayers X level:

* Mikey's Head (In-game as MikeysHead.KMP)
* Uncle Gopher's House (In-game as GPHRHOUS.KMP)
* Welcome to Boise (In-game as BoiseDowntown.KMP)

## Enemies and Bosses

Other enemies
 Freaky Baby
They move slowly toward the player, doing melee damage.
 Skelly
 Dominator
Has no health or attacks.

## Cheats

By pressing Shift + Insert + Z in-game, the game's debug mode is activated and certain keys activate different options:

* F1: God Mode.
* F2: Full health and Hackblood.
* F3: Max Ammo.
* F4: All weapons.
* F6: No Clip (Disables gravity)
* F7: All keys.
* F8: Kill all the enemies and destructible elements.
* F10: Full Hackblood.
* F11: Ammo to starting values.
* F12: Skip Level.
* Numpad +: Toggle/Hide HUD.

## Development

The game was originally teased on June 12, 2021, with the logo being shown. The logo had the word "Vengance" corrected to "Vengeance," and on April 5, 2022, the Hypnospace Next video was shown, showing the trailers of Slayers X and Dreamsettler. In June of 2022, a demo for Slayers X was released, only showing the level "The Steel Sewer." Several aspects of the game were very different from today's version, including an easier experience.

Later on in May 2023, an event dubbed "The Zane Event" occurred, which included the release date for the game and a new demo (named by the devs as a Beta, now just the current demo available to play) of the game was released. It shows the first level, "Psyko Onslot."

## Connections to Hypnospace Outlaw

* The original 3 comics of Slayers X from Hypnospace Outlaw can be seen in Psyko Onslot.
* The brand Dr. Pizza is shown as the parody brand Professor Pizza (Which also combines the program Professor Helper).
* Gray's Peak Machines and sodas can be seen in many levels, such as Gray's Leak Soda.
* The fast food chain Boppos is shown as the parody chain Sloppos.
* The words BWL (Bursting with Laughter) is shown in many places, like in graffiti and on the rant by Chase.
* Gumshoe Gooper is shown as a realistic mask in Dollar$haver Destruction, the real plush by Makeship in Cottonwood Mobile Home Park, and as a heavily edited picture in Boise Potato Festival.
* A Trennis court can be seen in Cult Die Sack.
* The satchel from Reginald Roberts RR Leather Cowboy Waist Satchels page is shown in Uncle's Frank's main office in Psyko Onslot.
* A Chowder Man caricature can be seen in the level Boise Potato Festival on the "Journey into... You're Butt Hole" ride.
* The games Kataklysm and Taurus X: 2089 can be seen in the level The Steel Sewer.
* A mask of Taurus and Muleta can be seen in Dollar$haver Destruction.
* SquisherZ magazines and a GameChamp Portable console and promotions about it can be seen in the level Dollar$haver Destruction, and a GameChamp Ultra CD Console can be seen in The Steel Sewer and Cottonwood Mobile Home Park, while Mushi can be seen on a secret of The Steel Sewer.
* The original animation (from before the plus update) of Zane Sucks appears in Cult Die Sack.
* A Hypnospace Headband can be seen in Cottonwood Mobile Home Park.

## Soundtrack

On June 1, the soundtrack has been released on Steam while on June 3, it is released in Jay Tholen's Bandcamp.

## Trivia

* There were 3 contests on Twitter and the Slayers X Discord server that allowed the possibility to add custom farts, newspapers, and balloons into the game, while a new one was created after release to change the logo of Professor Pizza.
* The game was released on the Game Pass and the Microsoft store hours before the Steam release.
* The artist, Carol, based the final drawing of the map on a 3D render of all the maps combined made by Jay Tholen.
* A contest for speedrunning the alpha version allowed the winner to create a villain in the game. The winner got to create the character Krunch.
* A contest for speedrunning the beta version allowed the winners to get a copy and the first place could select a charity that No More Robots would donate $500 to.
* The mysterious slayer from the end of the game was created by the artist Carol.
* The game cutscenes were inspired by the 1997 video game Blood by Monolith Productions.
* One of the magazine textures features a hidden graphic of Fren (streamer Vinesauce Joel's mascot). In another magazine texture, (specifically, the Metal Masters magazine) Vinesauce Joel, Frank (Friend of Joel), and Vinesauce Vinny are shown. Voxlord, the name of the band shown on the magazine is derived from Red Vox (Vinny's real-life band) and Scythelord (Joel and Frank's band).
* The level Uncle Gopher's House is extremely similar to a house named GroverHaus, from a thread on Something Awful.
* The back of the Kataklysm box was taken directly from the Cryptic Passage expansion of Blood.
* In-universe, the game is made in sKlysm 2.1, a source port of the Kataklysm engine. [1]