The latest incarnation of Gauntlet has been around since last year on the PC, but now it is the turn of the PS4, with the all new Gauntlet: Slayer Edition and the developers have taken time to tweak some of the game's dynamics.

At its heart it is an online/co-op dungeon explorer from Arrowhead Game Studios and is a reinterpretation of the, now thirty year old original. You get to play as one of four customisable classes, Warrior, Warlock, Elf and Valkyrie, and run the Gauntlet, the maze created by Morak, searching for treasure, including the legendary sword Tyrfing,

You could not consider Gauntlet to be a deep game, as it focuses on game play rather than a convoluted script. Basically you enter the procedurally generated dungeon, kill everything and collect everything you can find. The setting is quite destructible, so you have to remember to have a whack at everything you can see before moving on. In this way you get to collect the game's main currency, gold. On top of this, every level has a crown to be discovered, the wearing of which will grant extra gold.

As you’re likely to die quite a lot its worth keeping an eye out for skull coins which grant the player an extra life and are earned by killing the opposition. The levels also contain food to bolster you through your adventure.

You can exchange your gold for better abilities and magical artefacts which make traversing each level a little easier. However, what you can purchase is tied to the class you are playing. Each class has their strengths and weaknesses and the game forces you to change the way you play directly related to the class you're sporting.

It might seem that the game is little more than a test of how well you deal with overwhelming numbers of enemies, but the map can also be used to your advantage and there is a learning curve with a lot of the later ones.

The game provides a number of modes. The single player game is ok and sufficiently challenging, but the game really shines in the online/co-op modes.

'Endless' mode is exactly as it sounds, with you and your friends trying to see how long you can stay alive as wave upon wave of enemy’s descend. It's pretty hard, but a lot of fun.

'Coliseum' mode, which is a daily challenge mode, has you fighting against different enemies depending on the day you're playing. You battle across four maps, completion of which will reward you with a unique artefact.

The game really shines with the online multiplayer mode, where you and three others set off on the quest. There is matchmaking and I didn’t find it that difficult finding people to play with. Ultimately, this is not a deep game but a lot of fun to play with a lot of replay value outside of the single player mode.

7

Charles Packer