Skeler Boy [Review]
Can you help Skeler find Megan? Most importantly, are you even going to want to?
Skeler Boy. Credit: Manic Boy Studio / Ratalaika
Manic Boy Studio and Ratalaika’s Skeler Boy is a top-down adventure game with 16-bit style visuals reminiscent of a Super Nintendo RPG. Skeler drives into town looking for his girlfriend Megan who has disappeared under mysterious circumstances after leaving him a distressing voicemail message. The setup is promising, but things immediately begin to unravel.
The gameplay is dull, to put it mildly. Exploration in Skeler Boy isn’t very interesting; you just walk around and talk to people or interact with objects. Some segments require stealth, for example a maze where you must hide in cabinets whenever the siren goes off, lest creatures eat you. For some reason you have a Metal Gear Solid style radio. You wander from location to location with little to go on. Skeler Boy’s strength should be its narrative, but that ended up being worse than the gameplay.
Skeler Boy. Credit: Manic Boy Studio / Ratalaika
The game’s first problem is one of the worst localizations I’ve had the displeasure to experience. Skeler Boy opens on a well-performed voiceover narration in Spanish, accompanied by correct subtitles. However, as soon as we get to in-game text-only dialogue, the writing falls apart, unable to maintain a coherent tone to the narrative. I can’t tell if the issue is just awful localization or if it’s also poor writing. It’s bad enough to where it becomes hard to tell what’s going on, what we should be taking seriously, and what’s meant to be funny. In a game where the story is king, more care should have been put into making sure its presentation meets a minimum bar of quality.
The game’s trailer is great. It’s full of tension and suspense. Notice that there’s no dialogue in it. Every sense of atmosphere or spookiness in Skeler Boy is immediately undercut by the writing.
Even with the game’s short play time, I’d be hard pressed to recommend Skeler Boy. It wore out its welcome immediately for me.
Skeler Boy is available on PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 / 5, and Xbox One / Series X|S.
Overall Score: 2/10
Played on: PS5
