The Basics
Warlocks 2: God Slayer follows a mage on his journey to... wait for it... slay gods! When you start the game you are given the option to choose between 5 different characters, ranging from a spirit lord to a drunken goat, and if you can't tell, each character is unique with their own skills and attacks. After you choose your character, you wake up in a cage, and are not so cordially invited to join the Order of Warlocks - provided that you prove yourself first, of course.
Story & Flow
It turns out that it's kind of tedious to join the Order of Warlocks, as many of the people you complete quests for at the beginning are there just to "put in a good word" for you, and you are not considered part of the Order until after you complete several quests and missions. As the Gods are an angry bunch, they have sent monsters down upon the worlds and the Order is fighting back. Throughout the game you fight these monsters and eventually battle (and slay) the Gods themselves.
This adventure will carry you across 3 worlds, each with several zones to explore, plus a rest zone and the canteen, which is basically the game's hub, where you can teleport almost anywhere and access the game's other worlds. The title is loaded with lots of sarcastic and adult humor, and there is a good amount of comical banter between the different characters, which is mostly a lot of fun. While some jokes do seem a little forced, overall I enjoyed the humor and you can tell that the developers had a blast putting it together.
The controls are pretty straightforward, with the left joystick controlling movement and the right joystick controlling your aim. The Y button can be used to toggle auto aim on/off, but as the auto aim will sometimes focus on enemies behind walls or out of attack range, it's generally better to switch between the two. Also, the auto aim doesn't focus on pots, so if you want to break them and get the loot inside, auto aim kind of has to be turned off.
Each character has their own skill tree, so there are different moves and abilities you can utilize to fit your own strategy and play-style, although only 4 can be set at once, each controlled by a separate shoulder pad button. Despite all these options, you don't really need much of a strategy for most enemies, as spamming attacks when they get within your range is plenty effective. Switching abilities can also be kind of annoying, as you can only switch them when you're out of combat and after your resources have refilled. You can unlock more abilities as the game progresses and you level up.
There's a lot of fun to be had exploring in Warlocks 2, and once the dash has been unlocked, there are a bunch of new spots you'll be able to access that were previously unreachable. The map expands as you explore the stages, so it easy to navigate levels and backtrack to find things and areas you missed. Enemies respawn, so even if you clear an area, coming back will give you more enemies to whup. When you take down foes you'll receive money and armor, which you can sell or wear, and you can purchase new armor or potions with the dough. You also get a familiar that can level up and "evolve" alongside your character, which is a cool addition.
The game offers multiplayer co-op, but it is very buggy. The game was constantly sputtering and the people I played the game with called it "confusing, unintuitive, and beyond glitchy." Yikes. Unfortunately, I had to concur. The text boxes, quest lists, and menus would constantly flicker on and off the screen, making it hard to see what was going on. Glitches aside, if you want to play multiplayer you should do it from the very start of the game so that the other characters can level and attain their attacks and abilities as a team. Otherwise, it's a lot of ineffectual attacking while the stronger people in your party handle business, which is not as fun.
Unlike a lot of other multiplayer games, this is a 2 joycons per player situation, so if you want to fill up all 4 player slots, you'll need 4 pairs of joycons (8 joycons total), which not everyone has just lying around. Fortunately, it does look like it's compatible with Pro controllers and other wired controllers (Gamecube controllers registered when we plugged them in), so that helps. I'm hoping a simple patch will fix the bugs and glitches, since it seems like this would be a fun game to play with friends. It has a lot of potential, but needs some work.
Graphics & Sound
The graphics are good, although I would recommend playing with the brightness turned up so you can see more details. Some quests involve finding items, which can be hidden in trash cans, and it is easy to miss when the screen is dim. The character designs are fun and original, and they fit the pixelated style of the game nicely. The game is somewhat bloody, but it's pixelated gore; still, you may want to keep the youngins away. The music is just alright, and is sometimes noticeably quiet in the game, although it's hard to tell if this is always intentional. The music picks up and blends in well during enemy encounters.