Skellboy’s strong points come from its writing and visual identity, not from its combat and gameplay. While there are certainly some unique mechanics to keep the game going, there isn’t much there to keep players invested. The game is enjoyable enough to get through the story alone, just don’t expect a deep gameplay loop within.
There are always a few things I look for in a new Nintendo Switch indie game. Does it look unique? Does it look fun? Is it something I can pick up at any point? Luckily, Skellboy was one of those games that hit my (albeit easy) requirements.
The first thing anyone will notice in Skellboy is just how visually interesting the game is. Using a sort-of isometric 8-bit style with a lot of colors, Skellboy establishes itself as one of the better-looking indie titles 
on the Switch. What really drew me in were the isometric 3D environments. They really made the world come to life! The dialogue throughout the game is also wonderfully written and had me chuckling at various points. Donning the wig of the princess and tricking the guards to let me into a castle wasn’t something I expected to get a big laugh out of.
Skellboy, while visually interesting and wonderfully written, doesn’t bring much in terms of gameplay. Basic hack n’ slash gameplay stifles what otherwise would be a joy to play. Every weapon works how you think it would work: swords slash, and clubs club. I kept itching for the moment when the combat mechanics would introduce combos or a way to combo the weapon switching, but that moment never came. Even though there are plenty of weapons throughout the game, I always found myself wanting to stick to one or two instead of trying out all of them.
The gearing in the game is one of the coolest features, however. Enemies will drop various body parts that Skellboy can simply attach to his own body to gain their abilities. The first time I was able to attach a zombie’s face and bite enemies using the X button or use a mushroom head to essentially turn invisible, I giggled with joy. I was hoping for more body-swapping fun throughout the game or more implementation with the combat; but what was there was fun enough to keep the game up.
Enemy variety is another great aspect of Skellboy. Enemies of various flavors were thrown throughout the game, even if the standard zombie enemy did appear everywhere throughout. Even though there’s enough visual flair to each enemy, each of their mechanics was used way too often presenting a sort of monotonous approach to fighting them. There does seem to be a drastic difficulty spike when multiple enemies are on the screen at the same time, as well. I often found myself having to backtrack to several areas between checkpoints only to get absolutely destroyed by a horde of enemies.
Skellboy’s most unfortunate issue is performance. The frame rate while playing would often drastically drop when multiple (oftentimes 3-4 enemies+) were on the screen, leading to my demise. A lot of the issues could derive from how stunning the visuals look while trying to run on the Switch, but some more optimization is needed.
