Hey ma, can I turn on my (now) $1100 CAD PS5 Pro to play a game that looks like it travelled through time from 1987 to torment me in 2026? If the idea of playing an unforgiving, gory, retro style, 2D platformer sounds like a fun time for you, then you’ve come to the right review! 

Saint Slayer: Spear of Sacrilege embodies the NES 2D action, platformer gameplay. Developed by Lillymo Games, the game features Rudiger as he travels through 21 stages of stunning, pixel art from the NES-era. The important thing to figure out, is if this is something you might want.

The Full Story

A farmer named Rudiger must travel across the a war torn land to stop a power-mad priest from ravaging the place. It’s set in a fictional European country in 1698, with a high emphasis on the Catholic religion and relics throughout the Holy Roman Empire. 

As we play through the game, we’ll meet new NPCs, and pick up lore from the collectibles, learning more about the world as well as about Rudiger.

Overall, the story takes a step back with more focus on gameplay, as the narrative is minimal and only slightly interesting.

The game is played in 21 stages, with 7 bosses. Saint Slayer is NOT a metroidvania. No back tracking, only forward. In fact, if you fail and lose all your lives (you have 6 in Normal difficulty), you start from the very beginning if you don’t have the necessary green orbs to revive yourself. However, you’ll be given a password if you’d like to start from the stage you died on, though this will not count as a full run. 

Slayer of the Sacrilegious 

The goal of Saint Slayer is to give us brutal, gory, 2D platforming gameplay, akin to Castlevania. Since this is basically a game from 1987 in 2026, it’s difficult to not draw comparisons between the two. If you’ve played the original Castlevania, you’ll have a great idea as to what you’re walking into. If not, and you’re looking for modern gameplay mechanics, read on, especially if you’re interesting in getting into Saint Slayer. 

Rudiger starts off as a dirk wielding character who later gets a spear. With your weapons, you’re able to thrust/slash left or right, and thrust downwards while mid-air which allows you to pogo on enemies (with animations reminiscent of Adventure of Link). It’s unfortunate that Rudiger doesn’t know how to poke his spear upwards to attack enemies above us though…

Pressing up + attack throws your weapon. You can also gain modifiers for your thrown weapon, such as exploding upon impact. The usage of this is quite limited, in comparison to Castlevania, as you can throw as much as you have rosary for. On Normal difficulty, this means 3 rosaries. Not only is this extremely limiting, the “ammo” you pick up to replenish it doesn’t come often enough. This makes using your thrown weapon and its modifiers less interesting and less reliable. 

Overall, the weapon and upgrade system and variety in Saint Slayer is near non-existent. This is a bit of a step-back from the game’s inspiration. Rudiger’s weapon undergoes three levels which is determined by what stage you’re on. And there are only three throw modifiers; bomb, splitting, and two-way.

When it comes to enemies, the variety is serviceable, however, they have great animations and characteristics based on their colouration. It’s unfortunate that they didn’t substitute some of the different coloured enemies into something else. Also, as expected, there is contact damage if you touch enemies and the resulting knock-back could make you want to throw your controller at the TV. But this is what we signed up for, right? Luckily, there is are 4 difficulty settings with Easy taking away this knock-back.  

Old-School Platformer

Once again, if you are familiar with Castlevania, you’ll be at home with how the platforming feels like in Saint Slayer, albeit it’s more responsive than its inspiration. It feels great to control Rudiger once you learn his rules.

The rules: 

• 1 jumping height
• You can’t move forward or back once you’ve jumped 
• You can jump down through platforms
• You learn slide later in the game

This feels restrictive if you’re used to playing more modern platformers, but otherwise feels great once you understand what the game wants from you. 

A neat “addition” to their platforming formula is that you’re able to use your thrown weapon as a platform to get to out-of-reach areas. It’s a neat system, that is unfortunately under utilized. 

They Belong in a Museum

Perhaps the best past about Saint Slayer: Spear of Sacrilege is their password system. Not only does it allow you to start a specific stage using a predetermined password for each stage and difficulty, you’ll also discover passwords that can completely change the way it plays. This adds a great level of replay value. For example, the GREED password will turn your HP into coins and you’ll need to maintain it, much like Sonic the Hedgehog. There are many passwords to discover, as well as hidden ones that you might find while reading the load screen tooltips, so keep your eyes peeled!

Be careful though, as this game has no real save files. The only thing that carries over through your multiple runs are the green orb currency, as well as any collectibles you’ve found. So if you made it to Stage 17, press quit and decide to check out that new password you obtained from a treasure you found, it’ll start you at Stage 1 with whatever modifier that password gave you.

Regardless, Saint Slayer is a short game, probably 5hrs max per run. Shorter if replaying. And I am happy to tell you, that even though I’m not the type to continue playing a game I’ve completed, I played through the game in its entirety, three times!

Vanilla Ending

Saint Slayer: Spear of Sacrilege is a fantastic homage to NES-style 2D platformers, bringing retro gameplay to today’s gamers. They say that imitation is the greatest form of flattery, right? Fans of Castlevania will immediately recognize enemies and their attack patterns, platforming, levels, and items. 

However, while I fully enjoyed 100% of my time with the game, I feel a bit conflicted. Based on what I played, Lillymo Game obviously wanted to make a game that changes next to nothing from their “inspiration” beside its setting. Knowing that, it still makes me wish that they expanded on it with better enemy and weapon/ability variety. Taking what they loved about their inspiration, and honouring it by being better than them.

If you’re looking for Castlevania of 1987 through a new skin, this is the game for you. It sounds, looks, and feels fantastic to play; a perfect “port” of an old game to 2026. However, if you’re looking for an NES-style 2D platformer with retro gameplay, but expanded upon, this might disappoint, like adding sprinkles on your vanilla ice-cream.

Saint Slayer: Spear of Sacrilege was reviewed on PS5, Gamer Social Club would like to thank the Devs and publisher for the code.

Saint Slayer: Spear of Sacrilege is scheduled to release on April 20th, 2026. It will be available on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.