Gauntlet™ Slayer Edition

While browsing the steam store I stumbled upon this game and I thought this is a regular Hack and Slash RPG title, so I bought it. But no, very shortly after playing it was obvious something is strange. This is actually a remake of a ( apparently ) popular arcade game from 1985. The crucial factor to stress out is that Gauntlet is made for playing co-op ( up to 4 players ). It is not made for playing singleplayer! Not one of the steam reviews cared to mention that. Practically it's one of those games like Payday where you are dependent on other people ( a group of friends or random online players ) in order to beat the levels, and I'm talking about the normal difficulty! When you are a new player, the difficulty ramps up very quickly after the first few levels and you need support. Luckily there are still people online that play the game. I could find people almost every day, so I managed to beat the game with 2 classes. This game has a strong fan base and passionate players who still play after so many years and they actually like to help new players ( what is called boosting noobs ). Most of them are very nice and helpful. This is a rare case where the community is much better then the game. It's an arcade remake so it's relatively short ( but it's actually 30 levels, some are very short some are longer ). The combat mechanic is very simple. Left click, right click attack and a few key buttons. There are 4 classes + 1 DLC class. They are completely disbalanced, some are much stronger and independent then others ( because they can avoid damage better and thus survive ). With some classes you can play solo most of the levels. I didn't like that there is no leveling up, each class has only a few skills. Only the wizard has more skills (spells) but they made that class overly complicated because you actually have to memorize too many key button combos. Most of the skills are weird, different from similar games. Also some of the mechanic is completely outdated. Example: the ranger has a quick and a strong archery attack. For the strong attack you have to click every time you want to release an arrow! In most simlar games you just have to hold the right mouse button, but here you have to click the RMB every time! With the money grinded from levels you can buy new gear, but not in the regular RPG way, where you buy increasingly better items. Here you can buy......different items. It's true, some of the expensive things you end up buying are much better then the default gear, but nonetheless, there is no obvious item progression. The graphics is obviously mediocre. The sound also. The story practically non-existent. The game is repetitive to say the least. The levels are all similar. You have rooms/caves with buildings that spawn monsters and rooms/caves with only monsters. You can only find gold, food and mana potions. I didn't like that there is no health potions or food you can carry. Here there is only food you can eat on the spot but nothing you can carry for later. But all that is not a surprise anymore when you know this is an arcade game. When you buy the stronger items you can actually solo most of the levels, but some of the bosses are brutal, especially the end boss which is impossible solo. You actually need 3 or 4 people for the end boss, and at least 1 or 2 of them must be veterans! So for sure I didn't prefer the structure of this game nor did I like post-campain content: an endless dungeon and a brutally hard "colosseum" which has challenges made for a full group. Thanks to a great community the experience was nonetheless nice and fun, for the most part. But I can't recommend a game in which you are so dependent on others.

In name only. Boring generic mashup of others games not remotely OG Gauntlet. Anyone responsible for making this garbage should be left without food.

7/10 A classic. I briefly played the original Gauntlet back when it was just an arcade coin-slot game. It's been around for a while and this reboot does not disappoint. It manages to keep all of the charm of the original, including the isometric aesthetic despite also having updated graphics that make things more detailed, a rare sight indeed. The gameplay is fun and balanced, each character has a specific role to play and a specific playstyle that makes them feel unique. It's a bit hard to find matches on anything other than max difficulty, so be sure to spend some time familiarizing yourself with your character's unique moveset. If you're looking for a fun, fast-paced multiplayer dungeon crawl but you're a no-life like me and don't have any friends to play D&D with then this is the game for you.

I honestly would have liked this game ever so slightly more if it had not called itself Gauntlet. As someone who grew up on Dark Legacy, this game just wasn't anything I was after. Might be worth the 85% off sale price if you want a simple hack and slash, but keep in mind that there just isn't much game here. Extremely little progression, only four characters with very few (only 3, if memory serves) buttons to push each, and every level felt like they were made by a roguelike's generator and had the visual template applied afterward. There's very little here and they shouldn't have called it Gauntlet. Do not pay more than about $5 for this. Its purchase price in your snack of choice will last longer and probably be more enjoyable.

🌟 [b][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45575657]Follow Ainsel Reviews - Curator for the weird & lovely[/url][/b] 🌟 Gauntlet feels like an echo from crowded living rooms, CRT screens, and shouted warnings across the couch. A game that remembers when dungeon crawling was loud, messy, and best enjoyed together. The formula is classic for a reason. Pick a hero, dive into the maze, smash everything that moves, grab gold, repeat. It wastes no time pretending to be something it’s not. The controls are immediate, the combat is chunky, and the feedback is wonderfully old-school. You always know what hit you and why. On your own, it’s a fun and focused action romp. Solid, responsive, and easy to slip into for a run or two. But let’s be honest. That’s not why this exists. Co-op is the soul of the experience. With friends, the game comes alive. Rooms explode into chaos, everyone yelling about food, gold, and incoming hordes. Reviving a teammate feels like a small heroic act. Stealing gold feels like tradition. Mistakes turn into laughter instead of frustration. It captures that rare feeling where failure is still fun because you’re failing together. Each character plays a clear role without locking anyone into rigid responsibilities. You learn each other’s habits, move as a group, and slowly develop that unspoken rhythm that only good co-op games manage to create. The difficulty pushes the team, not the individual, which keeps things tense without becoming punishing. Progression stays light and respectful. Loot and upgrades add flavor, not homework. The game always feels ready for “one more run”, and that’s its greatest trick. It never demands your time. It invites it. This is not a game about deep systems or long-winded lore. It’s about shared momentum, quick decisions, and the simple joy of surviving a dungeon with friends. An enjoyable solo experience. A nostalgic, chaotic, genuinely great co-op game.

I'm not sure what it is. Playing through the campaign single player it just doesn't feel like a gauntlet game. It feels much worse than Dark Legacy. Might be more fun with friends later. They have a riveting story of you're entertaining a wizard for money. (Spoiler) They changed death drastically. You can't kill him with a potion anymore, now he just follows you slowly and if he touches you it's instant death. But he just disappears and reappears in some levels just because. Basically they've made death a temporary annoyance. Same with actually dying. Respawn in 5 seconds, pick up your gold, carry on. There's 0 stakes, 0 story, nothing to compel the initial grind. Might be worth checking out for 3$, definitely not worth 20$.

This seems like they watered down classic Gauntlet...... Not sure I can honestly recommend it as the gameplay will get stale rather quickly.