Gauntlet: Slayer Edition on PS+ now in December!
Ah fresh new adventurers! Welcome! I am Morak, the only wizard powerful enough to have summoned the Gauntlet. For decades I have held these dungeons and caverns, watching bones of fools past turn into dust. Let’s see if you make it further than those who called themselves heroes before.
If you have not yet tried your luck in our Gauntlet, we are happy to let you know that this month all brave PS+ members get their chance to play Gauntlet: Slayer Edition for free!
Don’t own a PlayStation 4? It’s also possible to buy Gauntlet on Steam here.
In our take on the classic arcade game Gauntlet, you play as any of the 4 iconic Heroes of the past – Warrior, Valkyrie, Elf and Wizard – each with their own gameplay and abilities. We’ve mixed the good old hack’n’slash action with our own new gameplay elements. You can co-op up to 4 players locally, online or a mix of both when invading the depths of the Gauntlet. Now’s a perfect time to attempt to defeat Morak and stuff your pockets with as much gold as possible!
The journey of developing a game is also like going on a big adventure, with some scary deep dungeons every once in a while. About two years before any player set their foot in Gauntlet we took off with the first steps of pre-production; a crazy one-weekend-prototype where we tried to capture the essence of what the Gauntlet mood would be.
We continued through the many ups and downs of the road, the tough passages and the impossibly epic tasks in short time. It truly was a trial and a great learning experience but finally we got there – we were at the Last Boss which is final delivery week.
Launch day is always a very special day. Our game would finally be seen by the world! We had stocked up with beer and pizza and the atmosphere at the studio was full of suspense and excitement. We gathered around the big TV and started browsing Twitch for streams of Gauntlet: Slayer Edition, armed with a couple of laptops on the side – to jump into the chats and cheer them on!
We were a little anxious that anything could happen. Would they like Gauntlet? Would they understand how to play? Was it too hard or too easy? Would people be harsh in the chat (it’s the internet after all…)?
Something amazing happened instead! We got into a chat room of a stream and started interacting with people in the chat, letting the streamer and viewers know that all the devs were watching and celebrating. Of course the crowd wanted a picture so we took the one above, and were showered with the most kindhearted appreciation!
Did you know…?
- Slayer was the working title for the Gauntlet project from the start (Arrowhead name all their projects after metal bands or songs) – therefore Slayer Edition became the final edition.
- There might be a little Magicka wizard and Helldivers hellpod to be found somewhere on the map.
- The level Maxime’s Mummuary was originally named The Ossuary which led to a Maxime at QA reporting a bug that there should be skeletons in an ossuary, but were only mummies. Tribute renaming of level – bug fixed!
- The loading screen tips “Did you know that tips are shown during the loading screen” and “Don’t drink and drive” are classics in Arrowhead’s games.
- Thor doesn’t only long for a rack of lamb, but likes beer too. The voice actor is also known for the Carlsberg slogan “Probably the best beer in the world”.
- The “mini beast” became quite the Gauntlet veteran. It was the monster in the very first concept prototype, later became our playable version’s first enemy, was used as the elf’s temporary arrow for a while (yes it was very weird) and now finally resides as a statue in a Caves level.
- Perhaps someone can figure out what the Wizards’s Heckdelver set resembles? ;)
- Some Arrowhead team members make excellent sounds for orcs, imps and skeletons in game.
- The level The Sea of Darkness, was inspired by the Italian cult horror movie ‘The Beyond (1981)’
- If you look closely at the Warrior’s set Champion’s Mantle, the bears on the shoulders are a tribute to Silver Fang’s Akakabuto and Harpoon bear.
Since releasing Gauntlet: Slayer Edition on the PS4 we have seen many fearless heroes enter the depths, never to be seen again…
Now, with a fresh wave of incoming adventurers, hope once again is restored. Will you take up the challenge for the honor, glory and treasure which can be found in the Gauntlet? These tough, monster-filled dungeons are not for the feint of heart!
We’re looking forward to seeing many of you in game! Remember: a turkey isn’t just for the holidays. Many adventurers will be finding that they #NeedFoodBadly inside the Gauntlet this December. Good luck on your quest!
We will leave you with some of the wonderful comments from the community that really warms our hearts.
Gauntlet has been my favorite game series ever and this one is no different
I was looking forward to Gauntlet Slayer edition. What you guys did is truly amazing and stays true to the original game.
This is fantastic… Most devs would have left the game alone by now regardless of how they felt about the game. To revisit the core game experience with so many tweaks and hard work is far above and beyond what I’ve come to expect in the modern gaming industry.
Thank you Arrowhead for bringing local co-op back :-)
Good stuff. I loved the art style. It reminded me of the old table top RPGs my older brother used to play. The game had a sort of… Saturday morning D&D feel. Very good decision in taking it.
I love invading the darkness
Would love if you fixed the portal system in Endless so I don’t spend over 60 minutes just warping to level 7000 and beyond. Did you not think anyone would play that far? Great game though and too bad no cross-play is allowed so people on different platforms can game with eachother. It fragments the community but since the game is out of development I guess that doesn’t matter?
We would love to know more of this issue you are running into, it would be wonderful if you could capture a video sequence of it happening! If you can do it, and describe the steps to make the issue happen and exactly what happens, we’de be very grateful if you email it to us.
And level 7000 is exceptionally far, congrats on your progress!
Getting crossplay to work between the systems would be no small thing unfortunately, as we don’t host any servers or store people’s data. There is already a pretty nice post by one of the Rocket League devs explaining why it is so tricky here: https://m.reddit.com/r/RocketLeague/comments/3b20r8/question_about_cross-platform_play/csipzgm
Arrowhead will we see more DLC characters maybe next year?! Need more characters!!! The necromancer is awesome…maybe a monk or paladin? Even a Witch doctor?
Most likely not, since development is over. Sorry :(
Hallå Arrowhead! Kort fråga – varför envisas ni med att inte kalla hjältarna vid deras riktiga namn? Varför säger ni inte uttryckligen Questor, Merlin, Thor och Thyra? Får ni inte använda namnen så som ni tecknat avtalet med upphovsrättsinnehavaren (Atari?), eller klämmer skon någon annanstans?
@ArrowheadGS:disqus – hallå?
Hello! To answer your question: We use their names and “Classes” interchangeably. Sometimes we use their names, and sometimes we use their Class. In the original, only their Class is used so we often use it to invoke the feeling of that old classic :)
Arrowhead – close, but no cigar! The original version clearly states their names, as this screenshot and floppy cover evidently show:
https://www.c64-wiki.com/images/a/a5/Gauntlet_menue.gif
http://gamesdbase.com/Media/SYSTEM/Commodore_64/Advert/big/Gauntlet_II_-_1987_-_U.S._Gold_Ltd..jpg
Also, the actual coin-op version doesn’t really do anything to make the main cast’s names a secret. In fact, they are presented on the cabinet itself:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6229/6226846092_efb69bfa8c_b.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6035/6226846292_0816d8f023_b.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6157/6226846550_fcd7617199_b.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6091/6226327835_80d01afd14_b.jpg
For Gauntlet 2 (and Xbox One/Android TV?), please don’t hold their names back!
@ArrowheadGS:disqus – eftersom ni uppenbarligen inte är intresserade av att fortsätta den här diskussionen konstaterar jag att det är tråkigt (då jag är ett fan), men lyfter på hatten och önskar en god jul.
yo the game crashes when u use the turn enemy to food talisman and the food to gold relic on that food.. crashes ps4 version instantly please fix. i thought this was a clever way of farming gold only to break the game :(
We will have a look into it :)
Hello, first i’d say this is a great game. but, don’t you think that the endless mode is too hard, I have spent so much time to get the trophy (50 levels in the endless mode), but the best i can do is 32, no checkpoints, sometimes even worse with some rondom players. Are there any chances for us to get the trophy?
Everyone finds different things difficult or easy. Have you tried asking for tips on the forums? Or putting together a good group?
Hi will the pre-order items be available as well to PS4 players as what happen to PC players as stated on http://steamcommunity.com/games/258970/announcements/detail/63406498410227025
Just PC players, sorry!
Look very promising, how come and it’s not available on PS3? I guess PS3 is old news now
Is the armor, helmet, and such, just for cosmetic purpose? Is there a way to increase health of a character?
Hi! Great game, but very time my friends and I get together to play 4 player (logged into our accounts. 2 of those are PS4 Plus accounts) we finish a stage and then the game freezes on a black screen. This happens right before its suppose to show our stats for the stage- kills, gold collected, crown bonus etc. Our players exit the stage and then it goes to black. It doesn’t save and it happens almost every single time. Rarely we are able to advance to the next stage when we are in 4 player mode but over half the time it goes to black and stays that way. Our PS4 is up to date with updates. Is there something we need to do? Thanks again for a great game.
Hi Lorna,
Sorry to hear you are having these problems. We are aware of players reporting this and doing our best to look into what can be done to solve the issue :) When we have more information about this we will post an update. Hopefully we will be able to resolve it :)
We get the black screen with just 2 players, especially after finishing Bone Barracks level, on hard play. Totally sucks.
Amazing game back to life!