Hydra Slayer
You are facing a nine-headed hydra. Your flaming longsword cuts five heads in each swipe (no more, no less), which will kill a five-headed hydra, but a larger one will regrow two heads after each swipe. Your storm scythe cuts exactly seven heads, but it makes ten heads grow back if the hydra is not dead. Is it possible to kill the hydra? What if you also had a silver dagger, which cuts just one head, but makes five heads grow back?
Solution: It is impossible without the silver dagger (the number of heads always stays divisible by 3), but possible with the silver dagger, for example: 9 -> longsword -> 6 -> longsword -> 3 -> dagger -> 7 -> scythe -> 0.
If you liked this puzzle, and you also like dungeon crawling, Hydra Slayer is for you!
Hydra Slayer is a roguelike (randomly generated dungeon crawler), with unique combat mechanics based on the puzzle above. It is challenging both at a short term tactical level (each hydra is a unique challenge, bumping into it with your weapon almost never works), and at a long term strategy level (you have to build a set of weapons which slays hydras effectively). While the early levels could be used to teach arithmetics and tactical planning in a fun way, building an effective set of weapons for late levels is a challenge even for expert number theorists!
Hydra Slayer currently features a tutorial, 5 player character races with distinct characteristics, 28 enemy types (10 common hydras, each in two varieties, and 8 special enemies), 28 types of equipment including rare artifact weapons with special properties (not counting material and size variations), 15 weapon materials, 18 types of magical items which help you in your quests, three game geometries to choose from, 8 level topologies on very deep levels (including the Möbius strip and Klein bottle), 11 level generators, and two endings (a small victory for quick challenges and more casual players, and a big victory for those who want more challenge).
The Steam version of Hydra Slayer includes online achievements and leaderboards, a “challenge” mode for short but very interesting games (much more unpredictable than the normal play), traps to lead hydras on, and Orbs which provide a powder/potion effect many times at the cost of a weapon slot!
Game Discussion
Steam User 66
Подробная русскоязычная рецензия здесь:
Very cool, but very specific game. If you are a mathematician, programmer, roguelike fan or just a nerd, most likely, this game is for you. Otherwise... Anyway, if you're not outright scared with the concept of killing ancient beasts with the power of math, you should give it a try.
You can start with the free version. Keep in mind, though, that free version lacks some recent and/or steam-specific features.
P.S. Sorry for my poor, google-powered English.
P.P.S. This is my very first review. Yes, that game is awesome enough to make me do it.
Steam User 14
(My playtime also includes several hours of the free version prior to it being on Steam.)
A lot of people complain that games are getting too dumbed down. Hydra Slayer is here to remind you that actually, you only want a game as smart as you are, and you ain't all that smart, sunshine. Hydra Slayer is a game that literally has a powerup that tells you exactly how you can optimally fight everything on screen, and you're still going to lose a lot.
It's a great game in small spurts before the crushing despair gets to you. It's not for everyone, but if you want a hardcore game, Dark Souls is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ice cream cone next to Hydra Slayer.
Steam User 42
Hydra Slayer is a rogue like game which tasks the player with.... Killing Hydras. Hydras are large snake like creatures, killing them requires cutting off their heads.. The game has various weapons and magics, each weapon can remove a certain number of hydra heads, the task is to eventually widdle the head number down to zero, using math to figure out the correct weapon or magic to use. It qualifies as a rogue like game but onw in your typical go into dungeon, slash up enemies, and collect up items. This game has enemies, and items but the math aspect makes the game unique.
This game won't be for everyone, the math and different weapons aspect seems to be both cliche and unique. I personally found the game to be rather exciting to play, it came across as a roguelike, but had some puzzle elements, and the added math problems made it challenging enough to last for numerous hours.
The graphics are kind of minimal, but they really aren't needed to enjoy the game.
pro's
Challenging game play
interesting take on rogue like
old school game play
many weapons to choose from
multiple races to pick from
con's
music could be a bit better
The math aspect was ok, but really could have been ditched
Conclusion
A fun retro old school game which will offer any rogue like fan quite a few hours of fun and adventure. Can you become the hero and slay the hydra, save the princess, reap the gold and set yourself apart from all the pretenders..
Steam User 40
Thank you to the developer for generously supplying me with a review key.
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For anyone who likes classic roguelike games with fresh new mechanics, Hydra Slayer is a must-have.
This game is highly addictive; while it is completely its own original thing, it has hints of the Desktop Dungeons playstyle/strategy mixed in there. With that being said, it isn't nearly as frustrating or pure-coffee-break game as Desktop Dungeons.
Essentially, the game plays as a straightforward roguelike dungeon crawler with the interesting mechanic of how the combat plays out. A great majority of the enemies are hydras with varying number of heads. The weapons you wield can kill or stun a certain number of heads, therefore making it a bit of a math puzzle in how you go about taking down the hydras on every level. Once you kill all the hydras on a level, you progress. There are no shops. Items are found scattered throughout the levels in a mostly pre-determined fashion. It all works very well.
One thing I want to stress, is that while knowledge of elementary mathematics is a substantial part of solving the hydra puzzles, this isn't inherently some kind of educational math game. Once you learn the system and know where to look, the game does alot of the math for you. If you absolutely hate adding a few numbers in your head, I'd probably stay away, but otherwise don't let the 'math' portion of this scare you away.
Pros:
+Brilliantly fresh new mechanic for a roguelike. It all works so well.
+I love games (specifically roguelikes) that truly reward learning the system. The kind of thing where a newbie has < 5% chance to succeed, while a veteran who understands the nuances has >90%. This game truly does this, and does it well. As time goes on, I can easily get to higher/deeper levels. There are no meta-game unlocks either.
+The playable classes are all brilliantly thought out, and vastly different. I could go on and on about this point, but simply explore that for yourself!
+I play a lot of roguelikes, and the items in this game are far more functional and really fun to use compared with most other roguelikes. Nothing feels redundant or wasteful with the item functionality.
+Keyboard controls are super smooth, as should be for any classic rougelike.
+There is like three or so majorly different layouts you can choose from. Ranging from a hex-grid to isometric, and more.
+The Steam achievements are very appropriate, and will have you coming back for dozens of hours, if not more.
Cons:
-Music and sound could be better. I mean they are ok, but really what you are getting here is a hugely addictive gaming mechanic.
-Artwork is ok as well, but I would love to see some wicked pixel art tiles!
-As with ADOM, the engine can give some slowdown, but it is fairly manageable. There are alot of settings on NotEye, so maybe I just haven't found the sweet spot yet.
-I'm hoping a community-backed Wiki pops up! Or at least some detailed Steam guides woud be great. Its not a 'con' of the game, but something I'm putting out there! I will try to make a guide after I have more hours under my belt (I am at about 15 total so far).
This is brilliantly done, and highly addictive. Y'know if you are on the fence you can try the game for free by downloading it from the developer's website, but I assure you it has earned its asking price. This is a no-brainer for any lover of the classic roguelike.
Steam User 10
Definitely worth 3 euros. Where else can you meet a 33565-headed hydra and have to decide with which sword you need to strike first?
Steam User 3
Suppose you are given the following:
an integer heads representing the number of heads a given hydra has
an array of tuples weapons such that weapons indicates the number of heads a weapon will remove and weapons indicates the number of heads the hydra will regrow after being struck by the weapon
Write an algorithm which calculates the fewest number of blows required to reduce the hydra to exactly zero heads.
This is the point in the review where I would laughingly reassure the reader that the above gobbledegook is a misrepresentation of Hydra Slayer and that it does not require a calculator to play. But that would be a lie -- there's math here, full stop. If you don't like arithmetic, I recommend running away (and perhaps check out the developer's also-very-good and less overtly mathy HyperRogue).
I'm astonished that this game even exists. Traditional roguelikes are already a niche genre, then top that with raw calculations burdening the player. I didn't even think I would like it until I downloaded it to see if it worked on macOS Monterey (it does!) and somehow got stuck for hours. It helps that it is very easy to play: there are tiles by default and optional (very good) ASCII, you can play with keyboard (with vi keys!) or mouse, and there's a whole lot of available customization.
I've had a lot of small moments of joy playing Hydra Slayer, like deciding not to use a scroll which enhances a weapon because then it would be too strong and therefore worse(??), or finding a weapon called a Decimator, realizing that that literally just means division by 10, then unironically getting excited about the implications. If it's the kind of thing you think you'd like, then it's a full recommendation from me.
Steam User 4
A unique, mathematics based tactical and strategical roguelike where every battle and choice matters and several layers of math puzzles have to be solved at every point in the game. Will get your brain churning in a way no other roguelike will. 5 races and a huge amount of weapon variety await - if you can keep your brain in gear and make it further than your last run.