Stickman Slayer 2 (2022 Video Game)

Stickman Slayer 2, also known as Stickman Slayer 2: Invasion of the Cybernetic is a run and gun video game developed and published by indie game studio Blue Galaxy Studios in 2022. It is a direct sequel to the 2020 game, Stickman Slayer also developed by Blue Galaxy Studios. It follows the same art direction and animation techniques as the original game. However it’s development is a much different story. The game follows Jim and Cool Bro, living by themselves on earth with the few people left. One day, a mysterious object lands on earth, containing thousands of robots who were sent to kill all remaining life on earth and make earth their own. The game is still a run and gunplatfomer and retains most of the same elements but this game also introduced a lot of new elements. The game received mixed to positive reviews this time around, but was very successful commercially earning around 3 million dollars the first 2 weeks of release!

Gameplay
The gameplay is mostly the same as its predecessor. Focusing on run and gun levels and bosses. However, this sequel introduced many new elements to the game. This includes being cool bro on single player (originally meant to be a second player only option) new mini-game mode, voice chat on online-multiplayer (chat was the only communication in the original) side-quests, and even a level maker, available as a DLC. Many fans loved the new additions to the game!

Plot
The game takes place a year after the original Stickman Slayer. Jim and Cool Bro live peaceful life‘s on earth with the last remaining stickmen. One day, Jim notices a UFO in the sky and it lands on earth. They discover inside is a robot civilization that vows to kill all of them and take over earth. Jim and Cool Bro decide to stop these robots once in for all and end the inevitable apocalypse. Some friends die along the way but they eventually save the world and live in peace for the rest of their life’s. This game is set to be the last in the stickman slayer series.

Development
After the success of Stickman Slayer, Blue Galaxy Studios knew they needed to make a sequel. Thankfully, they had gathered a far larger team and could finish the game far faster than the original. Jonathan was still directing the whole project and wanted to make sure they made a good sequel. The whole project definitely had a bigger budget and was going to be far bigger than the original. “I wanted to make a sequel that retained the style but was bigger in scale” Jonathan stated in an interview. They still did all the animation traditionally. The team decided to go for a more darker tone this time around with the robots, despite one of the main criticisms with the first game being the dark tone. Over 2-3 years, the team developed the sequel and tried to make it even better than the first. One of the members of the team, Axel Howard said the sequel was more of a grind to make as opposed to the first was meant as a passion project. The development team said they were happy to work with these characters again and make another game like this. However, stress was still high because they didn’t know if fans would like it as much as the original. After the game was finished, Jonathan Belmonte said this in an interview “I’m glad we made the stickman slayer games, but I think we are ready to move on to other projects.” Confirming that a third game was not going to happen.

Release
The game was originally revealed with a trailer on Blue Galaxy's youtube channel on December 25, 2021. It gained millions of views and was #2 on trending in gaming for a little. The hype was undoubtedly high for the game. The release date was not revealed until a tweet came out from the official twitter on February 5, 2022, announcing the release date was September 10, 2022. More trailers and promos came out between the time of the announcement and release date. The game released on Steam on September 10, 2022 for $14.99. Console ports and such were already planned and were scheduled to come out later that year and some possibly in 2023.