SlashZero gets a 10-hour demo on PC and PS5

Streetlamp Studio and publisher Skystone Games have released a new story trailer and a massive limited-time demo for SlashZero on PC and PlayStation 5. The demo went live during this week's State of Play broadcast and runs until September 23.

The project was originally announced earlier this year at the Future Games Show. It is a 3D anime-style cyberpunk side-scrolling action roguelike. You play as a Timehacker jumping between unstable realities to stop an entity called HIEROS-I. The new story trailer leans heavily into the cinematic narrative, but the real draw is the playable build.

Ten hours is a lot for a demo

Most pre-release demos offer a vertical slice that takes maybe thirty minutes to clear. Streetlamp Studio packed up to 10 hours of content into this one. It is available right now on Steam and the PlayStation Store.

The demo introduces a new playable character named Hamlet. He is a robot equipped with a longsword and shield, joining the roster of test characters from earlier closed builds. I want to see how his heavier, defensive playstyle meshes with the game's focus on high-mobility parkour and aerial combos. The combat system relies heavily on responsive parries and juggling enemies in the air, which usually favors faster characters.

The developers built a layered meta-progression system for the roguelike elements, where runs are modified by upgrade chips and elemental blessings that change how your attacks behave. Finding the right build synergies will likely take up a good chunk of that playtime.

The studio and the platforms

Streetlamp Studio is an independent developer focusing on stylized, fast-paced action games. They partnered with Skystone Games for global publishing. Skystone is a multiplatform publisher founded in 2020 by industry veterans, including Diablo co-creator David Brevik. They previously handled titles like Undying and Spacelines from the Far Out.

SlashZero fits into a growing trend of high-mobility action roguelikes that blend 2D side-scrolling with 3D environments. The setting is a fracturing cyberpunk dystopia. The narrative setup involves false timelines and a collapsing reality, with trailer dialogue featuring a character urging the protagonist to face reality. It provides a convenient excuse for the roguelike loop, since every run represents a different timeline attempt.

I am curious whether the combat holds up over repeated runs. Action roguelikes live or die by their enemy variety and how much the upgrade chips actually change the core moveset. If the elemental blessings just add passive damage numbers, the aerial combos will get repetitive fast. If they alter the physics or add new combo routes, the demo will fly by.

The game is coming to both Steam and the Epic Games Store on PC, alongside the PlayStation 5 version. The trailer confirms a launch window of Spring 2025, though current release schedules target early 2027 for the full commercial release. Players have until September 23 to download and try the current build.