History VideoGame / SlayersXTerminalAftermathVenganceOfTheSlayer

** The drawing of Zane that appears when respawning after a death is a homage to the album art for [[Music/LimpBizkit Limp Bizkit's]] ''Music/SignificantOther'', tying in with Zane Lofton's affinity for NuMetal.

** The drawing of Zane that appears when respawning after a death features him posing similarly to the silhouette in the Music/LimpBizkit logo, tying in with Zane Lofton's affinity for NuMetal.

* ApprovalOfGod: In-universe. Mikey Sykey (the frontman on NuMetal band Seepage) agreed to be part of Zane's project after [[VideoGame/HypnospaceOutlaw the Hypnospace archive went public]]; Mikey saw the original ''Slayers X'' comics, which featured him as a prominent character, and loved them. He was ''so'' enthusiastic that he allowed Zane to use Seepage's music, and even composed a new song specifically for the game, as well as voicing the fictional version of himself. His voice acting is [[TookTheBadFilmSeriously surprisingly competent]] compared to the amateurish or phoned-in performances of everyone else, lending genuine emotion to his death scene in particular.

* ApprovalOfGod: In-universe. Mikey Sykey (the frontman on NuMetal band Seepage) agreed to be part of Zane's project after [[VideoGame/HypnospaceOutlaw the Hypnospace archive went public]]; Mikey saw Zane's original ''Slayers X'' comics and loved them. He was ''so'' enthusiastic that he allowed Zane to use Seepage's music, and even composed a new song specifically for the game, as well as voicing the fictional version of himself. His voice acting is [[TookTheBadFilmSeriously surprisingly competent]] compared to the amateurish or phoned-in performances of everyone else, lending genuine emotion to his death scene in particular.

** S-Blade: Zane's basic melee weapon, a sword with a blade shaped like an S. If Zane's Hackblood meter is at 95% or higher, he can also shoot {{Sword Beam}}s using the S-Blade.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: The comic of Zane's origin as an X Slayer, both in ''Hypnospace Outlaw'', depict a BigRedDevil preparing to kill Zane, with the last line implying that demons are Psykos. The comic doesn't resolve this character, and neither does this game: demons never show up (besides the printed copies of the original comics in the attic), nobody mentions or references them, and Psykos are instead {{Artificial Human}}s.

* NoGearLevel: Level 5 removes all of Zane's weapons except the S Blade, but gives him automatic Hackblood recharge so he's not completely defenseless.

* RealPlaceBackground: This game's setting is loosely modeled on ''Hypnospace Outlaw'''s version of Boise, Idaho. One of the locations is a Dollar$haver, Zane's place of work, and another is the Boise Potato Festival, referring to the real-world Idaho Spud Day.

** In-universe one regarding [[{{Phonymon}} SquisherZ]]. A secret is hidden behind a wall with "[=SquisherZ=] Sucks!" written on it, and in said secret you can shoot an Ickygoo, its Pikachu equivalent.

** The attic of the X Slayer dojo contains Zane's comic of his origin as an X Slayer, which was part of his Hypnospace page.

** The Steel Sewer where the X Slayers base their operations is derived from Zane's crude drawing of it in his comic, featuring a band stage, firing range, and a giant TV with video games.

** The animation playing in Mevin's home theater is [[https://tcrf.net/images/d/d9/HSO-Zane1.gif Zane getting decapitated]], an animation seen in earlier versions of ''Hypnospace Outlaw'' before the ''Plus'' update changed it to Zane getting punched.

* DelusionsOfEloquence: One of the final few levels is essentially titled "stinky valley", but with the words swapped out for sophisticated-sounding ones in the incorrect context.

%%* TrapIsTheOnlyOption: The end of the Boise Potato Festival is an innocuous-looking forest route leading to the level exit. Crossing it on foot opens up a sudden pitfall into the next level, Crevasse of Repugnant. If the player attempts to skip the trap by flying using the Hackblood Talismen or the

* TrapIsTheOnlyOption: The end of the Boise Potato Festival is an innocuous-looking forest route leading to the level exit. Crossing it on foot opens up a sudden pitfall into the next level, Crevasse of Repugnant. If the player attempts to skip the trap by flying using the Hackblood Talismen or the

** One of the bonus levels available after beating the game, which Zane claims is based on "Uncle Gopher's House", is actually a recreation of [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/groverhaus Groverhaus]], a memetic DIY house renovation project.

** [[WebVideo/{{Vinesauce}} Vinny and Joel]] are depicted on the Metal Masters cover.

That's only the surface level of the game however, and the true meat of the story is metatextual. ''Slayers X'' is the {{defictionalized}} magnum opus of the person behind "Big Z Studios" -- Zane Lofton, the edgelord BreakoutCharacter of Tendershoot's previous game, ''VideoGame/HypnospaceOutlaw''. 20 years after the events of ''Hypnospace'', Zane uses a winning lottery ticket, a guilt-tripped former classmate with programming skills, and an obsolete game engine from his childhood to make his dream game a reality. Through this premise, the game playfully jabs at the classic FPS genre, amateur {{game mod}}ders, and "edgy" teen culture, all the while hinting at the mundane hardships and tragedies of Zane's adult life.

* WritingAroundTrademarks: InUniverse. Steffanie works at a fast food place called "Sloppo's", which is a clear stand-in for Boppo's, an in-universe food company from ''Hypnospace Outlaw''.

''Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer'' is a FirstPersonShooter developed by Tendershoot, the developers of ''VideoGame/HypnospaceOutlaw'' ([[{{Kayfabe}} credited]] as "Big Z Studios") and published by No More Robots, released in 2023.

The game can be purchased on Steam [[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1931020/Slayers_X_Terminal_Aftermath_Vengance_of_the_Slayer/ here]], and is featured as part of the [=XBox=] Game Pass. The game's Twitter account, which doubles as a devlog and CharacterBlog, can be found [[https://twitter.com/Zane_Rocks_36 here]].

That's only the surface level of the game however, and the true meat of the story is metatextual. ''Slayers X'' is the {{defictionalized}} magnum opus of the person behind "Big Z Studios" -- Zane Lofton, the EnsembleDarkhorse of Tendershoot's previous game, ''VideoGame/HypnospaceOutlaw''. 20 years after the events of ''Hypnospace'', Zane uses a winning lottery ticket, a guilt-tripped former classmate with programming skills, and an obsolete game engine from his childhood to make his dream game a reality. Through this premise, the game playfully jabs at the classic FPS genre, amateur {{game mod}}ders, and "edgy" teen culture, all the while hinting at the mundane hardships and tragedies of Zane's adult life.

That's only the surface level of the game however, and the true meat of the story is metatextual. ''Slayers X'' is the {{defictionalized}} magnum opus of the person behind "Big Z Studios" -- Zane Lofton, the EnsembleDarkhorse of Tendershoot's previous game, ''VideoGame/HypnospaceOutlaw''. 20 years after the events of ''Hypnospace'', Zane uses a winning lottery ticket, a guilt-tripped former classmate who knows coding, and an obsolete game engine from his childhood to make his dream game a reality. Through this premise, the game playfully jabs at the classic FPS genre, amateur {{game mod}}ders, and "edgy" teen culture, all the while hinting at the mundane hardships and tragedies of Zane's adult life.

That's only the surface level of the game however, and the true meat of the story is metatextual. ''Slayers X'' is the {{defictionalized}} magnum opus of the person behind "Big Z Studios" -- Zane Lofton, resident edgelord of ''VideoGame/HypnospaceOutlaw''. 20 years after the events of that game's story, he uses a winning lottery ticket, a guilt-tripped programmer friend from high school, and an obsolete game engine from his childhood to make his dream game a reality. Through this premise, the game playfully jabs at the classic FPS genre, amateur {{game mod}}ders, and edgy teenager culture.

* DeathByOriginStory: A news broadcast in the opening cutscene reveals that Zane's mom was killed by Psykos in a vehicle bombing offscreen.

* MetaFiction: ''Slayers X'' is presented as a GameMod of a game that doesn't exist in our universe; the main game is a pretty straightforward '90s style FirstPersonShooter, but many hidden aspects, such as the [[InCharacterCommentary developer commentary]] and secret rooms, provide backstory to the game's fictitious creator and how his personal life affected the game's development.

* {{Cyberspace}}: The Psyko Sindikate have hidden the Hackblood Talismen in a computer inside their base beneath Mevin's house. Mikey programs the world inside it to look like a level from Kataklysm, so that Zane has an easier time exploring it.

* PaintingTheMedium: The songs for the secret levels are noticeably less advanced than the main game's tracks, and are named "KATAKL01.xsm", "KATAKL02.xsm", etc., both of which imply that they're taken directly from the sequence files of ''Kataklysm'' -- the fictional game that ''Slayers X'' was modded from in-universe.

* CreatorBreakdown: [[invoked]] As much of the game is a self-aggrandizing story by Zane, it becomes fairly clear some of it is working out his own baggage over how his life went, such as missing his mother (who is heavily implied to have passed away at this point) and dislike of his stepfather.

* MentorOccupationalHazard: Mikey is Zane's mentor. He dies near the beginning of the first level.

* MentorOccupationalHazard: Zane's mentor Mikey barely makes it outside the tunnel to leave the X Slayer dojo before dying.