Prince Game Studio announced that The Last Barbarian is heading to Early Access on Steam. The hardcore hack-and-slash game is a throwback to old-school titles from the PSX and PS2 such as Tak and the Power of Juju, Spartan: Total Warrior or Bujingai.

You’ll take on the role of a barbarian set to take part in a tribal ceremony of warriors, where he must pass through the ancient tests to prove himself worthy. However, an unexpected event befalls the barbarian and he’s forced to fight through the enemies, unlock the secrets of the jungle, and attempt to fight his way back home.

The over-the-shoulder camera is accompanied by traditional hack-and-slash gameplay, along with the ability to block incoming attacks. To mix things up a bit there are puzzles you’ll need to solve, along with secrets you unlock and traps you’ll need to avoid. You can check out the Early Access trailer for The Last Barbarian below.

The game is scheduled to stay in Early Access for anywhere between four and six months. The developers want to add more story and dialogue elements, more achievements, additional cutscenes, a new difficulty setting, more enemies, and additional bosses.

The core of the game is definitely rough around the edges, and they need to improve the hit detection and hit-reactions from the enemy AI so that it feels more natural and visceral when the barbarian is swinging his axe.

The hit-detection and timing for the barbarian also needs to be improved when he takes damage from the enemies.

There’s definitely some potential here for The Last Barbarian – not to be confused with the eroge Dark Souls clone that features R18+ H-content, as previewed by The Gaming Ground – but it will need a lot of work before it’s a worthwhile purchase.

You can follow the development and keep track of the progress by visiting the Steam Early Access page.