Getting Started in SlashZero

SlashZero drops you into a neon camp, a talking street lamp, and a timeline that wants you dead before you finish reading a Blessing tooltip. This page is the first-hour plan: install the time-limited demo, pick a starter Timehacker, learn the Fortune Chip hub, run Sector 7, and spend what you earn without wasting the twenty-day window. The full game is still upcoming for Spring 2027. Nothing here assumes a 1.0 launch build.

If you only need dates, wipe rules, and platform differences, jump to the demo guide. If you already died twice and want inputs, skip to combat and controls. Everyone else should stay here through the first death.

Install the demo before you theorycraft

The demo is a time-limited, data-wipe test. It runs from 3 September 2026, 15:15 UTC through 23 September 2026, 15:00 UTC on Steam and PlayStation 5. The PC demo is Windows only. Keyboard and mouse work; a controller is recommended. Check system requirements if you are on an iGPU laptop — minimum is Windows 10 64-bit, an Intel Core i5-7300U or AMD Ryzen 3 3300U, 8 GB RAM, a GTX 1050 or RX 560, and DirectX 12.

Set language before the first cutscene. Steam lists English and Simplified Chinese with full audio, plus French, German, Japanese, and Korean interface and subtitles. Bind the controller, turn on any assist sliders you actually want, and do not treat the demo as a forever save. When the window closes, Streetlamp deletes the data.

SlashZero early playtest gameplay

Controller versus keyboard

Streetlamp’s combat is built around aerial strings, launches, and dash cancels on multi-layered maps. Playtest notes describe a dash as flicking the stick up and pressing basic attack. That is awkward on a keyboard if you are also holding a gun angle as Fina. Use a pad for the first hour. Come back to bindings later on the controls guide once you know whether you mash Nyx or hold mid-range as Fina.

Pick Nyx or Fina, not Hamlet

The starting roster is two Timehackers. Nyx is dual vibroblades: melee, fast on air and ground, with throwing knives as a ranged poke and a charged basic that throws a slash shockwave. Fina is mid-range guns: safer spacing, a charged special for a long shot, and an ultimate that rakes the field with multi-hit fire. Hamlet is a stage robot with a reconfigurable longsword and shield. He is not a starter. Do not sit in character select waiting for him.

Pick Nyx if you like being inside enemy hurtboxes and launching crowds. Pick Fina if you want to learn telegraphs from a step further back. You can switch after you unlock the second character at camp. Hamlet has his own page: how to unlock Hamlet.

Camp, Fortune Chip, and the street lamp

Your hub is the Fortune Chip, a neon bar-like camp. Rui runs the floor and is the NPC you talk to for Hamlet clues later. Playtests also showed Ansel as another Timehacker who shares intel. Silver is the mysterious voice that pulls you back when a timeline kills you. The street lamp is the door: interact with it to traverse timelines. Do not treat camp as a skipable menu. Walk the room, talk to people, and check Upgrade Chips before you leave.

Out-of-run systems live here: Authority Codes (permanent), Chip loadouts, and later Dual Blessings and extra rerolls. In-run systems wait on the other side of the lamp: Blessings from Authorities, Temporal Fragments, shops, and chambers of respite. The builds primer draws that line in more detail. For the first hour, leave camp with a Chip setup you understand and no unfinished NPC prompt sitting on Rui.

Sector 7 and the Rust Avenue Wolves

Your first timeline stretch is Sector 7, including the Rust Avenue Wolves’ turf. Expect multi-layered streets, vaults, the occasional moving train, and mixed melee plus gun trash packs. Playtest loops also threw named bosses such as Blake, a Contaminated Test Subject, Grimes, and Glimmerscale Venomwing — treat those names as examples of the demo’s mid-loop pressure, not as a spoiler map you must follow in order.

Clear rooms, pick a path at branch nodes, and visit shops when your HP or Blessing choices look thin. Chambers of respite are the quiet rooms: heal, reread tooltips, and decide whether you are still on-plan. Do not greed every elite if your dash timing is still messy.

Blessings after fights, shops, and death

After a fight or area clear you choose Blessings from Authorities. Early names you will see include True Self of Flame, Infinity of Space, Eternity of Water, Causality of Fate, Hope of Life, Wisdom of Wind, and Law of Thunder. Flame can add burn; Heat Wave detonates burned enemies. Causality of Fate has a Baseline node that grants one revival chance — grab it if you are still learning strings.

When you die, Silver yanks you back to the hub. In-run Blessings and Fragments from that loop are gone. Authority Codes, unlocked story flags, and Chip unlocks stay for the rest of the demo window, then vanish in the wipe. Spend Black Box Decoder-style meta currency on things that make the next loop less stupid, not on a vanity stat you will not notice in Sector 7.

Shops sell recovery and the occasional Chip or Blessing reroll. If the shop is between you and a boss, buy the heal. Stylish corpses do not unlock Hamlet.

First-hour checklist

1. Install on Steam (Windows) or PS5 during the demo window.
2. Use a controller. Confirm language and assists.
3. Pick Nyx or Fina. Ignore Hamlet until you finish a loop.
4. Talk to Rui, inspect Chips, leave through the street lamp.
5. Clear Sector 7 rooms, take a shop or respite, pick Blessings with a theme.
6. Die at least once on purpose if you freeze — you need to see the return-to-camp flow.
7. After a completed loop, start Hamlet’s unlock and skim secret bosses.

The first hour is not a speedrun. It is proof that you can leave camp, spend a Blessing without panic, and come back with a story flag. Once that is true, the rest of the wiki is optional reading between lamps, not homework that delays your second run.