Soulstice: Deluxe Edition (PS5)

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Its combat system, interesting at base, is displaced by a plot and a progression system that have more prominence than they should.

Her fellow Chimeras also all look cool as hell, and every enemy design is quickly recognizable and, frankly, awesome. Getting around the fortress city involves double jumping about and using Lute’s field abilities (more on them in a moment) to create platforms to reach new areas. Because of these scored and defined encounter areas, instead of free-flowing scoring against any enemies ala Devil May Cry, Soulstice starts feeling incredibly scripted. The balance of the Holy Kingdom of Keidas is compromised when powerful, feral creatures known as "Wraiths" invade from the other side of the Veil, threatening to consume the living. I have done it in the past in other character action games but, for the time being at least, I don’t think I have the energy to run through Soulstice again.

Breaking through armour, or red crystal, then a full health bar that seems to tank as much as it depletes, then on larger enemies having to switch to blue field and lock-on to knock down some wraiths is very demanding when you also have a dozen other enemies clamouring to lay some smackdown of their own. Subject to regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority and limited regulation by the Prudential Regulation Authority. I’m not sure if this was necessarily explained, it could be that I accidentally spammed through the helping guide, but this is where things get tricky. Enemies have no issue attacking you from off screen either, combined with what can be a mess of effects you can often just get hit without much warning.

The camera also likes to get itself trapped in a corner when you fight something large, or you’re in a small room.The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.

However some 4-5 hours in, 5 chapters or so, I had still only barely entered the city, and I still knew next to nothing about who these two are or were.Briar carries her sword, dubbed the Ashen Vindicator, and Lute uses magic to assist her sister in and out of battle. And really, no matter what you learn in the story it doesn’t even come close to the batsh*t insanity that is the gameplay. The boss in Chapter 9 really demonstrates the issues with the combat – It demands that you use the red field to hurt the boss, then when he falls, that you use the blue field to kill the wraiths possessing him before they revive him. When you find a game you love and you get to the end, I think we all look to see if there’s a game similar to it. The camera can cause half the issues and enemies have way too much health, but controlling Briar can become effortless with practice and Lute’s situational counters never get old.

As Briar and Lute fight to reach the Tear, they’ll face complex puzzles and secrets while their surroundings become more hostile and twisted. Be careful with this game, which enters through the eyes and at first contact manages to entertain; but after a short time it becomes very monotonous and repetitive. When I heard about Soulstice, the one thing that sold me on it is that it was said to be similar to Devil May Cry and Bayonetta, which are two games that I love. I hated every single repetitive second of these sections between fights – and there were a lot of them. Explore a dark world brimming with hidden mysteries, master a diverse combat system, and inhabit the dual forces of two sisters in a coming-of-age fantasy story with fast-paced action, vicious enemies and breathtaking boss fights.A side effect of this is that it’s also very easy to find hidden orbs, crystals and challenge rooms – you just need to go the way the camera isn’t facing and voila! Plunge into a dark story of sisterly love heightened by stylish and sleek art inspired by Japanese dark fantasy classics. The game does introduce new mechanics whilst exploring and new enemies pop up throughout but it does start to drag around the middle section. I mean, the trailers look great, but will it scratch that hack and slash itch that I’ve wanted for so long now?