Soulstice does an exceptional job of keeping the player engaged throughout its entirety. The amount of content just within the combat is jaw-dropping, so much so that it feels like Reply Game Studios aren’t saving anything for a sequel. There’s a lot to discover (and a lot to master) as you slowly trek through its massive world and uncover one of the most enjoyable detective-style stories that I’ve come to experience.
Soulstice is a truly great action game, which despite taking many cues from stylish action titles of the past, carves out enough of an identity to stand out on its own. The system of controlling both sisters and maintaining auras while slashing through foes is intuitive and simple to master. Although the plot leaves many threads hanging, the development of the central sibling relationship and setting were enough to draw me into Soulstice’s world and want to see more. If you’re a fan of challenging action games and can forgive a slightly annoying camera, Soulstice is definitely worth checking out.
Not a fan of DMC. I would give it an 8 but given it's highly underrated I gave it a 10. Good gameplay. Interesting story. Beautiful graphics. Hope to see more of the game
Do not play this game if you are not into dmc. The story is great, the voice acting and characters are memorable. The whole combo system is a tad too combo based since you can perform way better if you are not getting hit and are playing stylishly. Overall I thouroughly enjoyed my time with this from start to finish. I hope there ll be a sequel.
Soulstice from Reply Game Studios brings a strong story, a good amount of action, and paints a perfectly drab world to tie it all together. The backend gameplay design helps to add more value to the experience while motivating the player to keep exploring and pushing forward. The only caveat to the experience is the locked camera that will frustrate and hinder the gameplay at times. Overall, it’s a fun game, but it could use a fully controllable camera to make it even better.
It’s still an enjoyable action platformer, and while there are some unique elements to help make the game memorable, it still falls short of some of the great titles that inspired it.
The developers responsible for ‘Soulstice’ took a good look at the ‘Devil May Cry’ series. The dark, sinister atmosphere in the desolate world from the game is spot on, and you almost effortlessly conjure smooth and flashy battles from the controller. So where does it go wrong? In the way the camera works. It is mostly fixed, but jumps between scenes, suddenly taking you in completely the wrong direction. The clumsy and awkward way the game handles this is your most difficult opponent.
Soulstice does itself no favours by borrowing heavily from Bayonetta, and then falls short of its inspiration in every area. At best this is a functional but uninspired character action game. At worst it's a poor appreciation of the genre's finer points, stacking up systems that detract from the purity of exhilarating combat.
Soulstice embodies the adage 'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery' with unabashed clarity. Positioned in a genre limbo between action RPG and hack-and-slash, it neither fully embraces nor innovates beyond its inspirations. Despite solid storytelling and lore, the game's repetitive combat mechanics and uninspired level design hinder its potential. The fixed camera angles, though divisive, effectively frame the meticulously crafted world. Unique mechanics involving the protagonist's spectral companion add depth but fail to capitalize fully on their potential. While Soulstice leaves players on a gripping cliffhanger, its overall execution falls short of delivering a truly memorable experience.
Soulstice is a hack&slash action-adventure developed by Reply Game Studios and released in 2022. receiving mixed reviews across all platforms.
We follow Briar and Lute, two sisters, a Chimera (hybrid warrior made by uniting two souls) and her shade who were sent to the city of Ilden to try to close the Veil, the threat that corrupts all living creatures turning them into Wraiths.
The bond between Briar and her little sister Lute is the strongest aspect of the story. Briar is the killing machine of the two, she is completely offensive and aside from the possibility to evade, she doesn't have any defensive abilities, while Lute is her shield, countering, blocking or stunning enemies to keep Briar safe and intact.
At the beginning of the story, we learn that Briar is different from other Chimeras as she while being transformed into a Chimera, was already corrupted, making her more exposed to the corruption which can lead to her being transcendent. Transcendent Chimeras are completely corrupted and cannot turn back into their original state. Through the story, Briar with her corrupted blood inside, will be tempted into turning into one, but Lute will be the one to take her back to her senses by going through her nightmares uncovering their past and even more. Lute is probably the one who makes the story much more enjoyable and the one, who even though looked expendable at the very beginning, showed us, as the story progressed, to be of great use and importance.
The gameplay is very similar to other hack&slash games like classic God of War games, Bayonetta, Devil May Cry or Darksiders, hacking and slashing through hordes of enemies. While doing that, you earn points that are shown after each battle, revealing how well you've fought. To be honest, the score/rating system is nice, but I didn't particularly appreciate being prompted about how well/badly I've performed after each battle. The summary of all my battle ratings at the end of the chapter would be just enough.
You earn blue and red crystals (skill points) which are used to upgrade Lute and Briar skills. Aside from the sword as your main weapon, you will earn other different weapons that can be used according to the situation.
The game relies heavily upon using two fields, the Evocation Field (blue) and Banishment Field (red), those fields are used to defeat Wraiths (blue ethereal objects) or Possessed (red hideous monsters), to destroy crystals either to earn more skill points or to access blocked or unreachable areas. Most of the time you will fight a mix of enemies, Corrupted (basic enemies), Wraith and Possessed at the same time, which means you will have to change fields according to the enemy you're attacking. One thing you have to be careful of is not to overcharge Lute, when she is using a field and countering enemies, the entropy will increase. If the entropy increases above a certain point, Lute will overcharge and disappear for a short amount of time, leaving Briar defenceless.I've mentioned before that you will have to go through some platforming puzzles in order to reach blocked areas, which are mainly blocked with red crystals. Most of the time, the game uses the same ideas and just makes them more tedious after some time by adding the need to first destroy a few smaller crystals to destroy the big one or crystals that recharge after a certain amount of time. By the end of the second chapter, you will become bored of all those red crystals.
One more thing that doesn't change much is the level design, as you're practically playing one 15h long mission in the city of Ilden. From the docks, you have to reach the cathedral, where the Veil is located and with it, there is not going to be much variety.
One great gameplay mechanic is the Rapture skill system, after earning enough union (earned while fighting and not taking damage), you can pass into Rapture mode which even though it makes you feel invincible, doesn't last long. According to the skills you purchased for Lute, the Rapture has four forms: Mastery, Trickery, Chaos or Balanced. Each form impacts the Rapture finisher you can activate at the end of Rapture.
Apart from that, Soulstice offers great boss battles, but unfortunately, the bosses themselves aren't memorable as they don't look outstanding enough as in for example classic GoW games.
The biggest issue in this game is the bad camera angles, fortunately in many battles, the camera can be changed, but in exploration, the camera angle is fixed. Most of the time the camera angles are unnatural and inconvenient enough to make very limited-space battles and platforming sections more frustrating.
All in all, a good game that offers a great story of two memorable sisters who while completing their mission uncover the truth of their past and the Order they belong to. Unfortunately, the repetitive gameplay mechanics (platforming puzzles) and bad camera angles make the game more frustrating and tedious.
Blank, repetitive, wavy quality.
It's like the 100th version of the same story you usaly see in animes. Hot(?) girl gets inhuman powers to fight universal forces of evil, also her kind is being despised by others.
The level designs are so repetitive, I had the constant feeling of seeing the same map ower and ower again.
Animations are like a low budget disney series.
The characters also to be honest.
Even Stefanie Joosten's voice is somehow irritating after a while
Fight system is borring
Sabit kamera bu oyunun en büyük hatasıdır. Oynarken kendinizi kötü hissettiriyor, kusmanız gerekiyor gibi görünüyor. Güzel dünyaya ve renkli seviyelere bakmanıza izin vermez. Gelecekteki bir güncelleme ile düzeltilmesi gerekiyor
SummaryThe 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. The "Chimeras", hybrid warriors born of the union of two souls, are the only ones who can protect humankind.
Briar and Lute are two sisters who have been ...