Soulstice Review (Iconoclast Mark)
I need Briar to step on me
Okay, now for my actual review:
Soulstice is going for a LOT clearly. The amount of ambition and content on display is nothing to scoff at. It's a double A game that would have fit in perfectly well coming in around the PS2/PS3 era, and it does that surprisingly well. If you like Devil May Cry and want more content like that, this is an easy purchase in my opinion. It's not without issue, but it's fun enough, and has enough going for it that's unique and is really doing it's own thing quite well.
The negatives:
-The voice acting is inconsistent. It's hard to fault the devs, since of course, they are based in Italy, but Briar in particular is particularly inconsistent during 'struggling' scenes or ones where she needs a broader vocal range. It's not bad, but it's clear the direction for the english actors isn't the best. Lute though honestly kinda killed it.
-The camera is pretty inconsistent. During fights, especially when they let you free cam, it's quite difficult to see anything. I think the cameras during exploration were used to surprisingly good effect though.
-Kind of a slow start, this isn't too big of an issue, but it took about as long as my playtime is to start getting fights that had any sort of challenge to them. It's not an inherent issue, just something worth mentioning.
-Targeting can be inconsistent, and the lag after a triple dodge is NEEDLESSLY punishing. Especially when you can use the rollstab infinitely and go an absurd distance.
Positives:
-Character designs, I **LOVE** women with big swords. I need Briar to beat me up
-I actually think the story is somewhat compelling. Normally stories like these don't really do anything for me, but I found myself at least mildly interested, genuinely that's a feat to behold for my ADD brain.
-The combat feels pretty good, I tend to strongly dislike games that have a 'grading system' after you finish combat, and I wish I could just turn that off, but it's not too intrusive, as little as it seems to actually fit with the world. Something more melancholic would've fit the game better, but it feels like the combat designer and story designer were very much two different people. Maybe it's to show Briar is a creature of combat? Idk, but it feels kind of ill fitted either way.
-The sister mechanic is very neat. It seems genius both as a feat of character design AND gameplay where she protects you mid-combo etc. Very cool, used well, and I think the ghost/color matching enemies are foreshadowed well and allowed you to practice that mechanic in a safe environment first. Kudos.
I think the game is good, and deserves more praise. It's not perfect, but if you go in with the notion "This is like a PS3 era action game, jank and all!" You'll probably have quite a bit of fun. Anyway, the devs are lucky I'm not giving this a negative review, because they didn't mail me a Briar figurine yet.