izigame.me

Elden Ring is my favorite game of all time. It was my first foray into dark souls, as the genre previously intimidated the hell out of me. I have over 200hrs in Elden Ring across Xbox and PS5, and purchased it a third time for PC so I can fiddle around in it from time to time on my Steam Deck, just because I miss The Lands Between if I’m away for too long. :) So, I was skeptical about an indie linear dark souls, but liked the art style and heard about the excellent developers who patched a launch boss bug in record time, so I decided to check it out.
WOW this game is POLISHED. Runs smooth as butter on Steam Deck. There’s even a Steam Deck graphics preset available, but, I’m using all High settings on my Steam Deck OLED and everything is running flawlessly. Controls are perfect and responsive.
It’s anime dark souls, with a distinctive and fun fighting style. The art direction is *chef’s kiss* in my book. Atmosphere is dark and moody, at least where I’m located in the sewers currently.
Anything dark souls is “get good” territory, so this isn’t some cutsie anime gameplay, for anyone simply attracted to the art here. You’ll die, you’ll lose your shit, and you’ll dive back in—over and over—for a re-do. This genre is meant to be frustrating for that “lemme try just one more time” vibe, and so so rewarding when you finally kick ass. You’ll get good if you stick with it.
I do think that for total dark souls newbies, Elden Ring is the very best, since it’s open world and so you have more control over your runs. The linear style (classic) dark souls forces you to repeat the same exact run over and over until you make it to a checkpoint. That said, the art style and price point for AI Limit may just be extra appealing to a different audience. In that case, go for it, as long as you understand what you’re getting yourself into.
Also, on a bright note, AI Limit isn’t as punishing as Elden Ring, despite the linear style. You don’t lose ALL of your shit when you die, just a portion. So, you can level up more quickly and more consistently, despite a series of runs littered with failures. In that sense, the developers really made sure to reward players for trying again, each run. Just be sure to use your level points each time you respawn!
Also, just because the game is linear doesn’t mean that it’s devoid of exploration. There are nooks and crannies if you look for them, and the developers really reward you for clearing little hidden corners. I found an awesome piece of armor that could have been easily missed, after clearing a tough area that was a bit off the beaten dungeon path.
I’ve barely scratched the surface of AI Limit, but I’m already super impressed. Like I said: incredibly polished, gorgeous, and designed with FUN in mind. The price is exceptional, I think. I’m pretty astounded by the price, actually. AAA games are being churned out at 2x this price point, with FAR less polish and all sorts of bugs and performance issues. Meanwhile, AI Limit just quietly releases at a super fair price, while looking and running magnificently.
And that one huge bug that did pop up within an hour of release? They squashed it *within the hour,* like total bosses. What a way to turn lemons into lemonade. This game was barely on my radar until I saw a news story about how AI Limit got patched in record time overnight and I thought, “Now THAT is the kind of game I want to support!!” The developers look to really be on the ball with patches, updates, and general communication, still, as I’m seeing frequent posts on Steam from them. I can tell that they really respect and value their player base, and know what GAMERS expect and hope for in a game. <3