izigame.me

Soulstice is a great and polished AA-tier game, but not without its downsides
Let's break it down:
1. Setting
Developers drew inspiration from such mangas as Berserk, written by Kentaro Miura and Claymore, written by Norihiro Yagi. It really shows, especially when it comes to Claymore - what we have is chaos spawns that pose a great danger to humanity and special warrior breed created for the sole purpose of defeating them. What's so special about them, you ask? They are partly chaos spawns themselves! Very dangerous, if you ask me.
World is torn apart by those monsters and countless villages and people suffer horrific fate, while it's not even what they should fear the most - The Veil. The Veil is basically, well, a barrier that protects this world from chaos realm, birthplace of all chaos spawns.
This sure smells like something I would like, and I was right - I really love this setting. C'mon, it's dark fantasy, after all.
2. Plot
Well, I will be honest, plot is not something new or unique, it's predictable, although still quite curious and breathtaking in a way. Remember The Veil mentioned above? Usually, just a small quantity of chaos spawns can tear through The Veil, and even they can wipe whole villages, you can fathom what would happen if The Veil is to be torn.
The Veil was torn and so chaos spawns rush into this world. But how can this be even possible, how The Veil was torn? What exactly happened here, in Ilden? Find out yourself...
I think it's worth mentioning that their story is not quite finished in Soulstice, they obviously have plans for a sequel.
3. Characters
Can't say much about characters, there are too few and most of them won't appear until the very end. I feel like they got too little attention and were discarded, aside of a few chosen ones.
Chosen ones get some proper developments though.
4. Style & Music
Style is heavily inspired by Claymore and a little bit by Berserk, but still shows something new. Claymore shows almost everywhere - boss designs, special abilities of main characters, some enemy designs, locations.
Main character, Briar, is basically a female Guts (Berserk main character). Not a bad thing, not a bad thing at all. I love it greatly!
Music? Yeah, about that. It's a little bit unusual to hear electo music mixed up with some epic notes, but it's always used properly and still fits what's happening around you. But also, I love me some epic chorus.
5. Locations & Level design
That's where some issues start to appear - locations are pretty, but seem kinda identical. I had a feeling I didn't leave the sewers for like 70% of the game.
Locations are mostly linear, but some of them can surprise you.
Each level is full of different puzzles and platforming elements, they can be annoying at times, but add to variety of gameplay and it feels nice to do something other than fighting hordes of enemies while you advance further.
6. Gameplay
First things first - Soulstice has a system with blue and red auras you can use to destroy crystals that block your path, get some currency or jump on specific platforms. That being said, they also are used in combat - and hooo boy, it's a pain in the ass. Maybe it was a difficulty issue (I completed the game on Knight difficulty), but there were too many enemies and too many of elite ones especially. Elite enemies, you see, have two types, just as well as auras - red and blue. Both of them cannot be damaged without correct aura usage, and that's where the fun starts - red enemies (most of them) spawn blue enemies when they are defeated and you need to destroy blue enemies, otherwise red one you just defeated will ressurect. Now imagine that you fight dozens of red enemies, dozens of blue enemies, you need to block them all, use correct aura and make sure not to overuse it so you can't activate it for some time. Sounds like a bother, right?
Weapons. There are seven weapons in total, each effective against certain enemy types, you can freely switch between them and chain combos, it's a slasher, after all. Combos are fine, but main weapon (starting sword) is always with you and has too few combos, which is kinda strange.
Devil Trigger? Yeah, we have that! They made it look really cool actually and made sure to make it your last resort - since you kinda go full berserk mode and harm yourself more than usual - you can't block or parry attacks, only dodge them. I won't go into details - see for yourself, it's really cool.
7. Bossfights
There are too few "real bosses", they have some questionable design choices but overall they are gorgeous and I love them. Aside maybe one them, I won't tell you which, but this boss is annoying as hell and I spent a few hours beating the crap out of them (there are platforming and illusions involved). What's so gorgeous about them, you ask? Well, they are a walking bullet-hell and melee death threat, and plus, honestly, they are stylish, and I love stylish things.
8. Final words
I think I reviewed everything I had on my mind and I hope it helps you decide on whether you want to pick this game or no. It was a very painful experience, but a very enjoyable one. Will play this game's sequel with great pleasure.