Souldiers - Metroidvania Analysis
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- Опубліковано 26 сер 2024
- Souldiers is a beautiful game that’s performance and gameplay doesn’t soar to the same heights as its aesthetics. And with a pun like that for a title, you can only imagine my overwhelming disappointment.
1st off I'm playing on PC so most of the issues that you had I didn't, I believe most people will agree with you however the developers did say it was a retro type of game old school style which I love, I'm almost 40 and I've been playing these type of games for a while they're not meant to be easy you're supposed to explore and the more you explore the more you level up ( I bought it on like 3 days after it came out and yeah it feels like the normal mode on day one was almost like the hard mode) If you don't explore and fight as many enemies as you can you're gonna get to the boss under level, Now Playing I'm in the hardest difficulty this is my 2nd play through love it definitely gonna play it a 3rd time too, This is nothing against your review like I said most people seem to agree with you I almost didn't buy it because people keep saying the same things that you're saying however I still gave it a shot and I'm so glad that I bought it I would have regret not a painful price for this cause it's a hidden gem for a Very niche customer. If people are having trouble I would say explore find upgrade items go upgrade your weapons once you're able to and then come back yes you can leave that 2nd dungeon after a while you don't actually get locked permanently you do have the option to go into the map and pick a different area most people get stuck there for some reason, If any of you guys like the old Mega man or castlevania before Symphony of the night you'll enjoy this. I'm at the end right now once I beat it I'll probably drop it for a little while again and then come back to it with the 3rd character.
Glad you love the game. I'm gonna go back to it some day. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood, but with all the performance issues on the Switch I was getting too frustrated. And I did make it sound like I got stuck in the pyramid. That wasn't my intent. There's a fast travel system you can use at any save statue. What I was trying to say was that I was "trapped" progression-wise. I could backtrack and leave, but moving forward with the game required me to complete the pyramid. At least, that's my understanding. I prefer Metroidvanias that are much more open and allow me to visit multiple biomes at a time, rather than one huge dungeon.
Played this day one on PC and despite some solvable bugs, I had a great time playing it. The switch version though was very rough at launch so I understand why you prefered to stop playing.
Balance day one was ok, it was hard but I liked the challenge. I think combat and bosses are very good. I played with the Archer and it's easier than with the soldier.
I think I'll do another run soon.
Too bad the game was released too early, it completely killed it IMO.
People saying it is bad on switch is 100 percent false. The only problem switch has is the loading time. It’s better now though. Honestly people should get this game. It’s not even that hard. It’s just like similar to an rpg where you’ll have to level up. Dug it take time
It was waaaaay more difficult before it was patched.
I plan on replaying it eventually.
I went back the the game after it was patched. Loading times were reduced a lot, difficulty was less absurd, I was really having fun! Then I reached the fire dungeon where the game would crash anytime I tried to save...
I guess I'll never finish it and that sucks because the game is good
Sorry to hear you had such a bad time with this one on the Switch. It's currently on Humble Choice so I'm definitely gonna try it and perhaps with low expectations it can still surprise me in a good way. It does look very nice but man, 2-3 minute load times?!? It's the eighties all over again with tapes!
😂
It’s been heavily patched. I’d like to go back to it someday.
Played this on my steam deck and it was awesome but I like action rpgs and this is more like and arpg in a 2d platforming environment than a pure metroidvania.
4:45 I really agree with you on why I don't like this game, moreover the monsters are annoying to kill
So this game, Moonscars, Afterimage, Vernal Edge, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom and Ghost Song are on sale on PS right now. Which two do you like the most out of these?
Great review! Souldiers seems to be a very decisive game. I love the graphics but I’m still undecided. Thank you for your work!
Thank you!
Personally, of those, MY two favorites are Afterimage and Ghost Song. Afterimage is HUGE, 30+ hours, but its story isn't the greatest. It's still a lot of fun with lots of exploration. And Ghost song is like 6 - 8 hours and has the best sound design and atmosphere I've seen in an MV.
Hope that helps :)
@@MetroidvaniaGuru You are awesome, thank you for the reply! Those were the two I was leaning towards lol. Thank you again!
@@BlondeMcGuinn after playing Afterimage for a few hours I can confirm: is fantastic. The combat and movement is above the vast majority of MV, and let's not talk about the insane area and enemy variety. It feels more complete than other games.
@@enman009 Exactly! I bought Afterimage and Ghost Song and the former is fantastic (haven’t played the latter yet). Afterimage is a gorgeous game with a huge map. So far I’m really enjoying it.
@@BlondeMcGuinn Ghost song is really far from great, bad gameplay doesn't make up for good atmosphere. Afterimage is the opposite great gameplay but bland world.
I feel sorry you didn't like the game . As a veteran gamer I enjoyed it yeah it had a huge world and might be a bit too big, but it incorporates elements of souls games into a retro style metroidvania quite well the 3 characters are fun to play when you know how to utilize them and keep the gameplay fresh. I understand it's not for everyone and the game mostly being an homage to old games might hurt it a bit. My only main gripe with your review it that you mention exploration in your reviews a lot and almost as a key element of metroivania which I disagree with. I think metroidvanias are more like giant puzzles more akin to older rpg books you had to decipher to advance, but that's beyond the point. This game featured a lot of exploration actually the fundamental of this game is that exploration mostly and it does it well and better than most games without exhausting you like Aeternia Noctis would for instance. I would add that most people who had an issue with the game did not understand the retro feel of the game which wanted you to explore like old 16 bit era rpgs. Maybe it's the issue of the game to appeal to older gamers, but maybe that was the goal of the devs. That being said yes the world is a tad too big to explore that is true. I rather explore that world than Afterimage which had bland design despite great gamepaly.
I've been mixed on this game for a while.
I'm definitely interested in trying it out but almost everything I've heard about the game has been almost universally negative. From how its initial state was unfairly balanced to even still now with complaints about bad design and performance issues. Which is a shame since the game looks good, one of the few commonly brought up positives. It even got a physical release which usually is a big temptation for me when it comes to these more niche selections.
Though my main hang up is the fact that I'm a semi-completionist, a trophy hunter on Playstation, and that basically entails a minimum of 3 full playthroughs with this game, once for each class. I don't know if I have it in me to do that when I'm skeptical if I'll even enjoy a single casual playthrough.
Holy shit, thanks man. I thought I was crazy when dropped the game at 8 hours or so. The only complain I heard so far was the combat difficulty which IMO wasn't really that hard.
My main issue was, like you said, the total disrespect towards the player's time. No bugs in the Steam version though.
That fucking pyramid was just so incredibly DULL. No interesting mechanics at all. Massive, labyrinthic, and even had the gall to throw in a sidequest that required you to go over it several times in a hide and seek game.
I gave it the benefit of the doubt, explored the town, again no interesting NPCs nor anything else to do. Then went to the next dungeon, a forest, which was even more massive, similarly boring, and with another pixel hunt to do. No thanks, the end.
I plan on giving this game a fair shake one day. Really sit down and beat it. But it’s so boring I haven’t been able to force myself just yet.
Buy it a few months ago, finally have time to play it. I would love to say that You are wrong and this is great game, but You are right. Graphics are awesome, music is moody, but gameplay is poor. I have reached Fire Temple and give up, there's some serious BS with platforms, some precision jumps just do not work and design of map is awful. Game show unreachable places and force player to do some unrealistic air dash/ wall jumps. I do exploration of every earlier location at 100%. If devs fix that design, I consider finishing it, but not now. As I said, pixel art is awesome, monsters looks great, but I found myself fighting more with UI to select sub weapon or potions I want use than with bosses.
Ugh, I can’t disagree. As a sucker for retro, fantasy pixel art metroidvanias, this was going to be my jam. But after spending hours in the first dungeon with the same silly enemies over and over, really got old. Even when I got out, it was the same thing, different location. It takes a lot of skill to get this sort of thing right, and while I think the developers aren’t lacking in talent, perhaps this might’ve been a better action platformer than a Mvania. Just look at Dead Cells, Blasphemous, Chasm, and Hollow Knight. They keep you going. This one makes you want to be done. PS I played it on PS5, so I didn’t have too many issues technically. Just a slog of a game.
I gave it a go, the game lost me in the damn Pyramid level.
Second Royal Scoprion boss is gimmicky and finnicky timed platformer clusterf**uck of a boss battle.
The controls are not well polished and certanly not really that responsive.
My god those wall-to-wall jumps(which you will battle against this mechanic constantly to WORK properly) and later entire TIMED platformer sections of the pyramid level are boggus. (You messed up? Good start again from BEGINNING, we ill also take up your HP along the way)
People complained often as to why the Pyramid level is the end game difficulty and gimmicks, and only AFTER that level does the game truly opens up.
Not to mention the difficuly is way out of the balance. (was more so in 1st versions of the game)
I as kid played alot games on sega such as Jim the Worm, Lion King, Castlevania Bloodlines. All notoriously difficult and finnicky games. But I am not a kid anymore with all the time in the world and patience.
I agree with you, I also cant recommend the game unless you are the real hardcore retro guy.
Was just about to buy it. Think I'll pass. Thanks.
This game was tedious.
So was your mom.
Hmm so this is the bitter gamer review. 😂
I have it for PS4 and it plays fine. It’s too bad the underpowered switch can’t handle it. Edit- my save files at 20+ hours corrupted and deleted. Which is 💩 because the game is really good but I now can’t finish. Apparently the switch version is bad and the ps4/ps5 deletes your saves. 😢
Don't lie. It played crap on all consoles to begin with. Even after heavy patches the game is still dull as dishwater
@@OB-um3ql I’m playing it on PS5 and aside from some minor issues it’s been good. It’s an indie game so I excuse a few little minor bugs. But not it does play that bad at all. And dull? No it’s has some of the best pixel art in any game and the maps are interesting and the world is big with lots of things to find. My only real complaint is the controls are difficult.