Secret of Never again
In my four decades of gaming, there have been very few “new” genres, even fewer that have been proven to have lasting staying power. Aside from the battle royale phenomenon, there’s probably only one 21st century genre that has proven itself with consistent and cemented success across developers, player communities, and box office: The Soulslike.
A subgenre of RPGs, Soulslikes generally have stark, deep lore, an emphasis on exploration, heavy protagonists, and a typically gloomy, gothic aesthetic. Oh, and they’re hard as nails too. And yet, despite their punishing difficulty, steep learning curve and joyless attitude, the Souls-esque genre has entranced a huge community of devotees, won over by FromSoftware epics like Demon Souls, Bloodborneand one of the best releases of the year so far, Elden Ring.
Building on the current craze of hard ‘n’ heavy hack ‘n’ slashers, indie-out OverBorder Studio and British publisher Team 17 have thrown their own midnight black cape into the dark, with the advent of their own take on the Soulslike, Thymesia. With a dark, nightmarish aesthetic, a despondently topical tale of an unstoppable pandemic, and teeth-grinding, merciless difficulty, Thymesia makes no bones about his desire to be the next challenge for sadistic fans of the genre that forgot grace.
Thymesia (PS5 [reviewed]PC, Xbox Series X/S)
Developer: OverBorder Studio
Publisher: Team17
Released: August 18, 2022
MSRP: $29.99
Thymesia, (a Greek derivative of “Memory”), is set in the desperate kingdom of Hermes, a once thriving community now engulfed by plague, disaster and death. In this sad city, Corvus, a mysterious young stranger who suffers from his own condition, that of total amnesia, strides. Not long after making his way through the body-strewn streets, Corvus enters the palace walls to find himself on the business end of a proper royal beating. In the aftermath of defeat, our hero awakens in the tranquil yet gloomy everglades of Philosopher’s Hill – cared for by a very young girl, wise beyond her age, Aisemy.
Within this framework device, Corvus must revisit the events of their recent lives and piece together the actions and reactions that brought them to the ailing gate of Hermes. Along the way, they must gather small and subtle snippets of information to help their new compadre piece together the land’s lore, the concept of the plague, and the actions that brought a relatively peaceful city to its knees. Should they achieve total memory, Corvus and Aisemy may discover more than just the falsehoods of their own legacies – they can discover the answers to ending the epidemic altogether.
A punishing action RPG, Thymesia carries its influences so widely on its steel-clad cover that it’s downright ridiculous not to call it out right away. Thymesia is not only a Soulslike, but it has gone to great lengths to be reminiscent of its bigger budgeted, larger scale brethren as much as possible. Every box is checked, from the game’s overall stern attitude to the reward points with beacon lighting, steel battles, oversized boss battles, long “single line” health bars and, naturallywriting slowly fading red when birdy hits the bricks, (although here “Memory Interrupted” replaces “You Died”).
Under the watchful eye of their young friend, Corvus embarks on a series of ‘Recalls’, essentially embodying their own adventures in real time. These adventures see Corvus recant the events that brought the kingdom to its knees and see our beak-faced friend drawing a big old blank. This translates into a series of mini-mapped adventures in gameplay, in which Corvus explores different areas of Hermes and battles it out with the infected locals, the decaying remnants of the king’s army, and more than a fair share of nightmarish monsters. and mutants.
As is the custom of the genre, every enemy is in Thymesia is a legitimate death threat, with even the most Ray Harryhausen-looking skeleton having the ability to blast Corvus out of the memory bank and back into the cold void of its own brain. Combat, from the lowest grunt to the most powerful boss, is a matter of pattern recognition, precision dodging and expert parry. You know that, of course, because you know the Soulslike score. Important, OverBorder Games know you know and wastes little time setting the metaphorical dining table – throwing you into a pit of misery in a matter of seconds and raining axes on your dome.
Corvus is equipped with a dagger to parry and a saber to inflict wounds on their opponent. Plus, the hero’s razor-sharp claws can be used to keep those wounds open, with combat coming down to a tight formula of saber attacks to damage armor, claw attacks to reduce health, and clever parry to open up enemy defenses. The enemies also have specials, which can only be parried through clever acrobatics or throwing mythical ‘Raven Feathers’. Unfortunately, this last mechanic is very poorly implemented, with the effectiveness of feather flips proving such a coin toss, that it’s almost always better to hit the skids and live to fight another round. Hopefully this can be improved in a later update.
In addition to the old one-two, Corvus can use their plague control to “receive” weapons from his opponents. After their defeat, Corvus can use a charged claw attack to essentially “steal” a spiritual version of the enemy’s axe, scythe, spear, broadsword, bow, or other skull splitter. Using “memories” (XP) collected during battle (and by merging their fragmented past), Corvus can not only improve their attack, defense, and acrobatic skills, but also apply various effects to their plague arsenal, allowing combos, air strikes, floor sweeping and earth-shattering ground pox.
As you might expect, Thymesia isn’t easy, and newcomers should be sensible with the combative structure at the heart of both this release and the genre itself. Importantly, though, the battle is never unfair and is just a matter of patience, wit, reactions and experience… Oh, that said, the “Varg” boss has a painful unfairly unblockable, which is pretty much the only time in that game I made my tongue cluck in a real “That’s bullshit” kind of way.
A game that puts its core action above all other factors, it is vital that ThymesiaThe fight is both solid and attractive. And I’m happy to report that it is. A meaty challenge designed to punish the arrogant and impatient lies herein, while box-ticking grinders get a kick out of collecting all the plague weapons, excavating the memory remnants, and experimenting with the game’s potion and alchemy mechanics. This array of build options gives Corvus some sense of variety, which somewhat makes up for the main protagonist’s lack of visual customization.
While it may seem like this review focuses too much on the combat, it should be noted that it was designed that way. Thymesia, as a low-to-medium budget title, doesn’t offer too much opulence. The cast is incredibly slim, there’s no voice acting or narration, and the Kingdom of Hermes feels a bit compact compared to the mammoth labyrinths genre fans are used to. Thymesia‘s story is conceptually interesting, but in the end is good for little more than picking up a lot of notes. These clues tell a story of conspiracy, classism, and the alchemical arts, but without the tools necessary to make ideas come true in dramatic ways. Thymesia offers multiple endings depending on how much of Corvus’s memory has been restored, so 100%ers will be in their element.
Thymesia is undeniably hurt by its limitations, but OverBorder Studio has worked within those same limitations to deliver a short, sharp, and impactful gameplay experience. The visuals are adequate, the special effects are impressive and the very cinematic score accentuates the action very well. important, Thymesia is rock solid from a technical point of view, runs (on PS5) at an extremely stable frame rate and highlights its action with a reliable, smart and unobtrusive camera.
Based on feedback from the early demos, Overbord has improved control response time, virtually eliminated camera drift, and ironed out a number of other issues with the game’s combat. If the first demo didn’t work for you, know that many of the issues have been fixed. Today, Thymesia plays really neat and feels good while doing so so all you have to worry about is getting a dagger or three in the spleen.
I have no doubt that right now, somewhere on the internet, someone is writing “A Poor Man’s” dark souls.” And while it is, honestly impossible not to watch Thymesia as a lower budgeted version of its blockbuster siblings, that easy sound bite does the title injustice. Those still diving into the Soulslike genre should consider giving this new release a blast, such as Thymesia works well as an “onboarding” title for those who feel like dipping their toe in blacker water, but may not be ready to smother themselves in the hundred-hour epicness of a Bloodborne or a Elden Ring. Conversely, genre veterans who to be willing to compromise with Thymesia‘s shortcomings will lie in wait for several hours of sick ‘n’ satisfying action-adventure.
Thymesia is not shy about his influences, an acknowledgment that helps and damages the title when inevitably compared to its legendary brethren. But any Soulslike fan willing to look past the budget shortfalls will find this humble monster stomper a great way to spend a bleak weekend. While Thymesia definitely lacking in some key departments, the solid control, satisfying combat, moody atmosphere and immersive challenge are still worth crowing about.
[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]
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