Platform(s): PS5 (played version), PS4, PC, Xbox Series, Xbox One
Genre: Hack-and-slash dark fantasy action game made by Europeans
Right from the start and because of the multitude of fixed camera angles and the way the main character of Guts stan makes double jumps, you already have Devil May Cry in your head. Developer Modus Studio has clearly been influenced by many hack-and-slash hyper-themed action games from the 2000s in delivering his latest game Soulstice to the world. Can it at least entertain casual and hardcore fans alike? For most parts yes.
You play as Briar, said main character who is a knight tasked with taking care of a world ending flat tear in the middle of an undead hell where there used to be a thriving kingdom. You’ll be accompanied by your ghost sister Lute, who will not only assist you in hack-and-slash battles as an assistant, but can also help you create Evocation and Banishment Fields in your area. These spaces affect wraiths and all sorts of puzzles that require blue and red ghost things and monsters. Evocation fields are blue, Banishment fields are red; I get it? If you remember Ninja Theory’s Devil May Cry reboot, it’s pretty much the red and blue weapon mechanic, but simplified and scaled down, way off.
This is important because there will be a lot of color coded enemies that can only be damaged if you have the right field. Too many red enemies hitting hard and moving fast? You better put that red field up quickly, then put it back when the blue ghosts come in. You can’t even hold it for long because your ghost sister Lute gets overloaded and disappears for a while. Furthermore, Lute can also attack and help you with counter moves; by pressing the appropriate button when prompted, Lute can fend off ranged attacks, block regular attacks, or freeze enemies mid-attack, depending on the timing.
All of this would be pretty dandy if the game’s controls were good and similar to its inspirations: the Devil May Cry and Bayonetta series. All I can say about the controls, response time and attack/cancel animations and flexibility are synonyms for “adequate” and “mediocre”. They get the job done by letting you rudimentarily look forward to many battles and arena battles with ghosts and monsters, big and small. They won’t impress action game connoisseurs by any means. Any alternate attack that isn’t your signature Berserk-sized sword just feels and every other weapon just feels awkward to play with compared to your starting weapons. But if you’re the kind who aren’t that versed in the genre, you’ll welcome the trappings of Soulstice.
Heck, the boss fights here can be fun without being too cheap, going so far as to give you a real challenge. But all the fights and setpieces in between are just a middle ground. Solve a puzzle for a while, search similar enemies, go upstairs and platform in areas with fixed camera angles.
As someone who replays the Bayonetta titles for shit and giggles, nothing in Soulstice can surprise me, but at least the action and combat keeps me awake. It’s certainly not the story; The game’s serious plot about tearing down an open portal in a massive undead and desolate kingdom with bits of knowledge in between isn’t the most immersive out there. This makes me happy that the developers gave me a cutscene button to get me to the decent stuff.
Even with its new approach to combat and its sister duo spicing things up with the dual blue/red field mechanic, I can’t help but shake the fact that Soulstice is more of an imitation of better hack-and-slash games than a evolution. You can blame that on how stiff the controls can get, as well as how some of Briar’s attacks aren’t as smart as they should be, taking more rest and recovery time than needed, especially for the lighter weapons she owns.
But if you expect Devil May Cry quality levels from a mid-sized studio like Modus, you’re crazy. It is certainly not a trendsetter. But Soulstice has a lot of, well, spirit to make it more than the above-average hack and slash 2000 era. “A” for effort, at the very least.
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