Soulstice: Deluxe Edition (PS5)

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Now I’m probably missing 10 other things that you can experience with the gameplay, but it’s so vast that it’s easy to forget some things even exist. Briar and Lute aren’t the only Chimera in the world, and the comparison between them and the other clandestine duos makes them stand out, as they seem to be the only body and soul duo that actually like each other.

Even Briar and Lute, who constantly are attempting to avoid succumbing to corruption and transforming into monsters themselves, look super cool when they occasionally lose that battle. As you explore and progress, the interiors give way to exteriors, the darkness gives way to the blizzard-covered centre of the city where the tear is they are trying to reach, but on the whole, most of Soulstice looks the same. Whilst the sword is a good all round weapon each of the sub-weapons have strengths and weaknesses depending on the enemies you’re facing. Soulstice is a game with some great aesthetic choices, but is completely marred by poor gameplay design that takes control away from the player during the times they'll need it the most. If you are a fan of hack and slash games, this is just the game for you until we hear about the next Devil May Cry entry.Yet the many of these locations are dull and unappealing, and with the exception the last few locations in the end game, barely look any different than one another. I only found one boss battle midway through the game to be tough, but that was because of the amount of crap trying to attack me while I was whittling down the big guy’s health. Her fellow Chimeras also all look cool as hell, and every enemy design is quickly recognizable and, frankly, awesome.

You’ll be facing pretty dull iterations of ugly men with bubbly stuff on their faces, then armoured versions, then ones with projectiles. Flat tableau-based memory sequences with voiceover – not exactly inspiring when you’ve worked so hard for the answers. Soulstice from Reply Game Studios brings a strong story, a good amount of action, and paints a perfectly drab world to tie it all together.Sure, it had me wishing there was more to the puzzles, or that it was harder, but the amount of content to experience in both the combat and the story is insane.

The Chimera, hybrid warriors born of the union of two souls, are the only ones who can protect humankind. The ‘Soul’ in Soulstice led me and possibly others to think this would be a high difficulty, slow combat, on a knife edge of being killed, souls-like experience. Explore a dark world brimming with hidden mysteries, master a diverse combat system, and inhabit the dual forces of two sisters in a coming-of-age fantasy story with fast-paced action, vicious enemies, and spectacular boss fights. A combat camera which gave the player all the information they need and enemy AI that were less likely to take advantage of those deficiencies would also elevate the experience massively.Briar’s weapon can shape-shift, moving from sword, to hammer, to gloves, to bow, to whip, in the blink of an eye. It's one of those things where you need to be content with shortcomings, which is why I raised the PS2, and gaming back then. The adult classification is applied when the level of violence reaches a stage where it becomes a depiction of gross violence, apparently motiveless killing, or violence towards defenceless characters.

I haven’t played Devil May Cry in years, so I can’t say how Soulstice’s encounters compares to DMC (though I don’t remember feeling overwhelmed or annoyed), but I did play Bayonetta this year.

Like two scorpion Possessed boys showing up alongside other basic Possessed and Corrupted enemies; or two (different) enemies that were used as mini-bosses on the field with Possessed and Wraith enemies.