SOULSTICE Review for PlayStation 5

Jumping into this title, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. The look of it reminds me of something like “NieR: Automata” or ones similar to that regard. Once I started playing, though, I was almost taken aback, because this high combo action title, Soulstice, brought me back to the days of the PS2 and PS3 era, playing titles like “Devil May Cry” or even the earlier “God of War” games. To today’s standards, those older games can feel a bit dated, but there’s a lot here that makes this experience a more modern one. Developed by Reply Game Studios and published by Modus Games, Soulstice is not only an awesome action game but is a very fascinating fantasy world with two lead characters that are the real heart of the entire experience.

You play as Briar and Lute, two sisters who have become soul-bound from a ritual sacrifice that has turned them into a Chimera, a hybrid warrior that works for an organization to help protect humankind. Throughout this adventure you go on missions to investigate strange occurrences that put you up against demon-like enemies, and this is where the fun begins. Attacking your enemies with your awesome looking and overly sized sword is Briar’s specialty. Whereas Lute can deflect and interrupt incoming attacks. The game really plays up the yin and yang between these sisters, one is the brute and the other the more majestic. You will be required to level both of them up throughout your playthrough. Leveling up Lute specifically is very interesting. By pressing the left trigger, it activates Lute’s Evocation Field, causing any ethereal object in her vicinity to manifest. These are resources you will require in order to upgrade Lute’s powers, so be sure to keep an eye out.

The action itself is really fun to play, it’s really cool to seamlessly go from gameplay into really well done cutscenes. For a game that is very heavy on the lore, that is an essential ingredient to get right, for me, I believe they did. The combat, itself, is very fluid and fast, much like previously mentioned “God of War” or “Devil May Cry” and while combos start out simple, over the course of the game they become more and more in depth, all done at a very natural progressive pace. The boss fights are also very fun and unique, all are multi-tiered and ramp up the difficulty, making some bosses quite the challenge. Every level of Soulstice gives you a grading score, so if you’re the kind of gamer that likes to get the best scores possible, this does a great job of making you want to play over and over.

I don’t have very many negative things to say about Soulstice. It can be buggy at times with a glitch here and there, but nothing worth really ruining the experience. The graphics are much more impressive than I was expecting, but what also really caught me off guard, besides the awesomely fun fast-paced combat, was its very intimate story between these two sisters. I kept playing because I was invested in their story, which was steeped in this very high fantasy world with very interesting and rich lore to chew on. With dialogue that is surprisingly well written, this one made it difficult to put down.

9/10

For more information, visit: https://soulsticegame.com/

Related: Reviews by Nick Navarro

Nick Navarro

Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87

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