Pablo Picasso is credited with the adage “good artists borrow, great artists steal,” though whether or not he was truly the first person to utter that phrase is up for debate. Picasso wasn’t thinking about games when he said this, but the sentiment does carry over to the medium where phrases like soulslike, metroidvania and Diablo clone are descriptors that gamers immediately understand.Soulsticeis such a game where after spending a short amount of with it one can easily spot influences from Berserk, Devil May Cry and Beyond: Two Souls. And it’s clearly not the first game where its influences are obvious as very successful games have been developed on the premise of taking an existing game and making something new from it. The successful games are the ones that find a way to build their own identity and not just feel like a knockoff of another game.
The Holy Kingdom of Keidas is on the brink of annihilation when a massive Tear appears in the sky above the city of Ilden. Wraiths have invaded from beyond the Veil, consuming the living and in some cases even possessing their bodies, turning them into horrific monsters. Regular humans are powerless against the Wraiths and must rely on Chimera to protect them, hybrid warriors born by bonding two souls together. Briar and Lute are two sisters who have become Chimera. Briar retains her human form but with superhuman strength and resilience while Lute was given a ethereal form. Lute no longer has a physical body, but assists Briar with her new mystical powers.
Briar and Lute arrive in the flaming ruins of the city following a Wraith attack. Where they need to go is clearly visible upon arrival but getting there won’t be easy as the normal paths are no longer accessible due to destruction, fire and mysterious crystal growths. Getting anywhere requires platforming skills, solving simple puzzles and fighting through the otherworldly invaders. In order to succeed the two sisters will need to cooperate and neither one has the abilities to get through Ilden on their own.
Being as she has the body, Briar handles most of the traversal and combat, but Lute is still essential. Lute can activate two different fields that can allow Briar to reach beyond the Veil, which is necessary for travel and combat. Lute has a blue Evocation field and a red Banishment field. Certain enemies can only be harmed when they are within the respective fields. Outside of combat blue crystal platforms can only be utilized with the Evocation field and the red crystal growths cannot be bypassed without the banishment field. Activating these fields does suck the energy out of Lute so switching between them and timing them properly is another necessary component to success.
On their journey to get to the Tear Briar and Lute have do a fair amount of platforming and exploring. The ruins of Ilden are large and require a lot of traveling through broken staircases and platforming. Elevators can help with this but getting them to work often requires removal of crystal growths that are block their passage. The terrain itself poses a challenge, but there are plenty of battles that pop up to slow their progress. The battles will feel familiar to anyone familiar with action games, but there are a few extra elements that complicate things. Briar can switch weapons on the fly which is great for different enemy types, for example the Fist is great at taking out armored opponents. Utilizing Lute is where things get a little more hectic. She can do a timed counter which is useful when Briar is getting surrounded. Lute can also activate her Evocation and Banishment fields depending on who’s around so Briar can properly dispatch them. At its base level battles are flashy affairs that seem like what we’ve had in many actions games prior, but Lute’s inclusion adds extra elements to make it feel more unique.
Soulstice appears to have forged its identity from cobbling together elements of its influences. The visual style pays homage to the manga Berserk and the stylish, fast-paced combat would feel right at home in a Devil May Cry game. While no attempts were made to cover up its influences, however, the atmosphere helps create something that doesn’t feel like a simple knock off and after spending several hours exploring Ilden, my anticipation for the final product has grown. The scheduled release date for Soulstice is September 20 and will be available on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S with a suggested retail price of $49.99.
