A Hands-On Preview of Soulstice, Coming September!

A Hands-On Preview of Soulstice, Coming September!

It is easy to feel that the olden days of gaming are long gone with certain genres disappearing, falling into the sands of time; that was until I played Soulstice. Developed by Reply Game Studios and published by Modus Games, Soulstice takes you on a hack-and-slash adventure that feels ripped right out of the past but with various twists when it comes to combat and style. Thanks to the respective developer and publisher, I was able to get my hands on the first two chapters of Soulstice, and I enjoyed what I played. By the name I assumed that Soulstice was going to be another take on the Souls-like genre and instead I got Devil May Cry which is a wonderful thing, although with some caveats.

Within Soulstice, I was thrown into the metal-adorned high-heeled boots of Briar and her ghastly companion Lute. Through a quick and natural tutorial process I learned more about how Briar controlled, which is as basic as you can get. Hacking, slashing, double jumping all while swinging a rather large sword felt standard, highlighting the phrase “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” What really added the twist to combat was the presence of Lute.

While I don’t control her outright like Briar, Lute adds a sense of depth to the combat. While I was delivering heavy and light attacks, Lute had my back with counter moves that would have different adverse effects on specific enemies when I initiated. She would interrupt big hulking monstrosities allowing me to get a few blows in with Briar’s transforming sword or put up a shield when ranged attackers threw a spear at me.

Combat became even more chaotic when it came to shifting different ethereal planes. When activated, left and right trigger emit a respective blue and red field allowing me to interact with different environmental elements. I could only pull up one field at a time and they would slowly diminish if I kept it up for too long, leaving me to fend for myself for a few seconds while Lute recharged her abilities. When I started facing off against enemies that can only be attacked when within those fields, combat became incredibly interesting and quite satisfying. I had to manage target prioritization and measure who is a bigger risk to my survival without slowing down time or getting a window to really think about the scenario, and I find that to be a rarity these days.

At the end of every combat scenario, I was rated on my performance, giving me a sense of competitiveness against myself. Luckily, I could get better over time by obtaining resources and utilizing the upgrades that Briar and Lute have at their disposal. Briar has a greater focus on physical combat while Lute’s huge talent tree enhances her spell power and even field range. Each have their own separate resource so I never have to think about which one I would rather upgrade, which is an incredibly nice touch and kept me motivated.

Aside from the combat, Soulstice does have a tiny bit of that Dark Souls flavor. A lot of information was not delivered to me at the ready and I felt that exposition was treated as if I started reading a book at the halfway mark, which isn’t a bad thing when done right. Characters like Layton add a sense of mystery to this world but also has a sense of pompousness with his voice sharing a similar cadence to Elden Ring NPCs. Additionally, the name of Briar and Lute’s organization is called the “Order of the Ashen Blade,” and if that doesn’t sound “Soul-like” to you then I don’t know what does.

I found my limited time with Soulstice to be quite enjoyable. It harnesses the magic that Devil May Cry bestowed upon us while still maintaining its own identity. My only complaint is that some of the fixed camera angles didn’t quite work for me, leading me to fail a couple of jumps or miscalculate where I was heading. Either way, Soulstice was still a great time. You can get your hands on Soulstice on September 20th 2022 on Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Steve Esposito is a freelance gaming and tech writer hailing from New York covering everything from news, guides on some of the newest titles and devices. Aside from games and technology, Steve enjoys running his friends through his homebrew Dungeons and Dragons adventures which can be heard on his podcast called Copper Piece. Steve's work has appeared in various publications such as Seasoned Gaming, MMORPG.com, USA Today's FTW, and more.

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