Reviews from

in the past


|/|- This review has two versions, one in English and another in Portuguese (Brazil);
|\|- Essa review tem duas versões, uma em Inglês e outra em Português (Brasil).


> ENGLISH:
In an unknown world teeming with colossal titans of various kinds, our small protagonist embarks on a journey to defeat them.
Initially, the objective of our character in defeating all the titans is not clear, nor is what existed previously in this world. This becomes apparent as we notice that we are just a small being with a simple bow and arrow (which returns to the player when pulled).

Each of the nearly 20 colossal titans has its details (some better, some worse), and all of them present a design that reflects their original environment. A small issue is that many of the titans are not memorable as we progress through the story, as some are extremely easy to defeat, which diminishes some appreciation for them as the story progresses.

Its soundtrack is quite remarkable; I would say it's one of the best features of "Titan Souls". It contributes greatly to each environment's atmosphere and to our character's battles. Therefore, the theme it produces is very well matched and worked out in various aspects, whether in calmness or apprehension.

Our character dies when hit once; however, when our arrow hits the "target" of one of the titans, it also dies (depending on its type, as some have another "phase"), so we need to shoot and hit it too before it regenerates. I'm not a fan of this part, to be honest, I don't like it at all, as sometimes I defeat a titan out of nowhere, and it just ends there, without even having the "grace" of having battled with it. It's somewhat frustrating to repeat it again just to see where its weak point was.

One of the main criticisms I read about the game was about the downtime, evidenced by the small loadings that occur, where we are stuck for about 5 to 8 seconds without being able to take any action. It may seem trivial, but for a game that has a "speedrun" characteristic, it's quite pathetic.
An idea to reduce this loading time would be to have our character respawn in the titan's room when defeated by a titan, instead of just respawning at their scene checkpoint. This would make gameplay much smoother.

In my opinion, it should have focused more on a skill system (upgrades), considering the vast world it has. However, I feel that something like this was missing to give it a "boost".
Why do I say this? Simply put, with the vast world the game has created, full of scenes of various types (ancient ruins, tundras, underworld, and night forests), but little of these parts were explored. I think they could have a significant spotlight with a career of improving their skills throughout the game. It could be something basic, like a little more speed, speed when pulling the arrow, rolling, among other things.


RATING: 5.7/10
Review in Backloggd:

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> PORTUGUÊS (BRASIL):
Em um mundo desconhecido e repleto de titãs colossais de diversos tipos, nosso pequeno protagonista parte em sua jornada para os derrotá-los.
Inicialmente, o objetivo de nosso personagem ao derrotar todos os titãs não é claro, nem mesmo o que havia anteriormente neste mundo. Isso fica aparente se notarmos, que somos apenas um pequeno ser e seu simples arco e flecha (que retorna ao jogador quando puxado).

Cada um dos quase 20 titãs colossais tem seus detalhes (alguns melhores, outros piores), e todos eles apresentam um design que reflete seu ambiente de origem. Um pequeno problema é que muitos dos titãs não são memoráveis à medida que avançamos na história, pois alguns são extremamente fáceis de serem derrotados, o que diminui um pouco da apreciação por eles à medida que avançamos na história.

Sua trilha sonora é bastante notável, diria que é uma das melhores características de "Titan Souls". Pois ela contribui demais para cada ambiente da atmosfera e nas batalhas de nosso personagem. Sendo assim, o tema que ela produz é muito bem combinado e trabalhado em diversos aspectos, sejam de calmaria ou apreensão.

Nosso personagem morre ao ser atingido uma vez, contudo quando a sua flecha acerta o "alvo" de um dos titãs, ele também morre (depende qual o tipo dele, pois alguns têm outra "fase"), então precisaremos atirar e acertar nela também, antes que se regenere. Eu não sou um fã dessa parte, na real, não gosto nenhum pouco, pois às vezes eu derroto um titã do nada e meio que fica por isso mesmo, sem ao menos ter uma "graça" de ter batalhado com ele. Tem como eu repetir novamente, mas chegar até ele novamente só para ver onde era o seu ponto fraco é no mínimo um tanto frustrante.

Uma das principais críticas que li sobre o game foi sobre o downtime, evidenciado pelos pequenos loadings que ocorrem, nos quais ficamos presos por cerca de 5 a 8 segundos sem poder realizar nenhuma ação. Pode até parecer algo ingênuo, mas isso para um game que tem uma característica de "speedrun" é bem patético.
Uma ideia para reduzir esse tempo de loading, seria fazer com que nosso personagem ao ser derrotado por algum titã, renascer na sala dele, em vez de apenas renascermos em seu checkpoint de cenário. Isso faria a jogabilidade demasiadamente mais fluida.

Para mim, ele deveria ter se concentrado mais em um sistema de habilidades (upgrades), considerando o vasto mundo que ele tem. Entretanto sinto que faltava algo assim para dar uma "complementada".
Mas porque digo isso? Simples, com o vasto mundo que o game criou, cheio de cenários de vários tipos (ruínas antigas, tundras, submundo e florestas noturnas), mas pouco foi explorado dessas partes, acho que elas poderiam ter um grande destaque com uma carreira de ir melhorando suas habilidades ao longo do game. Poderia ser algo bem básico, como um pouco mais de velocidade, velocidade ao puxar a flecha, rolar, entre outras coisas.


NOTA: 5.7/10
Review no Backloggd:

Game with a pretty good soundtrack and pretty nice graphics, but with average gameplay. I like the gimmick of one shot, one kill, but some bosses are really annoying with this idea in mind.

If you like a short game, where you figure out, how to find bosses weak points, give it a try. Oh and do yourself a favour and play on controller.

Maybe my perspective is skewed because I'm playing this after Death's Door, but honestly, it's amazing that the team that made such an amazing game as Death's Door started with... This.

The aesthetic is unique, soundtrack is good, but as a game it's just boring or outright annoying. Shadow of the Colossus largely follows the same formula (the game even pays homage to it), but SotC does some things that Titan Souls doesn't:
1- Eye candy. As unique of an aesthetic as Titan Souls have it, you're just less likely to stop and admire the scenery. There's very little here to incentivize you to stop and wonder.
2- Bosses aren't as complex. In fact, some of them have achievements tied like "kill in 5 seconds". Imagine riding Agro for all that time only to reach a Colossus and finish the fight within the minute...

Titan Souls is disproportionate. It's a game that, for every 10 seconds you spend walking, you get 1 of actual, engaging gameplay. And when the entire thing offers around 3 hours of content, this means that you have 2 and a half hours of nothing and 30 minutes of gameplay. It's even worse if you go for a completionist run because this game is downright unfair at times. The dodge isn't as responsive as you'd expect it to be, and the attacks patterns sometimes feel like they're meant for a higher move speed that the one you're given.

All in all, this game doesn't offer much. Has an somewhat interesting idea while it fumbles on everything else. If you're not the type of person with a speedrunner's mindset to run the same things over and over again until you perfect it, then I can't really recommend this game.