Neat if unspectacular. A short, breezy entry into the ever-expanding Souls-like genre, this game is pretty fun in spite of feeling a bit like consuming empty calories in certain ways. The level design is complex, but unnecessarily so in many cases (what is up with all of the crawlspaces that bring you to places you likely already discovered by simply walking along a path?) The plot is an extremely stock-standard re-take of Dark Souls post-Lordvessel acquisition - kill some demigods, bring back their essences to a giant, vaguely ominous animal creature, fight the final boss, ascend to a highly compromised form of godhood, etc. Along the way, you'll find the elliptical, ambiguous lore notes that we've come to expect from these stories, but as with most non-From games in this genre, these are dull and ponderous rather than intriguing or mordantly humorous.
So why do I still kind of like this game despite thinking the story is basically complete trash? Well, the gameplay, of course! This game feels great in the hands. Most of what I enjoy in the combat is rooted in the 'hardness' mechanic, one of the cooler twists on Soulslike combat that I've seen. Your character can harden to avoid damage, but you can also get creative by hardening while attacking, hardening to nullify status effects, and so on. It's an unexpectedly deep mechanic that contributes to making the combat a lot of fun. There is also a charming simplicity to the enemy movesets that reminded me of early From games like Demon's Souls - every enemy (including most bosses) has at most 3-4 moves, and each is clearly telegraphed with plenty of time to respond. This is not the twitchy, reflex-based combat of Bloodborne or Dark Souls III, but rather the stodgier, more methodical combat of Demon's Souls or Dark Souls. That may disappoint some, but I like both. Slow and methodical is rarer these days, so I was pleasantly surprised. Overall, a fun if minor game that feels a bit like a proof-of-concept project that From might have made in 2008.
So why do I still kind of like this game despite thinking the story is basically complete trash? Well, the gameplay, of course! This game feels great in the hands. Most of what I enjoy in the combat is rooted in the 'hardness' mechanic, one of the cooler twists on Soulslike combat that I've seen. Your character can harden to avoid damage, but you can also get creative by hardening while attacking, hardening to nullify status effects, and so on. It's an unexpectedly deep mechanic that contributes to making the combat a lot of fun. There is also a charming simplicity to the enemy movesets that reminded me of early From games like Demon's Souls - every enemy (including most bosses) has at most 3-4 moves, and each is clearly telegraphed with plenty of time to respond. This is not the twitchy, reflex-based combat of Bloodborne or Dark Souls III, but rather the stodgier, more methodical combat of Demon's Souls or Dark Souls. That may disappoint some, but I like both. Slow and methodical is rarer these days, so I was pleasantly surprised. Overall, a fun if minor game that feels a bit like a proof-of-concept project that From might have made in 2008.