There are only two basic attacks at your disposal. However, as you progress through the game and unlock new abilities and Shards, things really start to open up. On the surface, Eldest Souls‘ combat seems a little sparse. And doing so is often the key to giving you an edge against a particular foe. Shards are used to augment your abilities in numerous ways. And, once you slay a boss, it’ll drop its crystalized soul in the form of a Shard. You can essentially choose which order you want to tackle many of the game’s bosses in, a bit like the Mega Man titles of old. Thankfully, Eldest Souls gives players plenty of freedom to explore the land. And even the least demanding of the bunch is bound to put your skills to the test. You’ll cross swords with a motley crew of horrors, including a ferocious frosty fiend, tentacle-wielding sentry, and even a rampaging deerlike deity throughout the game’s roughly 10-hour campaign. These encounters are nothing short of exhilerating. But for the most part, you’re going to be spending your time battling the game’s bosses over and over again until you get a feel for their unique attack patterns. Occasionally, you’ll cross paths with the odd NPC looking for a particular MacGuffin that they’ll exchange for a valuable trinket. There are no cannon fodder baddies to worry about here. Apart from poking around to learn more of the world’s lore, there’s little to distract you from your task. Armed with nothing more than your wits and a massive obsidian sword, you’ll traverse crumbling corridors, verdant fields, and icy peaks as you track down and eliminate ten brutally difficult bosses and claim their crystalized souls to enhance your powers.Ĭalling Eldest Souls streamlined would be an understatement. Players assume the role of a lone knight tasked with venturing into a place known as the Citadel and slaying the Old Gods who’ve left the world in ruins. However, if you’re brave enough to take up your sword and master its unforgiving mechanics, you’ll find an unforgettable journey awaits you.Įldest Souls‘ premise is simple enough. With frenetic combat, challenging creatures to topple, and a highly customizable skill tree to master, it’s a title that promises the test the mettle of even veteran fans of the Soulslike genre. The game artfully combines Dark Souls‘ oppressive atmosphere and style of worldbuilding with Furi‘s focus on epic duels. Quite tedious.Developed by Italian indie outfit Fallen Flag Studio, Eldest Souls is a brutal boss-rush soulslike with an outstanding 16-bit aesthetic. If you are in the arena just before a fight starts you have to give up, get teleported to a waypoint, change your skills, and then trek back to the fight. That annoyance rears its head again when you want to re-spec your character before a fight. There were moments where I turned the console off due to being frustrated with a certain fight and needing a break.
Eldest Souls can swing wildly from a test of skill to frustrating and stress-inducing depending on the boss. With some augments this can almost make you feel invincible against one or two foes, but with others the amount of damage they do negates the health recovery aspect. The player can recover health through using Bloodlust attacks which do take time to charge up. What I also found is that the dash to dodge could be unresponsive or slow at times, meaning damage was taken even when a dodge appeared to be timed correctly.
Patterns are easy to work out but there is still randomness involved which means that you could be doing well in a fight but something will catch you off guard. However, Eldest Souls seems to unevenly tilt towards players needing quite a lot of luck in some fights. The intent is to make you figure out each one’s attack pattern so you can get past them. It hinges on the fact that you will die a lot while coming up against each boss. If you die while facing off against a boss in its second phase you will have to restart the whole fight over.Įldest Souls is a game that will not have mass appeal. New attacks are introduced and the bosses move faster. Do enough damage and the boss will transform for phase two, becoming more deadly. Each boss in Eldest Souls is pretty unique when they come to attacks, but there are similarities in how fights unfold.