Soulstice
By Chad Sapieha,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Tough, bloody action tale shines spotlight on sisterly bond.
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Soulstice
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What’s It About?
SOULSTICE drops players into a fantasy world that's subject to tears in the fabric of the "Veil" through which appear malicious spectral entities that kill or possess humans. Players are cast in the roles of a pair of sisters, Briar and Lute, who have been transformed into chimera in order to fight the threat. The two are controlled as one. Briar possesses superhuman strength and uses it to wield large melee weapons against hordes of "broken" human enemies. Lute, meanwhile, has been turned into a ghost-like creature that trails behind Briar and uses magical powers to deflect attacks and create fields with various effects to help in combat and exploration. The pair are dispatched to the city of Ilden, which has been laid to ruin by wraiths swarming through an enormous tear in the Veil. They must carve their way through streets and buildings teeming with enemies, gradually upgrading their abilities by collecting resources that increase their health and unlock new weapons and attack moves. Play is split between exploring linear levels and battling through enemy encounters, which typically consist of several waves of foes, after which players are provided a scored summary of the fight. Additional elements include hidden challenge areas found within each level that can bestow worthwhile rewards, plus pit stops at a shop where players can purchase helpful recovery items and spend their experience points on new skills.
Is It Any Good?
Players in search of a linear action-RPG (role-playing game) with plenty of style and loads of difficulty and accessibility options will find it here. Soulstice doesn't aim to knock your socks off with innovative action, but is instead satisfied to deliver an enjoyable combat-oriented experience. Its dark, gothic environments are pretty and framed such that they feel much larger and more open than they really are, creating a cinematic atmosphere. Most of the story -- especially the details of Briar and Lute's history and sisterly relationship -- is efficiently revealed through emotive dialogue that pops up organically as the pair work their way through each level. And while the fighting isn't exactly original -- it's mostly just button combinations to attack and well timed taps to dodge and defend -- the controls are tight and the action is nicely animated, capable of getting a player's blood pumping.
What's really nifty is that players have an enormous range of options when it comes to tuning how they want to play and how challenging they want the experience to be. Finding it a bit too overwhelming to activate Lute's defensive abilities while fighting? You can set many of her actions -- such as blocking incoming attacks or throwing up magical fields -- to activate automatically. Having trouble landing some of Briar's more challenging combinations? Just enable auto-attack and she'll perform spectacularly when you get close enough to an enemy. And this is in addition to choosing from five separate generalized combat difficulty settings. What all this means is that players who like a challenge can experience the satisfaction of learning how to do everything manually while taking on relentless foes, while less experienced players can still succeed and view the action in all its glory without having to master more sophisticated mechanics. Soulstice's barrier to entry is low, and that's a welcome surprise for a genre typically known for its punishing difficulty.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about screen time. Soulstice is broken into chapters that tend to last a little less than an hour, providing good places to pause play, but are you okay with playing games like this one chapter at a time over several weeks, or do you feel the need to play more?
Does Briar and Lute's sisterly bond feel authentic? Would you feel and act the same as they do in their unusual roles as warrior and ghost?
Game Details
- Platforms: Xbox Series X/S , PlayStation 5 , Windows
- Pricing structure: Paid ($49.99)
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: Modus Games, LLC.
- Release date: September 22, 2022
- Genre: Role-Playing
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy , Brothers and Sisters , Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
- ESRB rating: M for Blood and Gore, Nudity, Violence
- Last updated: December 1, 2022
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