In this review we will talk about Eldest Souls, a challenging soulslike in pixel art developed by the Italian software house Fallen Flag Studio
Now that of soulslike has become a genre that is very popular with gamers and as a result more and more titles belonging to this category are popping up. In fact, just today it was published Eldest Souls, a top-down action RPG which is strongly inspired by the great successes of From Software. It will be successful the title of Fallen Flag Studio e United Label to stand out from the many soulslike ones available on the market? Discover it with us with ours review di Eldest Souls.
Gods and men
Eldest Souls is set in a fantasy world where it originally human beings and gods coexisted in peace. Unfortunately, however, this balance did not last long, since the god Eskyell convinced his fellow men to to subdue men. Humans could initially do nothing to oppose the rulership of the gods, but after years of slavery they finally decided to rebel. The best warriors of men in fact united to defeat the gods and subsequently imprison them inside a remote citadel.
After the rebellion, humans managed to thrive but the imprisoned deities unleashed the land on earth Desolation, a phenomenon that is slowly consuming the world. In this moment of great crisis, it will be up to our protagonist to venture alone into the prison of the deities to eliminate the last survivors and try to restore the balance of the world.
The beginning of the game is really very fascinating but after this eloquent introduction the game will focus on one silent narration. In fact, in Eldest Souls you can find out more about the world just by observing the settings, reading the descriptions of the objects and above all talking to the NPCs. In particular, the non-player characters made a very good impression on us, as many of them will be linked to very interesting ones side missions that will reward you not only with upgrades, but also with lots of information on the universe of the game.
The Power of the Gods – Eldest Souls Review
Basically Eldest Souls is a classic top-down action RPG, but it also hides some very original mechanics. For example, in addition to the classic basic attacks and dodges related to stamina, your character will also be able to perform powerful loaded shots capable of filling your gauge thirst for blood. When this bar is full, your attacks will be much faster, more powerful, and will also allow you to recover life points with each hit. Furthermore, while this mode is active, you can also perform lethals outbursts of blood, that is, attacks that will instantly empty the bloodlust indicator but which in return will allow you to deal massive damage.
In addition to these basic moves, you will be able to spend over the course of the game skill points to unlock new techniques. In total they are present 3 very different skill trees and during the battles you can use attacks belonging only to one of these three branches (luckily out of the battle you can redistribute skill points at any time as you prefer). Depending on your style of play you may prefer one type of technique to another, but in some cases it may be wise. completely change abilities based on the enemy you are facing.
The greatest peculiarity of Eldest Souls, however, is represented by fragments, that is, remnants of bosses capable of providing you with exceptional skills. These shards offer specific abilities related to the god they come from and to make matters worse they can be applied in many different ways according to the slot in which you will insert them. For example a fragment can be used as an active skill completely unique, but can also be associated with any of your protagonist’s other techniques for modify or enhance them. In this way every single splinter will have in effect more than 10 completely different applications that will allow you to really customize your character a lot.
Fierce Battles – Eldest Souls Review
We continue our review by talking about what is certainly the most important aspect of Eldest Souls: i boss. The title of Fallen Flag Studio in fact stands out from the other soulslike ones due to the fact that the only enemies you will encounter while playing it will be bosses.
These fearsome creatures differ greatly in both appearance and abilities, and each time you find yourself facing one you will have to work hard to learn how to avoid his attacks. In fact, Eldest Souls is a game extremely difficult and to defeat some of these creatures you may be forced to make numerous attempts. Fortunately, facing the bosses will almost always be a lot of fun, since the clashes will be extremely accurate and satisfying.
We used the quasi because unfortunately some specific bossfights suffer from some problems that after repeated attempts risks causing no small amount of frustration. For example, in several cases it happened to us that various attacks came hidden from the environment and that some bosses attacked us from places inaccessible to us.
A Divine Style – Eldest Souls Review
Eldest Souls really managed to win us over from the point of view artistic. The title is made with a splendida pixel art which manages to enhance both the decadent setting of the citadel and the mysterious creatures that inhabit it. The designs of the deities then really are well cared for and they manage to make each of these entities seem as unique as they are powerful. In addition, the game also boasts of extremely accurate animations that make the fighting fluid and above all allow you to easily read the movements of the bosses.
For what concern technical sector instead there is not much to say about Eldest Souls. The game is very light and during our test (which took place on PS4) we did not encounter any kind of bugs. Unfortunately during some of the more chaotic confrontations we have warned some frame drops, but luckily this problem didn’t hurt our experience too much.
Conclusions
Now it’s finally time for our review where we take stock of Eldest Souls. Fallen Flag Studios is an extremely demanding title that will challenge even the most experienced players. To be able to overcome a bossfight you will be forced to face it over and over again, but once you have managed to triumph you will experience a truly satisfying sense of satisfaction. Some clashes are unfortunately likely to cause some frustration, but fortunately in most cases this is not the case.
The title is also also extremely replayable. In fact, once the story is over, you will unlock the arena mode where you can freely retry all the clashes and the New Game Plus. In particular, the NG + is really very good given that, in addition to increasing the basic difficulty of the game, will also teach new attacks to all bosses. Discovering all the new techniques of the enemies is in itself more than enough motivation to replay the entire title, but to it is also added the possibility of delve even further into the beautiful world of the game completing the various extra missions of the NPCs e discovering all the endings. In short, if you are looking for a challenging, satisfying game that pushes you to improve more and more, then Eldest Souls is perfect for you.
Eldest Souls is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X | S.. If you are interested in staying up to date with all the news on the world of video games and much more, then continue to follow us here on TechGameWorld.com. Furthermore, in case you want to buy some games at an advantageous price, we suggest you take a look at the many offers on Instant Gaming.
Points in favor
- Fascinating story
- Very customizable gameplay
- Extreme replayability
- Artistically splendid
- Bossfights are great …
Points against
- … but sometimes a little frustrating
- Performance not always at the top