George Yang
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Digital TrendsLatest Reviews
Soulslike games come in many flavors. Some emphasize parrying enemy attacks like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, while others completely rely on dodging them, like Black Myth: Wukong. When I played The First Berserker: Khazan, I was looking forward to seeing where its mechanics fell within the Soulslike spectrum. It turns out that it’s squarely in the middle.
It was only near the end of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes that I began to grow accustomed to its retro design. Throughout the RPG, I learned that I should pack as many healing and revival items as I could before a boss fight, but it still didn’t prepare me for what I was about to experience.
The Dragon Quest series never quite reached the heights of popularity that its Square Enix brethren, Final Fantasy, enjoyed outside of Japan. The same can be said about its spinoff series, Dragon Quest Monsters, which many players consider a competitor to the dominant Pokémon franchise. In fact, the last Dragon Quest Monsters game, 2016’s Joker 3 for the 3DS, never even left Japan. It’s a niche within a niche.
It’s impossible to overstate the influence FromSoftware’s Dark Souls series has had on the video game industry, something that’s once again made clear with the arrival of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. The new action RPG joins a long list of “Soulslikes” that emulate FromSoftware’s punishing, yet satisfying difficulty while putting their own spin on the formula. Want a Soulslike game set in a sci-fi universe? Play The Surge. Do you like anime? Code Vein is the game for you. Ever wanted to put Pinocchio in the world of Bloodborne? Weird, but Lies of P is for you.