Soulstice

Full of style and substance, Soulstice is a joy to play, with tight, fast-paced combat and slick controls that make this an easy recommendation to anyone interested in a new hack and slash title.

I didn’t run into any bugs while playing the game on a Series X and utilizing the Quick Resume functionality on the system. Accessibility wise there are multiple difficulty options as well as various gameplay toggles to help out those who need it. There are multiple options for the in-game subtitles to make them easier to read, and a series of gameplay assists. You can have the game automate combat or field usage (the trigger abilities), toggle whether you have to hold down buttons for UI elements if activating the inventory pauses the game, and more. It was awesome to see, especially for such...

Soulstice does an exceptional job of keeping the player engaged throughout its entirety. The amount of content just within the combat is jaw-dropping, so much so that it feels like Reply Game Studios aren’t saving anything for a sequel. There’s a lot to discover (and a lot to master) as you slowly trek through its massive world and uncover one of the most enjoyable detective-style stories that I’ve come to experience.

Soulstice is a solid, albeit unnecessarily dragged out, hack-and-slash action role playing game that features a great cast of characters and an engaging narrative. There's a ton of replayability and a high skill ceiling to achieve, but the lack of variety in gameplay elements and wonky camera angles keep it from being truly amazing.

Soulstice's overwritten story and repetitive second half somewhat dull the catharsis of its glorious throwback hack-and-slash combat, but it's still great fun.

Soulstice's fast-paced combat is the star of the show, overshadowed by tropes and lack of variety in an experience heavily inspired by anime like Berserk.

“Soulstice's terrible camera holds back an otherwise ambitious and inspired action game.”

All this is to say that Soulstice is enjoyable for the most part, even though it has its annoyances. Being available on next-gen consoles and PC only, it looks fantastic at times and has a great sense of scale. Its boss fights are exhilarating too, and there are some other hair-raising scenes that try to provide a little variety. Factor in multiple difficulty levels and many secret challenges to be found, and you have an action adventure game that you can really sink your teeth into.

The pieces of an enjoyable experience are all here, but unfortunately, Soulstice save itself on the Deck just yet.

As a hardcore fan of action titles, Soulstice delivered on most of my expectations.

Soulstice Review

DMC meets Dark Souls in this grungy action adventure.