Soulstice: Deluxe Edition (PS5)

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In fact, honestly, the game is probably twice as long as it needs to be considering the variety it has. Dark and stylish new melee brawler Soulstice wears its influences firmly on lead character Briar’s armoured sleeve – leave the guns at the door and this is Devil May Cry from an alternate timeline.

There’s a full suite of accessibility options, as well, which is pretty helpful for colorblind folk like myself. Aside from the two or three instances that it makes sense, I not only felt there were too many enemies being thrown at you, but enemies that require more attention and maintenance showing up together, making it more annoying and overwhelming than it should be. Briar carries her sword, dubbed the Ashen Vindicator, and Lute uses magic to assist her sister in and out of battle. The more successful attacks, combos, and counters you do, the closer Briar and Lute become until their portraits are combined.Join Elite Reward today and earn up to 10% points back with Elite Reward - Our exclusive membership service from GAME. Despite the flaws, it does an excellent job setting up a sequel and I do expect that one to improve on combat and enemy variety. It definitely takes a lot out of you, which is strange considering I never had that kind of experience with the likes of Red Dead Redemption 2 or Elden Ring — which I played for well over that 100-hour mark.

The rest of the cast, especially Layton, and the twisted villains are not as good, and generate a few unintended laughs.As you can probably tell, Soulstice was a bit of a love-hate relationship, but I did feel that the positives outweighed the negatives for me. At worst it's a poor appreciation of the genre's finer points, stacking up systems that detract from the purity of exhilarating combat. The transformation has granted Briar superhuman strength and resilience, while Lute, sacrificed to bind her soul to her sister’s, has become a shade with mystical powers. A Tear in the Sky has opened above Ilden; as Briar and Lute get closer to it, their surroundings become more menacing and twisted.