This new soulslike has the best twist on the genre I've seen, but it sadly flubs the landing

GamesRPGThis new soulslike has the best twist on the genre I’ve seen, but it sadly flubs the landingWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Trialforge)

Deathbound

A new soulslike must have a twist, and Deathbound has its party system. This doesn’t mean you’ll be roaming the neon-lit ruins of Akratya city with three friends in tow: it means you can swap between a total of four characters on the fly (there are more than four characters, but you must select four to load out with). As I moved through the mostly linear but occasionally shallowly interconnected zones of Akratya I’d occasionally find new party members, like Anna, a trashmouth assassin, or Haodai, an unfailingly sincere “essencemaster” (a mage, basically). There’s uber-serious spearwielder Iulia, a heavy battle axe-wielding misanthrope called Agharos, and—most unusually—a monk, Mamdile, who specialises in the Afro-Brazilian Capoeira style of martial arts. Rounding out this gaggle is the self-flagellating former lord Therone, a sword and board guy, and another character I’m yet to unlock.

It’s a cool idea that evolves Nioh’s stance switching system, but it’s difficult to execute reliably. I understand that soulslike orthodoxy rules out the canceling of hastily triggered moves, but pulling off a sync at close range is a risk not often worth taking. If I fire off a few projectiles as the mage, and then sync into the spear-wielder to issue a brisk bleed-happy jab before pulling off a perfect dodge, and then sync into battle axe dude for a big hit from behind, each move needs to play out in its entirety—without getting hit!—or else I’m going to cop a flogging, and that’s factoring in the brief moment it takes to actually perform a sync. It feels like a long time when you’re facing unpredictable enemies with fast attacks. It’s especially galling when my sync meter is full and I pull off a super melee attack, only for that attack to not land. Timing can feel tedious rather than satisfyingly precision-focused.

Image1of6(Image credit: Trialforge)(Image credit: Trialforge)(Image credit: Trialforge)(Image credit: Trialforge)(Image credit: Trialforge)(Image credit: Trialforge)

Image1of6

(Image credit: Trialforge)(Image credit: Trialforge)(Image credit: Trialforge)(Image credit: Trialforge)(Image credit: Trialforge)(Image credit: Trialforge)

(Image credit: Trialforge)

Deathbound

(Image credit: Trialforge)

Deathbound

(Image credit: Trialforge)

Deathbound

(Image credit: Trialforge)

Deathbound

(Image credit: Trialforge)

Deathbound

(Image credit: Trialforge)

Deathbound

There’s another layer of complexity to do with the party members themselves: some of them hate one another (and boy, are they loud about it!), while others have affinities. Party selection is done via a diagram showing the interplay of your selected load out. If characters are connected via a blue line, they enjoy certain advantages, but red lines mean some debuff or disadvantage will be in effect:

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(Image credit: Trialforge)

Deathbound

More egregious is the level design, or more specifically, the furniture placement. For a game that likes to throw barely visible snipers at me on the reg, there sure are a lot of annoying ambiguities regarding what I can walk on and what must be walked around. I was feeling pretty disenchanted already when, entering a giant rundown stadium, I was made to navigate the seat aisles towards sniping enemies. Ankle-high boxes—in one case a little speaker!—laid in the aisles are enough to prevent my hero from entering that aisle. These lapses in logic are easily forgiven in games if they don’t hinder us, but boy do they hinder us in Deathbound. If I’m not confusedly navigating a stupid maze like this while dodging near-invisible poison bolts, I’m getting stuck on objects while an enemy pounds away at my face. Or, a long-armed freak is hitting methrough wallswhile I can’t even swing at an enemy near furniture without the furniture obstructing my blade.

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