Lost Soul Aside - Review

Heading into playing Lost Soul Aside, I really didn’t have any idea what to expect. I remember seeing a trailer for the game in a State of Play, but beyond that, I knew nothing about the game. Having sunk a lot of time into this new action-RPG, was going in without any insights worth it, or did I end up totally lost?

The story of the game is viewed through the eyes of Kaser, a member of a group called Splendor, who are resisting the rule of the emperor of their city. While beginning to fight back in a big way, asteroids rain down from the sky and from them emerge these monstrous beings. While trying to get away Kaser falls into a giant hole in the ground and soon hears a voice. Getting closer to the voice, Kaser meets a large dragon know as Arena, excuse me Lord Arena and he offers Kaser power to escape and fight back. The monstrous beings are called Voidrax and they are able to absorb the souls of other beings, namely humans and with the power that gives them, they can unleash their leader from their thousand-year imprisonment. Kaser gets up to the surface and to his little sister, only for her to be captured and her soul taken. This sets Kaser off on an adventure across the world, in order to get it back before it is too late, oh and to stop the bad guy.

Across the game you do meet a number of folks, some are fellow members of Splendor and the others are associates of Lord Arena. The problem is that none of the characters are very entertaining, in fact only a few have personalities and they are often locked away. Kaser, the main character has almost no personality and it feels like a weird choice and while he is paired up with Arena, that character has a bizarre one. With Kaser being so bland, I had hoped that Arena would be big and bold, sadly he gives off substitute high school math teacher energy. The most entertaining characters in the game is Aramon; the big bad and Liliana, who acts as your save point, store and recipe manufacturer. I know for many folks, a mediocre story is still ok and for the most part there is nothing functionally wrong with the games story. Where the issue lies is that we have seen it before and in almost every other instance, it is done much better with characters you want to spend time with.

While the story is dry, the gameplay is mostly a lot better, it is not perfect by any means, but it is better. The bulk of the gameplay is you running to your next destination, with occasional combat mixing it up. The world is mostly ok, just in terms of what can access, as there are a lot of invisible walls that block your way. There are a few open spaces for you to run around in and they are fun, but they are more like rewards for getting through the linear sections. There are some little alcoves that hide a few things to get, but it is mostly a linear game, which is a sad thing. The reason why I am sad about this is simply down to some of the locations have some great vibes to them.

Where the gameplay excels is with the combat, mostly. The reason why I say mostly, as it can sometimes get stuck into excessive combo attacks, which I was never able to cancel. Ignoring that though, the combat is great, because without any upgrades to your weapons, you can get some fun stuff done. One of fun things is the ability to parry, if you time it right and you can then wail upon your foe, but you can’t spam the parry option. The reason is that your dashes, blocks and parries are all tied to a stamina meter and it is small when you begin the game. Doing any of those actions will reduce it and once gone, you need to wait for it to recover. When facing a regular enemy one on one, you really don’t need to worry about it, but the game often supplies multiple foes at once and there you do need to worry about it.

As you progress through the game, you will unlock new sword, charms and other upgrades for Kaser and Lord Arena. The sword upgrades are the easiest ones to deal with, as they will just increase your damage, but once you start adding accessories, things can get quite interesting. Accessories can add extra damage, or increase the rate that your stamina recharges and if you couple them with the upgrades you can unlock for Kaser, you can create a really fun build. The only real drawback to the upgrades is that they are tied to the weapon types, so if you get your broadsword up there and then swap back to your regular sword, you lose all those buffs, which if you are not paying attention can hurt. One fun thing that the game did for me, after my first loss in a boss fight, I got presented with a charm that reduces that damage I take and increases what I make. The next time I failed, I got a stronger version of that and while it is partly insulting that the game just assumes I need the help, you don’t have to equip, which is nice.

On the presentation side of things, it is mostly good, there are some great locations and interesting character designs. The biggest problem is that early on you are likely get more than a whiff of another game and it doesn’t really shake that until about halfway through the adventure. Kaser is just as boring to look at, as he is in personality, he just has reluctant hero face and it never goes away. There are a number of support characters, like Liliana and Gethya, who have some fun looks, though they are not unique. The problem that a lot of the female characters have is that they present themselves in calm manners, something often seen in Chinese woman, or at least in videogames. Why that is a problem here is that when they are supposed to be power or strong, having them act like a wallflower when not in combat, creates a weird juxtaposition.

The games audio is sadly worse than the visuals, mostly down to the voice acting, I have said a few times here that Kaser has no personality and it shows with the voice acting. Don’t get me wrong, the actor voicing the character is clear and easy to understand, but even when horrible things happen, there is no life in the voice. Lord Arena is the same, here is thousand year old dragon, with infinite power and abilities beyond what we can imagine, but he sounds like Ollivander from the Harry Potter movies. Liliana is the only character that has life in her voice, but she repeats a lot of the lines she has, so often it becomes annoying to listen to. The games soundtrack has some great pieces, I just had to lower the default music volume, as it was a little overpowering for me.

Lost Soul Aside is an ok game; there is a great combat system here that rewards those who put some time into it. The problem is that the game also contains a mediocre story, forgettable characters and a world that looks great, but is limited in its explorable options. For the first major game from the studio, they have a great foundation to build from, but they just need to reign in their ambitions for the next one. If you are in the mood for a decent action game, you will enjoy Lost Soul Aside, just don’t expect much more beyond that.

The Score

7.0

Review code provided by PlayStation

The Pros

Combat is fun and with the stamina meter and various upgrade options, should provide a good variety for players

The world has some fun vibes...

The Cons

... which is why it is a shame most of it is closed off by invisible walls

The characters are devoid of personality and they don't make the bland story worth experiencing