i played the play test on PS5 (spoiler free first impression + expectations)

[tacoim]

Hello! lets discuss what i saw yesterday playing this game and give my first impressions and expectations

first: DO NOT go into this thinking its another souls game. It is a souls game but has rogue-lite elements which will definitely test your adaptability for the game. Play test had 4 pre-made characters to choose from so i am assuming this was done for the play test and not how the characters will be done in the official release.

Weapons felt good, enemies were fun to fight and some were recognizable and some iconic staples to the souls genre. The bosses were fun, some were also recognizable and others were new and exciting. Environment definitely feels like Limgrave but also felt new and interesting to a degree. i found myself looking around and taking in the sights here and there.

coop is leaning towards a must for some fights for sure but could also be that i did not get strong enough for some fights. movement in the game is some of the best movement in the series so far. fights with bosses felt good and rewarding and enemies were pretty standard and not too tough.

my expectations for the game is that we will see more enemy variants and more bosses and for us to be allowed to customize our characters to a degree but as for weapons armor and abilities, those will have to be gained throughout the run and possibly even through multiple runs of the game to collect.

i would prefer a way to also emote with others and have more enemies around when running, i did have moments where i did not see many enemies around me so i believe they should up that a little to give us more stuff to fight as we traverse the world.

all in all if this play test is anything to go off of, ill say the game has game of the year contender written on it this early. i'm bias so take that with a big grain of salt but hopefully we will see what they got for us in the full release in may!

[Baphomeat]

I was never going into this thinking it was going to be a souls like. I knew it would be similar because of who is the lead director... She is still a souls-like developer... but I knew it would be different.

The characters are 100% the way they are going to be at launch that's why there are a total of 8 characters and 4 are locked behind the preorder paywall from the wording on the page. The characters will always be premade and limited the marketing has made this very clear.

Overall it's just a watered down version of what several mods already do for Elden Ring. I'm 100% certain this is just a test for some new mechanics for their next real game. I wouldn't be surprised if we see wall climbing and the ability to scale enemies in the next official Souls-like game. These mechanics are cool but not worth $40 for me... i'll wait till modders rip out the way it works and import it over to Elden Ring OR till the next game comes out.

[Mecharion]

Ok - i wanted to write a serious answer but you lost me entirely at "game of the year contender".

Also i doubt that you really played the Test - if so, you would have recogniced that there was not ONE single new standart enemy. Not "some" where recognicable - ALL of them. Also there was exaclty ONE new Boss not "some"

[Khamul]

How will the replayability be though? After you've seen and fought every boss a couple times, will it grow stagnant?

[Hollow-Enigma]

Originally posted by Khamul:

How will the replayability be though? After you've seen and fought every boss a couple times, will it grow stagnant?

Played myself as well, honestly its really hard to say right now. The test was incredibly limited with most things still under wraps. It was less a show of content and more well a Network Test. I'd wait on full release and see the opinions from that point onwards if you're on the fence about it.

[Mecharion]

Originally posted by Khamul:

How will the replayability be though? After you've seen and fought every boss a couple times, will it grow stagnant?

If there is no big surprise a good premade team will most likely finish the eight bosses in a few hours aka a day or two. Depending how stabel the servers will be.

Then its more of the same on random maps to farm relics. Thats it.

Since there is - for whatever reasons - no pvp, this will get boring incredible fast.

To be honest with two or three teams fighting against each other for the bosses would be much much more interesting then this pve slop.

[tacoim]

Originally posted by Mecharion:

Ok - i wanted to write a serious answer but you lost me entirely at "game of the year contender".

Also i doubt that you really played the Test - if so, you would have recogniced that there was not ONE single new standart enemy. Not "some" where recognicable - ALL of them. Also there was exaclty ONE new Boss not "some"

"lost me at game of the year" i can tell as you then missed the part that says "Im very bias so take that with a big grain of salt"

anything else to...contribute?

[tacoim]

Originally posted by Baphomeat:

I was never going into this thinking it was going to be a souls like. I knew it would be similar because of who is the lead director... She is still a souls-like developer... but I knew it would be different.

The characters are 100% the way they are going to be at launch that's why there are a total of 8 characters and 4 are locked behind the preorder paywall from the wording on the page. The characters will always be premade and limited the marketing has made this very clear.

Overall it's just a watered down version of what several mods already do for Elden Ring. I'm 100% certain this is just a test for some new mechanics for their next real game. I wouldn't be surprised if we see wall climbing and the ability to scale enemies in the next official Souls-like game. These mechanics are cool but not worth $40 for me... i'll wait till modders rip out the way it works and import it over to Elden Ring OR till the next game comes out.

i pretty much avoided a lot of the info so i can be as fresh as possible going in. didnt realize it be 4 characters and then 4 were locked behind a preorder paywall. im guessing you have the right idea of it being a way to test new mechanics and such

[tacoim]

Originally posted by Khamul:

How will the replayability be though? After you've seen and fought every boss a couple times, will it grow stagnant?

pretty much what the other guy hollow said. i dont feel it will get stagnant too soon at least. i am hopeful they will have a good amount of bosses to face and go against

[Hollow-Enigma]

Originally posted by tacoim:

Originally posted by Baphomeat:

I was never going into this thinking it was going to be a souls like. I knew it would be similar because of who is the lead director... She is still a souls-like developer... but I knew it would be different.

The characters are 100% the way they are going to be at launch that's why there are a total of 8 characters and 4 are locked behind the preorder paywall from the wording on the page. The characters will always be premade and limited the marketing has made this very clear.

Overall it's just a watered down version of what several mods already do for Elden Ring. I'm 100% certain this is just a test for some new mechanics for their next real game. I wouldn't be surprised if we see wall climbing and the ability to scale enemies in the next official Souls-like game. These mechanics are cool but not worth $40 for me... i'll wait till modders rip out the way it works and import it over to Elden Ring OR till the next game comes out.

i pretty much avoided a lot of the info so i can be as fresh as possible going in. didnt realize it be 4 characters and then 4 were locked behind a preorder paywall. im guessing you have the right idea of it being a way to test new mechanics and such

Believe something is wrong with the info here, there were 4 characters in the test, 8 total at launch and more coming with the DLC at the end of the year.

[tacoim]

Originally posted by Mecharion:

Originally posted by Khamul:

How will the replayability be though? After you've seen and fought every boss a couple times, will it grow stagnant?

If there is no big surprise a good premade team will most likely finish the eight bosses in a few hours aka a day or two. Depending how stabel the servers will be.

Then its more of the same on random maps to farm relics. Thats it.

Since there is - for whatever reasons - no pvp, this will get boring incredible fast.

To be honest with two or three teams fighting against each other for the bosses would be much much more interesting then this pve slop.

idk, i feel pvp and making it a battle royale could make for a pretty horrific time depending on how people play and how well someone is at the game. i imagine a scenario where you go to fight the boss and end up now dealing with others who are attacking from a distance or just helping the boss fight you to end you quick and take the fight themselves.

it would definitely cause people to rage very fast.

[tacoim]

Originally posted by Hollow-Enigma:

Originally posted by tacoim:

i pretty much avoided a lot of the info so i can be as fresh as possible going in. didnt realize it be 4 characters and then 4 were locked behind a preorder paywall. im guessing you have the right idea of it being a way to test new mechanics and such

Believe something is wrong with the info here, there were 4 characters in the test, 8 total at launch and more coming with the DLC at the end of the year.

ahhh i see. it is a spin off so i wont hold it against them for going that route. i just need them to make sure it all makes sense and is fun and a good challenge at the end of the day