There are casual, fun games that leave you feeling relaxed after playing them. Eldest souls is not amongst them. It’s been a long time since I have raged at a game, swearing at the screen and wanting to throw my controller through it, but Eldest Souls invokes that. Having finished it, I now have that stress free feeling, as I know I don’t have to endure that again. If you are into punishing pixel art or boss rush games that are totally unforgiving, then Eldest Souls is for you.

Story
The story starts out really well, and describes a world where gods and humans lived aside each other in harmony. The old gods are corrupted by one of their kind, and start a war and enslave humanity. On the brink after 100’s of years of servitude humanity fights back and imprisons the gods in the sacred walls of the Citadel, a fortress to house the gods where they can be contained not only from humanity, but each other, watched over by a standing army. The peace doesn’t last, and you are sent to reinforce the standing army and slay the gods, who have unleased another wave of ruin upon the land. The story briefly expands during the game as you meet a few surviving NPC’s or read logbooks, notes and piece the scrapes of information together that you find, but it’s fairly sparse. I did like that some choices that you make change the ending (all rewards come at a cost), and even then it’s not clear who exactly you are serving.

Gameplay
This is a game for those who want to be punished for misdeeds in their previous lives. It’s all about timing, and is totally unforgiving as there are no invulnerability frames when you get hit by an attack, mistiming means you can have multiple attacks hit you in rapid succession, all dealing damage (which is usually fatal). Some boss attacks can hit for 70% of your life in one hit, life steal is really low (which is the only way to recover health during a fight), and there aren’t any options to increase your health pool or increase the amount of dashes you have to escape attacks.

Each boss attacks differently and I feel some are really there to teach you have to play the game. You only have a very basic tutorial, and while you can somewhat flounder against the first 2 bosses, Eos the likely third boss (the game lets you wander the keep and pick who you want to fight at this point) is the boss that actually makes you learn the game mechanics and experiment, if you don’t just rage quit. The game actually feels harder to play at the beginning, as you have less mechanisms and upgrades to help you through certain boss fights. Each defeated boss drops a shard that can be slotted into either an active ability, enhance a dash or charge attack with an effect, or add an effect to your skill tree. Each shard is unique and does a different effects depending on where you place it, giving you a large amount of wriggle room in how you setup your character. Some of the gained abilities actively damage you when used, so again care needs to be taken when using them.

The games 3 skills trees are really well designed, with Windslide being focused on mobility and passive DPS, Berserker Slash being straight up high DPS, and Counter focusing on defending and technical play. They all play really differently, and what you have selected can drastically change how a fight plays out. I finished 4 bosses with Windslide, before switching over berserker slash and found my enjoyment increased substantially. You won’t receive enough skill point in one run, so the game encourages multiple play throughs if you feel like enduring the suffering a bit more.

Graphics
The Pixel art really works for the game. While the keep is ruined the artwork does a great job of invoking the idea that it must have been majestic, before it was corrupted from within. The game is fair in that nothing is hidden in the environment, items of importance shine to grab your attention, though its up to you to try and investigate what they might be used for. You somewhat channel the essence of Guts from Berserk (but with a red cloak), wielding a weapon that’s like giant hunk of steel in a nod to the series.

Each boss is fairly unique not only in its attack sequence(s), but in appearance. Each of the attacks are telegraphed, so if you are quick (and I mean really quick), and can remember each of the bosses attacks you have a good chance of preparing to either rush in to attack or get ready to dodge. While the game is totally unforgiving and absolutely punishes mistakes, there aren’t any cheap invisible attacks that other games love so much. After beating a boss, the environment changes and some other areas can open up for exploration.

The game doesn’t support many options for graphics, but what it does works well. you aren’t going to be playing this on anything higher than 1080p

Music
The music fixes the game perfectly. There’s a solid mix of percussion heavy tracks with chanting vocals, to somewhat more low-key, relaxing string based numbers for when you are exploring the keep and the ruin that the gods have wrought. During fights you don’t have time to focus on the music as you can’t pause. Other than the introduction, there aren’t any vocals in the game.

DLC
There is a free DLC that adds some extra bosses, and expands the story. Its free (which is great) and totally optional (you have to defeat the optional bosses before the last boss other start a new run.

Achievements
You would have to live for pain to want to 100% Eldest souls. I’m convinced anyone who has finished the game without dying, or using any shards or abilities is cheating.

For more reviews please visit https://store.steampowered.com/curator/31327216/

There are casual, fun games that leave you feeling relaxed after playing them. Eldest souls is not amongst them. It’s been a long time since I have raged at a game, swearing at the screen and wanting to throw my controller through it, but Eldest Souls invokes that. Having finished it, I now have that stress free feeling, as I know I don’t have to endure that again. If you are into punishing pixel art or boss rush games that are totally unforgiving, then Eldest Souls is for you. [B]Story[/B] The story starts out really well, and describes a world where gods and humans lived aside each other in harmony. The old gods are corrupted by one of their kind, and start a war and enslave humanity. On the brink after 100’s of years of servitude humanity fights back and imprisons the gods in the sacred walls of the Citadel, a fortress to house the gods where they can be contained not only from humanity, but each other, watched over by a standing army. The peace doesn’t last, and you are sent to reinforce the standing army and slay the gods, who have unleased another wave of ruin upon the land. The story briefly expands during the game as you meet a few surviving NPC’s or read logbooks, notes and piece the scrapes of information together that you find, but it’s fairly sparse. I did like that some choices that you make change the ending (all rewards come at a cost), and even then it’s not clear who exactly you are serving. [B]Gameplay[/B] This is a game for those who want to be punished for misdeeds in their previous lives. It’s all about timing, and is totally unforgiving as there are no invulnerability frames when you get hit by an attack, mistiming means you can have multiple attacks hit you in rapid succession, all dealing damage (which is usually fatal). Some boss attacks can hit for 70% of your life in one hit, life steal is really low (which is the only way to recover health during a fight), and there aren’t any options to increase your health pool or increase the amount of dashes you have to escape attacks. Each boss attacks differently and I feel some are really there to teach you have to play the game. You only have a very basic tutorial, and while you can somewhat flounder against the first 2 bosses, Eos the likely third boss (the game lets you wander the keep and pick who you want to fight at this point) is the boss that actually makes you learn the game mechanics and experiment, if you don’t just rage quit. The game actually feels harder to play at the beginning, as you have less mechanisms and upgrades to help you through certain boss fights. Each defeated boss drops a shard that can be slotted into either an active ability, enhance a dash or charge attack with an effect, or add an effect to your skill tree. Each shard is unique and does a different effects depending on where you place it, giving you a large amount of wriggle room in how you setup your character. Some of the gained abilities actively damage you when used, so again care needs to be taken when using them. The games 3 skills trees are really well designed, with Windslide being focused on mobility and passive DPS, Berserker Slash being straight up high DPS, and Counter focusing on defending and technical play. They all play really differently, and what you have selected can drastically change how a fight plays out. I finished 4 bosses with Windslide, before switching over berserker slash and found my enjoyment increased substantially. You won’t receive enough skill point in one run, so the game encourages multiple play throughs if you feel like enduring the suffering a bit more. [B]Graphics[/B] The Pixel art really works for the game. While the keep is ruined the artwork does a great job of invoking the idea that it must have been majestic, before it was corrupted from within. The game is fair in that nothing is hidden in the environment, items of importance shine to grab your attention, though its up to you to try and investigate what they might be used for. You somewhat channel the essence of Guts from Berserk (but with a red cloak), wielding a weapon that’s like giant hunk of steel in a nod to the series. Each boss is fairly unique not only in its attack sequence(s), but in appearance. Each of the attacks are telegraphed, so if you are quick (and I mean really quick), and can remember each of the bosses attacks you have a good chance of preparing to either rush in to attack or get ready to dodge. While the game is totally unforgiving and absolutely punishes mistakes, there aren’t any cheap invisible attacks that other games love so much. After beating a boss, the environment changes and some other areas can open up for exploration. The game doesn’t support many options for graphics, but what it does works well. you aren’t going to be playing this on anything higher than 1080p [B]Music[/B] The music fixes the game perfectly. There’s a solid mix of percussion heavy tracks with chanting vocals, to somewhat more low-key, relaxing string based numbers for when you are exploring the keep and the ruin that the gods have wrought. During fights you don’t have time to focus on the music as you can’t pause. Other than the introduction, there aren’t any vocals in the game. [B]DLC[/B] There is a free DLC that adds some extra bosses, and expands the story. Its free (which is great) and totally optional (you have to defeat the optional bosses before the last boss other start a new run. [B]Achievements[/B] You would have to live for pain to want to 100% Eldest souls. I’m convinced anyone who has finished the game without dying, or using any shards or abilities is cheating. For more reviews please visit https://store.steampowered.com/curator/31327216/