Paradox Soul

About

"Paradox Soul is a 2D action-shooter Metroidvania game featuring Dr. Alli Rose. Explore a nightmarish test facility, battle epic bosses, and unlock unique suit abilities and weapon upgrades. Discover secrets in this hand-crafted labyrinth of evil."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

43%

Audience ScoreBased on 61 reviews

gameplay4 positive mentions

story4 negative mentions

The pixel art and graphics are well done, creating a nice atmosphere.
The game offers a simple and fun experience, with interesting level design and character progression.
The cover-based combat mechanics can be enjoyable once players learn how to utilize them effectively.

Controls are unintuitive and poorly explained, leading to frustration during gameplay.
The game is very short and repetitive, with minimal upgrades and a lack of depth in story and exploration.
The music is repetitive and can become grating, detracting from the overall experience.

gameplay
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
73%
12%
The gameplay has been criticized for its lack of clear mechanics and unresponsive controls, leading to a frustrating experience where players must repeatedly clear the same rooms without guidance. While the graphics and animations are praised, the overall gameplay feels janky and unsatisfying, with many players feeling that the game lacks polish and proper testing. Despite some potential and enjoyable elements like gun upgrades, the core mechanics leave much to be desired.
- “The premise is fully respected in the gameplay.”
- “During my gameplay, something didn't convince me too much; let me say these are just some suggestions for devs to improve a game that I find very good and with much potential.”
- “While the graphics are very well done, with animations that perfectly complement the gameplay, I found the music was a little grating after a while.”
- “Core game mechanics are not merely unexplained, they are not even hinted at.”
- “Still the controls are extremely unresponsive and that makes the gameplay not pleasant.”
- “It's janky and unsatisfying to play... and any experienced gamer will tell you, the handling, responsiveness and general gameplay feel of the control scheme must be well polished for this kind of game to succeed.”
graphics
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
63%
19%
The graphics of the game are generally well-received, featuring polished pixel art and a fitting color palette that enhances the overall mood. However, some players criticize the reliance on outdated retro styles and the lack of modern graphical options, such as resolution adjustments. While the animations complement the gameplay effectively, the overall execution is marred by technical shortcomings.
- “Classic pixel-based graphics; I think it's polished and the choice of colors fits well with the environment.”
- “While the graphics are very well done, with animations that perfectly complement the gameplay, I found the music was a little grating after a while.”
- “Old school platformer with nice graphics.”
- “A choice was made to use obsolete, decades old retro pixel 'art' as a substitute for contemporary PC graphics.”
- “There's no option to change the resolution and no useful graphics tweaks.”
- “It has a nice artwork and a good mood, but this game was poorly made.”
music
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
43%
29%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many players noting its repetitive nature, often described as a short, 5-second loop that can become grating over time. While some fans of the retro synthwave genre enjoyed the 80's-inspired tracks, others found them headache-inducing and overly monotonous, detracting from the overall experience.
- “The music is just a retro synthwave track; I must say I love this genre, so I enjoyed it a lot.”
- “While it was fun, it was extremely short, and though the 80's synth music was kind of cool, it actually gave me a headache after a while.”
- “The repetitive, 5 second loop of music made it almost unbearable.”
- “While the graphics are very well done, with animations that perfectly complement the gameplay, I found the music was a little grating after a while.”
- “If I try and alt-tab out of the game, it will continue playing the music that is terribly repetitive.”
story
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
40%
The game's story is widely criticized for its lack of depth, with many players noting that there is essentially no plot, character development, or world-building. The narrative is described as either nonexistent or so subtle that it fails to engage, culminating in a clichéd ending. Overall, the story component is deemed severely lacking, contributing to a disappointing experience.
- “Either way, this game doesn't have much depth in terms of story (there is basically no story whatsoever) and many that have played the game have had issues in one regard or another, whether it be the combat or lack of depth in enemy or area design.”
- “There is no real story, plot, characters, or world building, or it's done so subtly as to barely exist at all except in the imaginations of its maker(s).”
- “The storyline itself ended in a cliché.”
monetization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization strategy of the game has been criticized as a blatant cash grab, with reviewers labeling it as low-quality "shovelware" that lacks originality and substance. Many users express disappointment in the game's origins, suggesting it was hastily ported from a rejected handheld version to exploit the Steam platform for profit.
- “This isn't a PC game; it's a rejected PS Vita handheld game that they dumped onto Steam as a cash grab. It's fully on par with products from this developer and their shovelware-pushing publisher. It's garbage.”
- “GameMaker Studio is most commonly used to make retro pixel shovelware and cash grabs.”
- “This isn't a PC game; it's a rejected PS Vita handheld game that they dumped onto Steam as a cash grab. It's fully on par with products from this developer and their shovelware-pushing publisher. It's garbage.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to have a slower pacing, which is acceptable during progression but becomes tedious during backtracking.
- “The pacing is much slower, which is fine when you're moving forward, but it makes backtracking kind of tedious.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of the game is generally seen as lacking, with multiple users suggesting that it could benefit from enhancements to create a more immersive experience.