Soulblight

43%
Game Brain Score Based on 35 reviews
  • gameplay
  • graphics
  • story
Soulblight Game Cover
Soulblight succeeds in temporarily satiating your desire for solid rogue-like on Switch, but it fails to maintain your interest after extended play.
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"Soulblight" is a challenging, top-down action roguelike set in a dark, ruined reality. Instead of traditional leveling, it features a unique "Tainting Mechanic" that rewards you with traits based on your choices, encouraging role-playing and influencing your strengths and weaknesses. With dynamic combat, randomly generated levels, and a high difficulty level including permadeath, the game offers a tense and exciting experience for those willing to explore its depths.

  • Nintendo Switch
  • PC
  • Windows
  • Xbox
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

43%
Audience ScoreBased on 35 reviews
graphics5 positive mentions
optimization3 negative mentions
  • The art style is beautiful, combining fantasy and steampunk elements, which enhances the overall experience.
  • The game features a unique taint system that allows players to roleplay their character's personality traits, adding depth to gameplay.
  • The combat system, while complex, offers a rewarding challenge once mastered, encouraging players to engage with its mechanics.
  • The controls are poorly implemented, making gameplay frustrating and leading to frequent deaths due to unresponsive mechanics.
  • Many chests are empty despite requiring keys to open, leading to a sense of wasted effort and disappointment.
  • The game lacks clear explanations for its systems, making it difficult for players to understand mechanics and objectives, which can detract from the overall enjoyment.
  • gameplay16 mentions

    Gameplay in this title is characterized by a steep learning curve, with many players noting that it takes several runs to fully grasp the mechanics and appreciate the depth of combat and item systems. While some mechanics, like the grip system, evolve from clunky to engaging, there are concerns about balance and control responsiveness. Overall, the game offers innovative mechanics and a rewarding experience for those willing to invest time in understanding its complexities.

    • “Takes about 4-5 runs before everything starts to click; what seems weird and shallow at first comes to life the more you play, unlocking many different aspects of play and mechanics.”
    • “A lot of fresh ideas and mechanics I haven't seen implemented before in the roguelike genre.”
    • “If you want to spend some time to understand combat, taints, and item mechanics, if you want to discover lore as a result of your hard work and be proud of overcoming challenges, this game is for you.”
    • “If I knew or could find out the mechanics behind gameplay, I would be much more interested in playing it, but currently it appears to be a dead game with no hope to get the materials needed to make it enjoyable.”
    • “The grip mechanic, when first introduced, felt like driving a tank, later forming into a suicidal charge to kill everything before they could get an attack off. The majority of enemies couldn't handle a solid grapple punch to the face, and I can't help but feel that player spears die to AI bumrush far too easily.”
    • “Once I realized there was no gameplay change when choosing which boss to start against, I kept only going the doctor's way first, because if I go against him after defeating the two other bosses, I could risk losing everything in a luck-based fight.”
  • graphics8 mentions

    The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beautiful art style, which blends fantasy and steampunk elements, and for the high level of detail and effects throughout the visuals. Players appreciate the immersive music that complements the stunning graphics, contributing to an overall fantastic world-building experience. However, some note that while the visuals are impressive, the repetitive nature of the gameplay can detract from the overall enjoyment.

    • “The art style is beautiful, an interesting mix of fantasy and steampunk.”
    • “The game has beautiful graphics and great sound/music.”
    • “The graphics are well-matched, with every fragment of the visible screen featuring a lot of detail and effects that come together for great visuals.”
    • “Unfortunately, there are more similarities than just the art style.”
    • “The graphics are matching to each other; every fragment of the visible screen has a lot of detail and effects put together to create great visuals.”
  • story2 mentions

    The story is generally well-received, with players appreciating the developers' effort and the engaging narrative, despite some criticism regarding static controls. Many find the ambiguous storytelling intriguing, making the game enjoyable for those who appreciate challenging gameplay.

    • “I'm tempted to click the 'thumbs down' button, but because of the devs' effort and the good story, I've decided to click on the 'thumbs up' instead.”
    • “What surprises me about this is that I enjoy the game so much that even with static controls, I find myself recommending the game to those who enjoy difficult games with ambiguous storytelling.”
  • optimization2 mentions

    Users express frustration with the lack of customizable control bindings, wishing for more optimized options to enhance gameplay efficiency. While combat mechanics can be initially confusing, they ultimately run smoothly once mastered, with both direct and stealth approaches available.

    • “I often find myself wishing I could rebind several controls to more optimized locations for my personal use. The more common phrasing from my mouth is a less socially acceptable variant of 'you have got to be kidding me, let me reduce the time to do this action, please?'”
    • “The combat isn't obvious at first, but once it's figured out, it can run smoothly. If you want to fight directly, stealth is an option too.”
    • “I often find myself wishing I could rebind several controls to more optimized locations for my personal use. To put it lightly, the more common phrasing from my mouth is a less socially acceptable variant of 'you have got to be kidding me, let me reduce the time to do this action, please?'”
    • “The game's optimization is severely lacking, leading to frustrating delays and a clunky experience that detracts from the overall enjoyment.”
    • “I feel like the developers didn't prioritize optimization at all; the performance issues make it hard to fully engage with the game.”
  • music2 mentions

    The game's music is praised for being immersive and complementing its beautiful graphics, enhancing the overall experience with a captivating sound design.

    • “The game has beautiful graphics and great sound/music.”
    • “The art style is pretty amazing and the music is very immersive.”
  • stability1 mentions

    Users report significant stability issues, noting frequent glitches that disrupt gameplay by taking control of the character whenever a level is selected.

    • “Strange glitches that completely take control of your character every time you choose a level.”
    • “The game crashes frequently, making it nearly impossible to progress.”
    • “I experience constant lag and frame drops, which ruin the overall gameplay experience.”
  • grinding1 mentions

    While the game's concept, world-building, and graphics are praised, players find the "rogue-like/rogue-lite" grinding aspect to become tedious over time.

    • “The concept, world-building, and graphical style are all fantastic; however, the 'rogue-like/rogue-lite' replay grind quickly becomes tedious.”
    • “The grinding aspect feels overly repetitive and detracts from the overall enjoyment of the game.”
    • “While the game has great potential, the constant need to grind for resources makes it feel more like a chore than a fun experience.”
  • replayability1 mentions

    Many users feel that the game's replayability is significantly hindered by the fact that the initial four taints remain constant in every playthrough, limiting the variety and freshness of subsequent experiences.

    • “The first four taints will always be the same, no matter what, which kills the replayability of the game.”
    • “Once you've completed the game, there's little incentive to go back and play again.”
    • “The lack of variety in missions makes replaying the game feel tedious and uninteresting.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

43% average critic score

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