I had to stop playing before bed because I’d have trouble sleeping from the nervous tension it caused. With time and adjusting my build, I found a sustained drive that pushed me through to the end.Įldest Souls straddles the line between frustratingly difficult and overwhelmingly satisfying. Originally, I was having a tough time with this game, and bashing my head against it’s difficulty was not a fun prospect. You will die a lot, but once you find a build that suits you, the game eases into a good groove. Once figured out, the bosses are just rote repetition with what feels like insurmountable odds and a deluge of deaths. The name of the game is recognition and memorization. They all stick to pretty strict attack patterns with clear tells of what’s incoming. Vicious deer beasts, gods made of light, and giant stone golems vary the menagerie of bosses you’ll face. They are well designed and unique to what you’d see in a Souls game. The pixel art works well to emphasize the detail in the boss encounters. There’s so much to account for and ways to diversify the combat, but trust me, you’ll need it. Slotting in the moon shard to your Berserker tree slot will make your bloodburst attack create a small moon that follows you, boosting your damage. Adding the fire shard to your dash will give it damage properties while also hurting you, but the corrupted shard will give you a grapple hook. When defeating bosses, you are rewarded with their soul shard, which when equipped can alter specific pieces of how you play. This is punctuated by the fact that you can respec at any time, so playing with the systems is crucial. There is so much extra customization that it really did feel like adjusting a couple points changed my whole strategy. Need to get out quick? The Windslide tree can let your dashes recharge faster while also adding extra speed to your movement overall. You can adjust your bloodburst to cause an explosion or give you 20% health over time. Going even deeper you'll find that each skill tree also splits into two secondary paths for even more customization. Lastly, the Windslide tree will give your dodges a boost with damage over time, flying leaves, and health benefits. On the opposite end, the Counter tree will provide damage mitigation and a counter attack system that rewards defensive timing-based ripostes. Going with the Berserker Slash tree will provide damage-boosting buffs and an attack meter. That kit is expanded with three skill trees that are based on varying styles of play: Attack, defense, and agility. Charging your attacks will build up a “bloodthirst” meter that when maxed will restore health or can be used to do a devastating “bloodburst” attack that will hit hard but use up the meter entirely. The dodge has a recharging meter to limit its usage. Your combat kit has a light attack, a charged attack, and a dodge with a short window of invincibility. It’s environmental storytelling between larger than life boss battles that will test your skills (and your patience). That means there isn’t really any enemy fodder, complex platforming, or intricate puzzles. Right off the bat, Eldest Souls is a fairly straightforward boss rush. These items, when given to the right character, will reward you with stat boosting items or further lore, though these interactions are minimal at best. There are notes from survivors about what went wrong in the citadel as well as mysterious items strewn about. You are a lone warrior entering the citadel: A prison that was created to house the old gods, with your task being to defeat the last of them. The world of Eldest Souls is populated with sparse amounts of characters that fill in the backstory. The game attempts to employ a Dark Souls aesthetic but truly ends up in a lane of its own. With it, the developers are bringing a boss rush game with tons of customization options to create unique character builds for any combat encounter. Eldest Souls is a pixel art indie debut from Fallen Flag Studios.
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