What do you get when you take an exploratory platformer and cross it with Soulslike combat and sharp pixel graphics? Quite a few games, actually, but most don’t have the fluidity and, forgive me, the soul of Souldiers. While it can be tough to wade through the many indie games like this, Souldiers seems like it’ll be well worth your time.
In Souldiers, you play as a soldier who, alongside your troop and commander, has apparently died (if a holy Valkyrie is to be believed.) Right at the start, you pick one of three classes: a warrior type, an archer, or a mage. I tried both the warrior class and the mage, and I found them to be suitably different in playstyle, and my predisposition for magic users in this sort of game had me stick with the mage. This made more distance-based attacks possible, and he just looked cooler.
You have to navigate the dangerous world you find yourself in, which is where the exploratory platformer (or as the cool kids say, Metroidvania) elements come in. After the classic Souls-style “super hard first boss you’ll probably lose to,” you head into the cave ahead and set off to save your fellow troops. This leads to a cavern of fearsome spiders, which looks every bit as icky as it sounds. Giant spiders try to ram you while tiny ones emerge from cocoons all over the place, all done with gorgeous pixel visuals.
“Otherwise, I loved fighting enemies and testing my mettle against foes as the game went on.“
And the visuals are indeed something to marvel at. Detailed pixel art is a fast way to make me like something, and Souldiers succeeds in this regard. The environments and lighting are quite impressive to behold, and really get you immersed in the fantasy world that Souldiers is setting up. I found the locales to be lively and incredibly detailed, and well-designed enough that exploring them was exciting and fulfilling.
Combat plays quite nicely too. Dashing and performing different attacks with a couple of different buttons feel smooth and quick, as death normally felt like my own fault. The heaps of enemies felt a bit extraneous at times, but I worked my way through them. I think the remedy for this would be slightly more frequent save points, as redo basic sections a few times upon dying. I get that it’s the intent, but a bit less repetition would be nice. Otherwise, I loved fighting enemies and testing my mettle against foes as the game went on. The upgrade and simple equipment systems add just that extra bit of depth to keep it feeling fresh as you earn experience, which I appreciate.
I think Souldiers is shaping up to be a rather engrossing game. The exploration and combat both feel genuinely satisfying and skill-testing, and the visuals are out of this world. I’m looking forward to trying the full game, as the first third that I played through was quite impressive. Souldiers releases for the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC on May 19th.
