And thankfully it makes doing so a painless process, with quick respawn load times, and even choosing the “give up” option to take a breather only requiring a short walk back to the boss’ arena. I died 519 times to Eldest Souls’ bosses, but even when it spurred me to yell obscenities across the living room, I immediately wanted to hop back in for another try. The number of times I came within a millimeter of death, only to climb my way back with careful strikes, desperate healing, and mashing the square button made the victories even sweeter. That said, these fights are all impeccably balanced, threading a fine line between frustrating and devilishly tantalizing. But on a first playthrough, which took me about 15 hours overall, that focus on replayability means fighting some of the early bosses were slightly less enthralling without a wide array of abilities at my disposal. The story is designed to be played through multiple times, with a New Game Plus and Arena mode for those who want it. With such interesting tricks to try, it’s a bit of a shame that Eldest Souls can be stingy with its skill points at first. reward too, like a special attack that deals extra damage but also hurts you if you’re over 50% health, but heals if you’re under 50%. Infusing boss shards into different slots can prove to be an interesting game of risk vs. While fighting the feral Deer God, who attacks with lightning-fast swipes and poisonous roots, I instead respec’d to give myself increased speed to keep up with his great strides across the arena, while flaming leaves I spawned chased him down for guaranteed chipdamage. Those swords later shattered upon a successful counter, briefly tripling damage and providing me a moment of solace in the chaos. Going up against Hyem, a frostbitten armored warrior with the power to slow my dashing, I found myself suiting up with a defensive ability that spawned swords of light with each bloodburst attack. Eldest Souls' boss rush is designed to be played through multiple times. I loved this freedom because it consistently surprised me with what combinations were viable. Mercifully, you can completely respec your character any time between fights.
Equippable “shards” gained from defeated bosses can also give you extra abilities or buffs depending on how you slot them for further customization. What results is a nearly nonstop dance of dodging and exchanging desperate blows.Ī skill tree lets you specialize your combat style between three branching options as you progress: Windslide, which focuses on movement and speed, Berserk, which improves your damage output, and Counter, which buffs your defensive options.
To that end, Eldest Souls very much encourages an in-your-face play style, with charged and bloodburst attacks replenishing small fragments of health, much like Bloodborne. There are no enemies to fight outside of its 10 bosses, so you’re never more than a few hits from death. With your giant obsidian sword, you can use a basic swing, a dash, a charge attack, and a powerful “bloodburst” attack that drains your charge. Switching influences, Eldest Souls’ combat takes more inspiration from Bloodborne than it does Dark Souls, with a quicker pace and emphasis on aggression. It doesn’t even get close to the lofty heights of Gwyn or Artorias’ fates, and it’s fairly average stuff for dark fantasy lovers, but it’s still entirely serviceable for what we’re here for: big, beefy boss battles. Now it’s up to one final hero with an oversized obsidian sword to kill every remaining god still dwelling inside the Citadel and sort out the world’s fate. Humanity revolted, caging the gods inside of a massive Citadel, bringing peace to the land.until Eksyll showed up again, committed some heinous experiments on his fellow gods, and brought about the near-extinction of humanity. Borrowing heavily from Dark Souls’ infamous intro, it establishes a world where men and gods came into being at the same time, but mortals eventually found themselves subjugated thanks to the machinations of a god named Eksyll. It doesn’t mirror their same sense of exploration, but if a souls-like focused almost exclusively on boss battles sounds great to you, look no further.Įldest Souls’ artistic and narrative influences aren’t so much worn on its sleeve as they are written on a signboard draped around its body. Despite having a name that would make a copyright lawyer sweat, this overtly FromSoftware-inspired action game manages to establish its own blend of addictive, brutal combat and gorgeous art direction that rivals its 2D and 3D peers. Perhaps no modern game is more blunt about its influences than Eldest Souls.
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