Soulstice, the preview of the Reply Game Studios action

The preview of Soulstice, the action developed by Reply Game Studios (formerly Forge Replay behind many interesting games such as Joe Deve’s Lone Wolf), led us to discover the game first hand in an interesting demo that highlights many aspects of the game capable to give it the right value.

This Early Demo , which you could receive by registering on the official website , anticipates the game that just yesterday received an official release date, September 20: it will arrive on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X / S and PC, and its origins are not too far from us. In fact, the title comes from the Italian software house Reply Game Studios, while it will be published by Modus Games .

The demo allowed us to try some combat phases, exploration of the game world, showed us the art design behind the title and even confronted us with a fearsome boss.

The Rupture of the Veil

Soulstice will put us in the shoes of Briar and Lute , two sisters who have been transformed into a chimera: the word comes from the definition of the legendary monster that populates myths and legends, formed by parts of different animals, but the word has taken over time always different meanings, albeit close to the original. In medicine and biology a chimera is a living being that has organs and tissues from genetically different organisms, and in the broadest sense a chimera is something illusory. In Soulstice a chimera is born from the fusion of two souls: they are hybrid warriors who have become the last hope to save humanity.

In the game, in fact, the balance of the Holy Kingdom of Keidas was completely destroyed when the Specters have torn the Veil, enter the human world: able to corrupt and take possession of humans, their union creates the monsters that Briar and Lute will have to fight.

In the game we will control the couple in unison: Briar will be able to use his immense strength to fight with his giant sword, capable of transforming into other weapons, while Lute will have mystical powers that will come in handy to fight enemies (and stop them when necessary) . Everything will be framed by an interesting dark fantasy setting and a city full of secrets and mysteries.

A combined gameplay

During the game, therefore, all the “physical” moves will be implemented by Briar: the girl will be able to show off light attacks with this great sword of hers , while the heavy attacks will be carried out using weapons that you can select with the directional arrows, allowing you to pass among the various options. In the demo we tried a sort of large hammer, a transformation of the sword that allowed you to make slow but lethal attacks, capable of throwing the enemy into the air, and the whip, a weapon that instead allowed you to attack multiple enemies at the same time.

Lute will have a more strategic role instead: during the game you will be able to find enemies with a strong blue or red color. In that case, the sister can create energy fields that will allow you to attack these enemies, otherwise invulnerable. This function will also be useful and necessary to destroy the crystals that you will find around, which will give you currency, and the obstacles that will block access to new areas. The young sister will eventually be a replacement for the

To make it even more interesting then there is an enhancement system that will allow you from the seller to be able to enhance Briar’s moves and unlock Lute’s skills: the first will have skills for the weapon, and everything will be paid for with crystals . red , while the second will be able to rely on a real very deep skill tree, paying with blue crystals . To conclude the package, there is a very fast possible transition between weapons, which will give you the chance to chain infinite combos, and the possibility of getting the two sisters in tune by way of a combo, finally releasing the ultimate power of the Chimera.

A refined style

Soulstice is not just an interesting and fascinating gameplay: from the first minutes of the demo you can see an excellent work regarding art design: we are talking about a dark and violent dark fantasy, with enemies like corrupt monsters and a very near the east. The two protagonists are represented with graphics close to cartoon, albeit maintaining a dark approach and a realism of a certain value, and the settings are reminiscent of the post apocalyptic ones seen in Devil May Cry , a game from which Soulstice certainly takes inspiration.

To embellish everything we also think about the sound: if in fact the dubbing in English is done by the skilful voice of Stefanie Joosten , actress who played Quiet in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, even the music comes out at the right time between the fights adrenaline-pumping with dozens of enemies and the more tactical (but still damn fast) ones with bosses. Soulstice is not a simple tribute to a genre, but a real bulwark for pure action and Hack and Slash, and focuses on speed of play, combo and skill pad in hand.