Soulstice

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Critics Recommend

Average Score

Total Reviews: 33

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Soulstice is a competent hack and slasher, but it’s horrible camera and lack of gameplay variety a keep it from being something special.

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Critics Recommend

Critic Reviews: 33

Critics Consensus

# Reviews: 33

Soulstice is a competent hack and slasher, but it's horrible camera and lack of gameplay variety a keep it from being something special.

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Critic Reviews for Soulstice

Critic Reviews

Distribution

33

Reviews

High Score - 94/100

94%

Average Score - 73/100

73%

Low Score - 40/100

40%

3.5/5 stars

Tomas Franzese (Digital Trends)

Soulstice’s terrible camera holds back an otherwise ambitious and inspired action game.

September 20, 2022 |

Full Review

Soulstice etches its own namesake in the hack n’ slash genre. While it lacks the same level of combat depth and demand, it focuses more on narrative quality, accessibility, and presentation to reach success.

September 20. 2022 |

Full Review

7.5/10

Timothy Nunes (PlayStation Universe)

2/5 stars

Jon Bailes (GamesRadar+)

Opening and closing fields to match the thing you’re trying to kill has all the fussiness of a game of Simon Says – in that nothing you do counts unless you’ve remembered to hit the right button first.

September 20, 2022 |

Full Review

Tomas Franzese (Digital Trends)

3.5/5 stars - (Read Review)

Soulstice’s terrible camera holds back an otherwise ambitious and inspired action game.

Timothy Nunes (PlayStation Universe)

7.5/10 - (Read Review)

Jon Bailes (GamesRadar+)

2/5 stars - (Read Review)

**Read all 33 critic reviews on the desktop version of VSG.

Read the Reviews (33 total)

Outlet	Author	Score	Date	Quote	Read
33bits	Fernando Sánchez	90 / 100	09-20-2022	Soulstice has surprised us with its ability to approach a known formula and know how to leave its own identity. More polish would be appreciated but this is a medium production game with a lot of ambition. With sensations very similar to the greats of the genre and a sensational setting, Soulstice is a highly recommended title and, above all, satisfactory.	Read review
ACG	Jeremy Penter	Recommended	09-19-2022	Video Review	Read review
Checkpoint Gaming	Tom Quirk	8 / 10	09-19-2022	Soulstice is a truly great action game, which despite taking many cues from stylish action titles of the past, carves out enough of an identity to stand out on its own. The system of controlling both sisters and maintaining auras while slashing through foes is intuitive and simple to master. Although the plot leaves many threads hanging, the development of the central sibling relationship and setting were enough to draw me into Soulstice's world and want to see more. If you're a fan of challenging action games and can forgive a slightly annoying camera, Soulstice is definitely worth checking out.	Read review
COGconnected	Mark Steighner	72 / 100	09-20-2022	It’s nice to play an action game more influenced by Devil May Cry than Dark Souls for a change. Soulstice makes a good case for its combat and its synthesis of two characters with distinct fighting styles. The characters themselves aren’t particularly interesting or sympathetic, and their quips and asides grow annoying. The game’s fixed camera and how it hamstrings enjoyable platforming and exploration are most troubling. Soulstice isn’t as entertaining or polished as the games from which it draws inspiration, but it’s worth checking out for gamers growing tired of the Soulsborne template.	Read review
Cultured Vultures	Thorne Stone	5.5 / 10	09-20-2022	Soulstice is a game with some great aesthetic choices, but is completely marred by poor gameplay design that takes control away from the player during the times they'll need it the most.	Read review
Digital Trends	Tomas Franzese	3.5 / 5 stars	09-20-2022	Soulstice's terrible camera holds back an otherwise ambitious and inspired action game.	Read review
Digitally Downloaded	Matt Sainsbury	3.5 / 5 stars	09-21-2022	Soulstice is an excellent first effort in what must be an enormously difficult genre. Just imagine the work that must go into crafting such big, challenging action set pieces and leave the player feeling satisfied rather than infuriated. Soulstice isn’t perfect, but I hope the development team does stick at this, because they’re on to something special.	Read review
Everyeye.it	Antonello Bello	7 / 10	09-20-2022	Despite their inexperience with the stylish action genre, the guys at Reply Game Studio have developed a multifaceted and innovative combat system, which exploits in a very ingenious way the different resources of Briar and Lute.	Read review
FingerGuns	Toby Andersen	7 / 10	09-20-2022	Soulstice is a melting pot of things Devil May Cry does well and adds interesting demanding combat with two characters and situational countering. However, its predictable somber story and uninteresting world work hard to drain the fun out of things and its camera wants to be more enemy than friend.	Read review
GameGrin	Mike Crewe	8.5 / 10	09-20-2022	Full of style and substance, Soulstice is a joy to play, with tight, fast-paced combat and slick controls that make this an easy recommendation to anyone interested in a new hack and slash title.	Read review
Gamer Escape	Justin Mercer	8 / 10	09-20-2022	Soulstice absolutely works as a love letter to action games of the bygone PlayStation 2 era. Vitally, however, it does so without losing a clear identity of its own. Its combat system is unique in the way it asks players to actively monitor mechanics while also avoiding enemy attacks and dishing out flashy combos in true character action game fashion. Its boss battles leave quite a bit to be desired, and the level design may be a bit too narrow at points, but	Read review
GameSkinny	Hayes Madsen	7 / 10	09-20-2022	Soulstice's fast-paced combat is the star of the show, overshadowed by tropes and lack of variety in an experience heavily inspired by anime like Berserk.	Read review
GameSpew	Richard Seagrave	7 / 10	09-20-2022	All this is to say that Soulstice is enjoyable for the most part, even though it has its annoyances. Being available on next-gen consoles and PC only, it looks fantastic at times and has a great sense of scale. Its boss fights are exhilarating too, and there are some other hair-raising scenes that try to provide a little variety. Factor in multiple difficulty levels and many secret challenges to be found, and you have an action adventure game that you can really sink your teeth into.	Read review
GamesRadar+	Jon Bailes	2 / 5 stars	09-20-2022	"Opening and closing fields to match the thing you're trying to kill has all the fussiness of a game of Simon Says – in that nothing you do counts unless you've remembered to hit the right button first"	Read review
Gaming Nexus	Henry Yu	7.4 / 10	09-20-2022	Soulstice is a solid, albeit unnecessarily dragged out, hack-and-slash action role playing game that features a great cast of characters and an engaging narrative. There's a ton of replayability and a high skill ceiling to achieve, but the lack of variety in gameplay elements and wonky camera angles keep it from being truly amazing.	Read review
GamingBolt	John Cantees	8 / 10	09-20-2022	While the characters and story don't do enough to push it over the top, Soulstice delivers a great action game that just about anybody can enjoy.	Read review
GamingTrend	Ben Lombardo	85 / 100	09-20-2022	Soulstice does an exceptional job of keeping the player engaged throughout its entirety. The amount of content just within the combat is jaw-dropping, so much so that it feels like Reply Game Studios aren't saving anything for a sequel. There's a lot to discover (and a lot to master) as you slowly trek through its massive world and uncover one of the most enjoyable detective-style stories that I've come to experience.	Read review
God is a Geek	Mick Fraser	7 / 10	09-20-2022	Soulstice is a competent hack and slasher with a solid core concept and an interesting world history that remains somewhat under-explored.	Read review
Hardcore Gamer	Chris Shive	3.5 / 5 stars	09-20-2022	Soulstice makes no secret of what influenced it, both in aesthetics and in gameplay mechanics.	Read review
Hobby Consolas	Álvaro Alonso	67 / 100	09-20-2022	A solid game with good intentions, but that falls far short of the greats of the genre. As an appetizer it's fine, but hack and slash lovers probably prefer to wait for Bayonetta 3... or back to Devil May Cry 5.	Read review
IGN Italy	Alessandra Borgonovo	9 / 10	09-20-2022	A great hack 'n' slash that can stand proudly near the sacred monsters of the genre.	Read review
IGN Spain	David Oña	5 / 10	09-20-2022	Soulstice is a textbook hack & slash that shows a lack of risk and attachment to certain design patterns that do more good than harm. Its combat system, interesting at base, is displaced by a plot and a progression system that have more prominence than they should. However, if you are missing more battles in your videoludic day to day, its proposal will give you the dopamine demanded through its best confrontations.	Read review
Marooners' Rock	Roberto Nieves	9.4 / 10	09-21-2022	Soulstice is a dark and action-packed thrill ride with a strong story of sisterhood, and a bevy of options for every type of player.	Read review
New Game Network	Alex Varankou	63 / 100	09-20-2022	Soulstice features decent combat with a few unique tricks, but it grows repetitive. With a dull story and lackluster presentation, it might mostly be of interest to DMC fans on a budget.	Read review
PlayStation Universe	Timothy Nunes	7.5 / 10	09-20-2022	Soulstice etches its own namesake in the hack n' slash genre. While it lacks the same level of combat depth and demand, it focuses more on narrative quality, accessibility, and presentation to reach success.	Read review
Rice Digital	Lilia Hellal	Recommended	09-20-2022	Soulstice celebrates the great things about its biggest inspirations while being memorable in its own right. The presence of Sir Donovan as a capable male Chimera fills a void from Claymore, and how the game explores and shows memories reminiscent of the Vestige fragments in Code Vein makes for a nice interlude after countless battle segments and heavy plot reveals.	Read review
Screen Rant	Jacob Zeranko	4.5 / 5 stars	09-20-2022	Thankfully, abilities and weapons like these become accessible in the mid-game and make later combat encounters much more manageable. Even then, Soulstice manages to maintain a good balance overall and while some hits may feel unfair, no fight ever ends that way. They all feel satisfying and exciting in a way that motivates the player to continue towards the next one. The moments of exploration between fights also encourages players to take in the stunning art design of the world and Briar's armor and weaponry, which look like they're lifted straight from the pages of Berserk; but this only scratches the surface of Soulstice. This is a challenging, beautiful, and engrossing game with a ton to offer and shouldn't be passed over.	Read review
SpazioGames	Marcello Paolillo	7.6 / 10	09-20-2022	Soulstice gives a good challenge to veterans of the genre and is a good choice for beginners, in a mix between Devil May Cry and Berserk.	Read review
TechRaptor	Joseph Allen	7 / 10	09-20-2022	Soulstice's overwritten story and repetitive second half somewhat dull the catharsis of its glorious throwback hack-and-slash combat, but it's still great fun.	Read review
The Games Machine	Stefano Calzati	7.5 / 10	09-20-2022	Soulstice turned out to be a good stylish action game, with a solid combat system embellished with good ideas, able to tell its excellent protagonists, Briar and Lute, both through the battle and with the cutscenes. The story of Ilden's veil torn above the sky is intriguing, with beautiful twists and a well-studied mythology, it is therefore a pity that the setting is not able to sustain this charm, despite the very good basic technique, trapped in a artistic direction that is often too generic and redundant.	Read review
WayTooManyGames	Kyle Nicol	7 / 10	09-20-2022	Soulstice is a love letter to the PlayStation 2 era of the action genre, with frantic fast-paced combat and its own spin on things. However, it does bring some of that baggage with it and there are some glaring issues with pacing and repetition, especially in the opening hours. Thankfully, Soulstice does recover in the end and for fans of the genre it is absolutely worth checking out.	Read review
Wccftech	Francesco De Meo	7.5 / 10	09-20-2022	Combining a well-realized dark fantasy setting inspired by Claymore and Berserk and an engaging story with solid action gameplay inspired by some of the best character action games, Soulstice is a competent action title. Unfortunately, issues like the horrible camera and the mediocre handling of color-coded enemies and mechanics impact the experience, preventing it from being the great character action game it had the potential to be.	Read review
WellPlayed	Harrison Tabulo	7 / 10	09-21-2022	It's a chaotic push and pull between ecstatic fun and dull annoyance that honestly drives Soulstice, but it's nonetheless worth checking out.	Read review

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Game Info

Game Description / Storyline:

The balance of the Holy Kingdom of Keidas is compromised when powerful, feral creatures known as “Wraiths” invade from the other side of the Veil, threatening to consume the living. Wraiths corrupt their victims and can even possess their bodies, turning into unstoppable monsters that prey upon the common folk. The “Chimeras”, hybrid warriors born of the union of two souls, are the only ones who can protect humankind. Briar and Lute are two sisters who have been reborn as a Chimera. The transformation has granted Briar superhuman strength and resilience, while Lute, who was sacrificed in order to bind her soul to her sister’s, has become a ghost with mystical powers. Voiced by Stefanie Joosten (Metal Gear Solid 5), Briar and Lute are sent on a mission to reclaim a city in ruins that has been ravaged by the Wraiths, only to discover that the Order they belong to has a far more complex plan in mind.

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