Golden Soul - molodkrasiv
Final Score: 2/5 Stars
The first thing I noticed is that, unintentionally, I chose two games from the same creator to review! But that doesn't mean I'll be any less demanding or impartial in my assessment.
I note again that, compared to the last game you reviewed (Fourth Knight), there wasn't a significant difference in the game's art direction, which can sometimes be considered a mistake, considering that it seems I've only changed perspective, but everything else remains similar.
I also see that comparing Golden Soul to Fourth Knight, the publishing date difference is almost a year, which I hope has resulted in significant overall maturation.
This time there's a dedicated game menu where we can finally lower and raise the sounds, and it's generally intuitive. But again, the key mappings are missing, just like in the previous game.
For some reason, the button that should be for pausing, both on the controller and the keyboard, only exits the game, making it impossible to change the game settings within the game itself.
Note: Key mappings are displayed at the beginning of the new game, a strange design choice, but okay.
Testing the controls, I've already noticed some bugs:
- The canvas is poorly anchored to the screen, as most elements are almost in the center.
- It's possible to lock on nothing (???)
- The character slides more than walks.
The point where the character slides instead of walks takes away a lot of the fluidity of the fight that could have been implemented here. The combos have good visual feedback, as does the roll. But everything goes wrong when we try to walk, and we realize we're apparently on an ice rink.
Suggestion: Add a backstep for quick dodges without the constant need to roll.
Right in the first room, it's possible to see a visual bug, this one in the statues, where there's an apparent gap in the map. Easily solved by placing an object underneath.
The camera has collision, which is a positive point.
The takedown animations and combat, like in other games by this creator, seem responsive.
The AI patrol is a bit sloppy; instead of staying in a Sleep State or a simple Walking Patrol, they just run around in circles on the same track. It's like a train.
Unfortunately, the gameplay depth is almost nonexistent. The first chest is empty with promises, and the first boss is defeated with a parry and a few hits.
The gameplay loop in this game is nonexistent. We have two types of enemies (a boss and a skeleton) and no goals or objectives. Something that, for a Souls-like game, ends up being tiresome.
Overall, the combat has good potential, but the rest of the mechanics leave something to be desired.