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Brigard leads his soldiers to a clearing which turned out to be a trap. Now, everyone is dead with a Valkyrie appearing to explain the situation. If Brigard and the others want to escape, they have to defeat a legendary guardian. The story isn’t too important in the grand scheme of this game though. There’s more good than bad to Souldiers overall so let’s get down to how this Metroidvania shakes out.
8 Best: The Three Classes
It’s not often that a Metroidvania presents players with alternate playable characters, let alone three. Players can choose between the warrior-like Scout, the mage-like Caster, or the obviously titled Archer.
Scouts are good for beginners as they have the widest array of skills to both survive the danger and to be a danger themselves toward enemies. The other two classes can be fun too since they are ranged-based. The Caster is a trickier class to learn but some of the spells will be truly worth the time sink.
7 Worst: You Can’t Change Classes
As fun as the classes are, it’s hard not to want more. Playing the game three times just to test out each class can be taxing. It would have been nice if players could switch between classes as if they were swapping out characters instead.
Astalon: Tears of the Earth is a great example which was also a Metroidvania. Players could swap between characters similar to a knight, mage, and archer at camp. A system like that could have improved Souldiers. Co-op would have also been great as another alternative.
6 Best: The Pixel Art
Indie games with pixel art are a dime a dozen. However, there are three tiers of retro indie art. There is bad art that is obvious when it happens. The good art can look nice and might fit the nostalgic vibe, even if it does not offer anything all that new. Finally, there are game-changers like Souldiers with virtually no flaws.
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Not only is the pixel art excellent in this game, but the animations that accompany it also truly sell the retro vibe. The colors and range of everything are breathtaking. Players might find themselves stopping in their adventure just to admire the characters, enemies, and surroundings.
5 Worst: The Mines
Souldiers has more puzzles than most Metroidvanias, but none of them will test players too much. Rocks need to be placed over geysers to make other geysers shoot further up. Blocks need to be pushed onto elevators to create a pulley system. Simple things like that will dot the map.
However, there is one puzzle-like area toward the beginning of the campaign that can be annoying. There is a dark section of the cave wherein players must light torches to see where they are going. Navigating between traps and monsters can be tricky, making the whole experience more tedious than exciting.
4 Best: Fast Travel Unlocked Right Away
One of the most surprising elements of Souldiers is that it has fast travel unlocked right away. Players can warp between every save point once they are unlocked. There are no restrictions in this matter. Metroid: Dread, another great Metroidvania example, has fast travel as well. However, there are only a few designated portal areas and players can’t just as easily warp between save points instead.
This might seem like a small thing to praise in Souldiers, but it helps with backtracking immensely.
3 Worst: Ammo Shards
Players will eventually meet up with a merchant who will both unlock the shop mechanic along with special weapons. He will give players a bomb that runs on this special ammo called Ammo Shards. All special attacks from the bomb to the next one, the spear, use this energy.
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Refilling this energy is odder than most Metroidvanias. Instead of picking up one bomb item from an enemy as a source of replenishment, players must instead collect around ten Ammo Shards to refill one bomb charge. The system is more complicated than it needs to be.
2 Best: A Very Open Metroidvania
The best thing about Souldiers as a Metroidvania is its openness. Players will begin linearly through a forest before winding up in the first cave dungeon. From there, more and more pathways will unlock. Most of them don’t even require items to get through them although new items and powers certainly do help; for instance, bombs can explode walls.
Another early power will imbue characters, no matter the class, with a fire ability. This can spread fire damage onto enemies along with burn down webs. It’s very hard to get lost in Souldiers compared to other Metroidvanias.
1 Best: The Opening Anime
The pixel art in Souldiers is phenomenal and deserves to be said on repeat. Another thing about the art that needs a separate mention is the opening cutscene. It is anime-inspired and showcases the world along with the three major classes kicking butt.
It is a throwback to the ’90s and early 2000s when a lot of games opened with animated or CG cutscenes. It’s always nice to be reminded of the good old days even though it is also nice now that video games look better than the CG did back then.
Souldiers was released on June 2, 2022 and is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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