Deathbound is a unique party soullike. Review

PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S

PlayStation 5 played

The main characters of soulslikes often turn out to be jacks of all trades: they can swing melee weapons, shoot from bows and crossbows, use magic, and covertly eliminate targets. In Deathbound, everything works differently – each character is unique, and the things that are available to one cannot be taught to another. At the same time, you can switch to any hero at any time. This is an unusual attempt to bring something new to the genre, but, as is usually the case, the lack of experience and a large team will not allow the work of the Brazilian team Trialforge Studio to leave a noticeable mark on the industry. Somebody will probably use the unusual ideas of Deathbound somewhere later, but they will hardly remember the game itself.

⇡#Companions unwillingly

First of all, we meet Theron, a master of the sword, who can hide behind a shield and attacks powerfully in close combat. This is a classic soulslikes knight or warrior, parrying enemy blows and withstanding several direct hits without any problems. But Theron is only the first available character, and in the process of exploring locations we will come across other essences – that’s what all these heroes are called here, since they are the shells of fallen warriors. You can draw parallels with Mortal Shell, but if there we played as a wimp who changed into different armor, here each character is a separate personality.

In this game, entering the big arena does not always mean meeting the boss

There is the robber Anna, who can sneak up on enemies from behind and eliminate them with one blow, and also shoots from a crossbow. There is a wizard, Haodan, who uses various kinds of spells, but if you use magic too often, overheating will occur and Haodan will explode, causing damage to himself and the enemies around him. Julia wields a spear – ideal for those cases when it is better to keep some distance from the enemy. There are six essences in total, but you can only carry four with you – you can change your travel kit near local fires.

The choice should not only be based on how you like to play. It is also important to arrange the characters in the menu so that the connections established between them provide as many useful bonuses as possible. The fact is that not all the characters get along with each other – they often get into verbal altercations because they look at the world differently. And others, on the contrary, find a common language. Therefore, if you put the wizard Haodan and the spearwoman Julia next to each other, who have a good relationship, Julia’s melee attacks will begin to cause damage. And the thug Agaros and Julia are an imperfect duet, since the damage done by everyone increases, but the defense is reduced by a third.

There is no full-fledged hide and seek with shelters and tall grass – it’s enough to sneak up on the enemy from behind as a robber

You can switch between essences at any time. You saw a crossbowman in the distance – there is no point in running towards him as a swordsman, take a mage and throw poisonous spheres at him, and then immediately take a brute to deal with the enemies running up from behind. Apart from the connections mentioned above, there are not many synergies between essences. For example, when the synchronicity meter at the bottom of the screen is full, you can switch to another character while attacking with one character to perform a powerful move. This is done in a crooked way – time slows down unattractively, the characters pass through each other; and it’s not a fact that you will be able to switch successfully at all, since the enemy can strike in the process.

The healing is interestingly implemented. You always carry several essence amplifiers with you, which are restored when sitting around a fire, but these are not your usual first aid kits. When you use an amplifier, the health of the selected essence is replenished, but at the same time, part of the “lives” is taken away from the rest. It is much more effective to heal with attacks – each of your hits improves the health of all essences. In other words, the game encourages you to switch between characters – if one of them is seriously injured, you should take someone else to restore their health and avoid death. The death of any essence means the end of the game – you are returned to the last bonfire and the collected experience is taken away, as in all soulslices.

After death, returning to bosses is easy thanks to shortcuts

⇡#The same accordion

This is where the unusual ideas end, and otherwise Deathbound is either too similar to its inspirations or inferior to them. Visually, it’s not the most impressive game, but there are some beautiful moments. However, the locations are very disappointing with their linearity – you are unlikely to get lost, since only one path is always available. You can turn into a small alley or go into a small room where you will find another consumable, but this is not the non-linearity that is in Dark Souls or even Mortal Shell.

Fighting with opponents is not boring, but at the same time, the combat system is very far from what high-quality soulslices offer. Especially when you meet bosses. They seem to look good, and they use different techniques, but there is no beauty in battles – when you parry attacks, hear the clang of swords, deftly dodge blows, learn strategies, and so on. Simple animations and poorly executed effects (like the aforementioned slowdown) make the fights look very cheap. The same dodges sometimes work, sometimes they don’t: it seems that you pressed everything at the right time, but you still received damage. And sometimes you make a mistake and dodge incorrectly, and the game counts for it.

It’s like being in the wrong place at the wrong time

The lack of varied equipment is also disappointing. Occasionally you come across rings and amulets that provide bonus characteristics, but these increases are so insignificant that I constantly forgot to go to the corresponding menu. Yes, and pumping raises questions. Firstly, for the experience you earn (if you did not lose it if you died), you can purchase passive bonuses such as increased health or increased attack power – but these percentages are very small, so it is difficult to assess the impact on gameplay.

Secondly, by collecting memories of essences, you can buy new passive skills for them – whose “collector” you find, you improve. And there are such strange “passives” that I sometimes spent several minutes trying to decide what I wanted to level up – the choice was so poor. On the one hand, it’s good that you don’t need to focus too much on collectibles – you won’t lose anything if you miss them. On the other hand, such skills could significantly influence battles and make the passage more interesting for those who decide to open them. But this does not happen – as you played with this or that essence in the first minutes, you will continue to do so until the final credits.

You shouldn’t blame translators for strange dialogues – they are the same in the original

But the biggest missed opportunity is in the storytelling. The setting is very unusual – it is a medieval world formed on the ruins of a high-tech city. Knights and executioners in stadiums and exhibition centers, passing through beeping metal detectors – sounds funny, but, alas, there was practically no room for humor. Instead, the writers chose to “amuse” the players with dialogues in which the characters constantly swear and quarrel, and the central plot turned out to be more serious than ever. There are some light moments like interesting character backstories where, like in The Division, we recreate scenes involving holographic figures, but other than that, nothing else is memorable.

***

This is the main problem of the game – it doesn’t impress in any way so much that when talking about soulslices one would want to say: “But in Deathbound…” Despite the original ideas and their not the worst implementation, the new product resembles a project from early access – an interesting idea that it takes a few more months or even years to “cook.” Improve the animations, adjust the plot, make the combat system more exciting – now all these elements are not terrible, but not good either. In the absence of fish, Deathbound can captivate fans of the genre who have already gone through everything there is to do, but if there is a choice between it and something else, in most cases it is better to choose something else.

Advantages:

• Interesting surroundings – a combination of the Middle Ages and modern technologies;
• An original idea with several characters that you can switch between;
• A fun healing system that encourages you to constantly play as different heroes.

Disadvantages:

• The curious surroundings are not used in any way in the narrative, and the plot is mostly dull;
• Ugly battles, including with bosses, due to poor animations and inappropriate special effects such as clumsy slowdown;
• Linear locations – even if you can step aside, you will find little interesting there;
• The characters have a lot of upgradeable abilities, but there is nothing to choose from – their influence on the gameplay is minimal.

Graphic arts

Externally, the game resembles Mortal Shell: it looks normal, even beautiful at times, but the low budget is obvious.

Sound

Unremarkable music and the same dubbing – nothing to criticize, but nothing to praise either.

Single player game

A linear action game that you mostly want to play because of its interesting ideas and mechanics. The plot, combat system and other elements are done better in other games.

Estimated time of completion

12 o’clock.

Collective game

Not foreseen.

General impression

An unusual soulslice that offers you to play it not as one character, but as several at once. Unfortunately, the quality of execution of many components leaves much to be desired.

Rating: 6.0 / 10

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