SOUL COVENANT presents an intriguing motion RPG premise with poor melee fight and a repetitive marketing campaign. Learn on for our full overview.
RPGs have been certainly one of my favourite genres for many years, lengthy earlier than fashionable VR emerged. They are often time-consuming, and my free time is not what it was, but the wealthy storytelling typically discovered inside continues drawing me in. Combine that with the hack-and-slash fight, and there is the potential for a compelling VR journey. Sadly, SOUL COVENANT just isn’t that recreation.
What’s it?: A story centered hack-and-slash motion RPG set in post-apocalyptic Tokyo.
Platforms: PC VR, PSVR 2, Quest (reviewed on Quest)
Launch Date: Out Now
Developer: Thirdverse
Value: $40 on Quest, $50 on Steam/PlayStation Retailer
SOUL COVENANT takes us to a post-apocalyptic close to future the place a genocidal AI-led military has destroyed Tokyo utilizing robotic weapons generally known as the ‘Deus Ex Machina.’ You symbolize the final bastion of humanity struggling to outlive. It isn’t a very authentic premise, although SOUL COVENANT intertwines this with its ever-present and sometimes grotesque interpretation of loss of life and rebirth.
That is significantly evident with Avatars, troopers infused with recollections of previous heroes. Everybody wields a ‘Scapegoat,’ certainly one of a number of foremost weapons crafted from the bones of your fallen comrades with some nice designs. The spiritual symbolism continues all through, greatest exemplified by the primary antagonist, Adam, and an android gendered as feminine who assists between missions known as Eve.
This may really feel impactful if the story weren’t so poorly structured. Every time the sport helps you to leap into these quick missions, it pulls you away quickly after to proceed telling a narrative that is not significantly compelling. Every mission is sandwiched between two narrative segments that make poor use of the medium, presenting you with 2D cutscenes like a stylized theatre mode. It is a very formulaic method, and my curiosity disappeared quick.
Issues do not enhance as soon as missions start because of shallow melee fight that not often quantities to greater than waggling your fingers. The variability between every Scapegoat is fascinating and attributes like assault energy could be improved utilizing ‘Monad Factors’ earned throughout missions. I like how they remodel into extra highly effective variants when wielded with two fingers.
This creates what needs to be an fascinating trade-off. You may’t entry your protect when taking the two-handed method or utilizing the ranged ‘Demonic Burst’ weapon, which steadily prices up by amassing Monad shards. These are all good concepts that do not imply a lot when fight feels unsatisfying. I’d’ve favored extra physicality in fights.
My different main concern is that SOUL COVENANT’s missions rapidly develop into repetitive. All of them have very related aims that quantity to little greater than killing all of the robots as every wave seems. Bosses have some further strikes and assist transfer alongside the narrative, however these do not provide something thrilling. There’s little or no problem and I secured high marks on each mission first strive. Taking part in with buddies in co-op would not make this extra fascinating, both.
SOUL COVENANT makes use of synthetic stick-based locomotion with no possibility for teleportation motion. You may sprint to dodge incoming assaults, solely snap turning is supported for the digital camera. You may select your dominant hand, calibrate your peak, and activate a movement vignette.
Whereas the visuals seems significantly higher on PSVR 2, SOUL COVENANT’s Quest model looks like a major downgrade. Many character fashions look tough, and dialogue not matching the animation was very distracting. That does not look like an issue with the localization, although. Even when characters weren’t talking, their mouths typically continued shifting.
SOUL COVENANT Evaluation – Closing Verdict
It is exhausting to not really feel upset by SOUL COVENANT. Thirdverse has created a considerably intriguing premise right here that is fully squandered by unsatisfactory fight, repetitive gameplay and a missing narrative that screams of wasted potential. In the event you’re after an anime-inspired fantasy motion recreation, you would be higher off taking a look at Ruinsmagus; SOUL COVENANT just isn’t price it.
UploadVR makes use of a 5-Star score system for our recreation opinions – you possibly can learn a breakdown of every star score in our overview tips.
