Eldest Souls Review

In a realm where mortals and gods once coexisted peacefully, the schemes of the power-hungry god Eksyll shattered the fragile balance and harmony. Mortals found themselves subjugated by the gods, with no choice but to revolt for their freedom. Managing to cage the gods within the massive Citadel, humanity restored peace and could live free again. However, Eksyll would not give up easily, and mortals faced a new threat as Eksyll unleashed a devastating scourge, plunging the world outside the Citadel into chaos and endangering humanity’s existence.

Enter our silent protagonist, armed only with a colossal obsidian sword, tasked with the daunting mission of slaying the corrupted gods to ensure humanity’s survival. This is the setting of Eldest Souls—a captivating isometric Boss Rush that unfolds in visually distinct and beautifully designed biomes.
From the moment I took control of the sword-wielding warrior arriving by boat, the stunning pixel art immediately caught my eye. Throughout my journey, the superb and impactful combat animations, coupled with an overall fantastic presentation, consistently impressed me.

Each of the god’s biomes is beautifully designed and visually stunning, though exploration takes the back seat in Eldest Souls. All areas are relatively small and often empty besides the stray hazard or trap decorating the landscape. They serve only as a brief but beautiful and welcome break before going head-to-head against the next imposing god. However, careful exploration is still worthwhile, and I found myself searching every nook and cranny for hidden items or stray NPCs. There are only a handful of the latter, but they offer tidbits of dialogue and help with worldbuilding and understanding the overarching plot, and sometimes even progress one of the few and short sidequests included in the game. There are a few different endings available as well, all tied to completing one specific sidequest in a certain way.

However, in Eldest Souls, combat is the heartbeat, and each fight against the gods is a well-crafted spectacle, with each god having its own unique design and theme, well-telegraphed and beautifully animated attacks, and impactful animations. In the fight against Hyam of the Frigid Waste, I found myself avoiding waves of icicles on a very small arena covered in ice. I encountered Azikel, God of Light inside a large, deprecated hall, where it tried to take me down with its dynamic polar attacks, often covering the entire screen.

Each god has different weaknesses and requires a different fighting approach and strategy to emerge victorious. Luckily, Eldest Souls provides the tools necessary to easily adapt to the current challenge. I could choose from three different fighting styles, each of which offered a skill-tree with two different branches. The mobility-focused style Windslide offers passive damage and the ability to get out of harm’s way easily, Counter introduces a “dodge-and-counter” playstyle, and Berserk trades off big damage for slow movement. All three fighting styles are fun to experiment with, and Eldest Souls makes it very easy to do so, as it is possible to reset all skill points at no cost at any time. Make no mistake, this is no hack-and-slash affair; Eldest Souls wears its inspiration on its sleeve (and its title), and demands a methodical approach to combat. You need to observe the gods, learn their attack patterns, and capitalize on openings. Mistakes, bad timing or misinterpretations of attack patterns are punished heavily.

As offensive actions, besides the regular attack, there is a charge attack that introduces a risk-vs-reward dynamic. It has a slow wind-up but, if it connects, it puts the Hero into a “bloodlust” state, where aggression becomes a means of healing. This mechanic, coupled with the absence of healing items otherwise, emphasizes the need for strategic positioning and encourages an aggressive and active approach to combat. It is a mechanic that allows the player to come back from a seemingly unwinnable situation.

The one defensive option is a dash ability, which consumes one of three stamina bars that refill passively over time. With no bars available, dashing is no longer possible. There are ways to modify the dash ability thanks to the infusion system that I will go over next, but in its basic form I feel like it could and should have been improved upon. Some bosses can quickly turn the entire screen into a bullet-hell, and with only three stamina bars and the slow pace at which it regenerates, it can result in situations where taking damage is almost unavoidable.

In addition to unlockable skills, each defeated god unlocks a shard that can be slotted into one of five available slots. It can be used as an active shard granting a new power or ability that can be used in combat, or it can be infused into either one of your offensive and defensive actions to add new effects to that action. It allows for diverse playstyles and promotes varied combat approaches. Overall, there are many viable combinations of fighting style, skills, and shard infusions, resulting in unique builds that all play differently and have their strengths and weaknesses. It is this mechanical depth and build diversity that allows Eldest Souls to set itself apart from other Boss Rush games, such as Jotun, for example, and enhances its replayability.

After completing the relatively short campaign – there are only ten gods total pre-DLC – Arena Mode and NG+ are unlocked. NG+ is a great addition for players looking for a challenge. The gods have more health and do more damage, but they also surprised me with new attack patterns that I had not seen on my first playthrough.

In Arena mode, you can face each god repeatedly, learn its patterns and try to reduce the amounts of hits taken during the fight. It serves as a training ground and is a welcome addition to the game. I personally used it to beat all gods hitless, a challenge where I also started noticing some flaws in the game design of Eldest Souls.

The game runs smoothly overall, but there are a few wonky hitboxes and questionable collision detection that detract from the experience. It is also here where the stamina system caused more frustration than it should have been necessary. And while there are plenty of playstyle options available to the player, there is one single specific build that is almost required to complete all fights hitless. It is a shame that despite the available diversity, you are forced to resort to this one build if you want to succeed with this challenge.