Let’s talk a bit more about soulslikes. I brought up WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers (LEENZEE) yesterday beacuse it’s coming out soon, and the RKG Discord is going mad over it. Supposedly, a games journalist said that it’s to Dark Souls what Lies of P did for Bloodborne, and several people in the Discord were so hyped about it.
Once again, I felt as if I were a weirdo in a weird world. I have heard enough good things about it that I’m mildly curious, but I also know what’s going to happen. If I have any hope in my heart, it’ll be ruthlessly stomped on as I play the game.
Side note: The game is on Game Pass. Aaaargh. That makes it way too easy to try it out. In fact, that’s how I played Lies of P (Round8 Studio/NEOWIZ)–yes, the whole game. And Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sanfall Interactive).
This game has been universally praised as one of the best (if not the best) soulslikes to date. That is quite high praise, indeed. The Backlogs, a channel I watch sporadically, did a video on whether he could beat the game with magic. Since I heard from another YouTuber that the magic gets less useful as you go along, I am keen to hear what The Backlogs has to say. But, the video is over an hour long, and he was asked by the developer to break the game. And he could show everything but the ending.
I’ve included the video below. I’m about fifteen minutes in, but I don’t know how much I’ll watch. If I am going to play the game, I don’t want to spoil myself too much. In fact, if I do play it, I have watched more than I normally would before playing a game.
I’m installing it. Yes, even someone as jaded as I am can still have hope, apparently. Even though I have been disappointed countless times before, I still want to believe that the next game will be different.
I will say that I’m glad there’s transmogrification beacuse I just cannot with the ridiculous armor. It makes me angry that this is still a thing in 20 fucking 25.
I think, though, that my time with soulslikes is coming to an end. I have not enjoyed a single one since Salt and Sanctuary (Ska Studio), and I only finished Lies of P because of my stubborn pride. I cheesed my way through it, and I did not feel a sense of accomplishment at the end. I have no desire to try the DLC, and a large part of that is because i would have to play the game again in order to get there. Roughly two-thirds of the game, at any rate. And, yes, they put in different modes, but still. Also, I would have to pay for it because it’s not on Game Pass any longer.
People are saying that the level design is nearly as good as Dark Souls (OG). What that means is that there are shortcuts that will blow your mind, and it’s hard to believe that areas are connected in the way they are. Additionally, there are huge sections of the game that are optional, which is very much a FromSoft thing. And from the fifteen minutes I watched of The Backlogs’ video, the opening is very reminiscent of Sekiro.
I have thought a lot as to why I’m so into From games. I really shouldn’t be as I’m shit at them, and they are just getting harder. I know they have never been for me, and I am getting further and farther away from them.
There’s a leak that a new From game is being released next year. No one seems to know what it is, but given the short timeframe, I can’t get too excited about it. It’s really weird. I’ve gone from being hyped just to hear a rumor of a From game dropping to being trepidatious and wincing slightly. Why? Because the last two were both multiplayer. Elden Ring: Nightreign was so not for me. It’s everything I hate in a game, and it gutted me that I could not make it work for me. I tried so hard, but there was no way I was going to be anything other than shit at that game.
Well, to be fair, if I had two dedicated friends who were willing to carry me, then maybe. But that would have been a really hard task to ask of anyone because I would have been a liability.
Then, there’s The Duskbloods. It’s a PvEvP Switch 2 exclusive. Tell me you don’t care about all your fans without saying it explicitly, FromSoft. It’s not their first exclusive (Bloodborne and Deracine with the PS4 and Demon’s Souls on the PS3 and the PS5).
I want to make it clear. They can do whatever they want, obviously, and they will. I’m not bitter about it (yet), but I’m sad because I can feel the clock ticking. Soon, I will not be able to play their games, and that will be an incredibly sad time for me. Hopefully, I will be able to play Elden Ring for some time to come.
Anyway, a lot of people think that the next game might be another Armored Core. Triple sigh. If that’s the case, then that’s three FromSoft games in a row that I can’t play. Can’t as in physically with The Duskbloods because I don’t have a Switch 2 and will not get one. Can’t as in I’m so terrible at it that I might as well not be playing it with Nightreign. And if the game next year is going to be another Armored Core, well, then it’s literally as in I could not for the life of me manage the flying around and landing in the last Armored Core.
After my joyous experience with Promise Mascot Agency (Kaizen Game Works), I just don’t know if I have it in me to play a soulslike. Maybe if I don’t get obsessed with it, but I know myself too well. Even if I don’t like a game, if I’m hooked–I will keep playing it. That’s what happened with both Lies of P and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I wanted to quit both of them multiple times, but I kept on playing.
I’m surprisingly calm about not being able to play FromSoft games any longer. They were never made with me in mind, and I’ve just gotten worse at them since my medical crisis. It’s no surprise that one day, they will be out of my reach completely. I’m just hoping to stave it off for as long as possible.