Single-player party-based Souslike Deathbound from Trialforge Studio and Tate Multimedia is ready to go on PlayStation 5. Learn more about it in our Deathbound review!
Single-player party-based Souslike Deathbound from Trialforge Studio and Tate Multimedia is ready to go on PlayStation 5. You’ll be exploring the forbidden city of Akratya, a land that has certainly claimed more than one soul thanks to its deadly inhabitants. You’ll be taking on a journey in which you’ll be binding with fallen warriors as you transform between characters mid-combat, as you make the most of your 4-hero party system. The different fallen warriors you’ll be interacting with will each have their own unique skill sets, combat styles, and stories. Absorb their Essence, and you’ll inherit them in full. You’ll need to pay attention to how each party member interacts with each other since their relationships will have an effect on combat.
Think of each fallen warrior as a different class you can switch to on the fly, and you’ll start to get the hang of things. Oh, and all of the party members exist inside of the same body. You’ll have to first locate each fallen warrior to add their Essence to the party, but once you do, you’ll gain access to new abilities, playing styles, and stat builds that can help you make it through even the worst of odds. How will you make your way through this post-apocalyptic world? It’s an interesting premise that helps the game stand out within the Soulslike genre, even if the execution feels a bit clunky at times.
You’ll be taking on the role of Sir Therone of House Guillaume, who fights in the name of Goddess Death. Your cause takes you to fight against evil cultists who have worked on creating mutant abominations. After Asqueron Pöbel sends you to find and bring him Soulon Legèones, you go searching for him and destroy the cultists and monsters you run into along the way. After fighting against a large boss, you’ll seemingly be victorious… except that things are not as they seem. Did you die and end up being resurrected by Goddess Death to continue working on her cause?
You’ll control Sir Therone with the left analog stick, as you use the right one to move the camera around as needed. Pressing in on the left analog stick will allow you to run. You’ll attack enemies and bosses by pressing the R1 button for a quick attack and a heavy attack with the R2 button. Pressing in on the right analog stick will lock onto an enemy. You can then press left or right on the right analog stick to switch between targets. Consumable items are mapped to the Square button. You can also cycle between them by pressing the L1 or R1 button along with the Square button. Just open up your inventory by using the DualSense’s Touchpad to equip consumable items to your belt slots. Once you add more warriors to your party and bind them to the D-Pad, you’ll be able to quickly switch between them at the press of a button.
Block incoming attacks by pressing and holding down the L1 button. Blocking will consume some stamina, so you’ll need to be careful. If you run out of stamina, you’ll be left open to attacks. Dodging is mapped to the Circle button. Dodging will also consume some of your stamina. You do need to know that in Deathbound, stamina is tied to health. Because of this, your maximum stamina will be determined by your current health. Lose some health, and you’ll be limited in how much stamina you’ll have for your actions. As you battle against enemies, you’ll build up a sync meter that is shared across all characters. The sync meter can be used to unleash a powerful Morphstrike that will combine the power of all fallen warriors in one go. This is an excellent option for boss fights or for a moment when a Morphstrike could be the difference between life and death.
Your enemies and your character can be afflicted by Build Up Effects. These are triggered once the respective bar is filled up. You can have some tolerance to each of these to lower how much each bar fills up. One is burning, which lowers defense and deals damage over time. Bleeding will instantly deal great damage. Corruption will deal damage over time based on your current health. Another Build Up Effect is frozen, which will make that monster or your character freeze in place. Having these activate for your character at the wrong time could mean your doom… but having it trigger on an opponent will immediately give you the upper hand.
While Sir Therone of House Guillaume is the main vessel, you’ll definitely need to use the strengths of the other warriors you’ll draw into your mission. Take, for example, the first warrior you’ll gain access to: Anna Lepus. Once you complete her story/tutorial segment, you’ll see how she’s a great option for being a bit more sneaky as you explore each area. Backstab an unexpected – or frozen – humanoid enemy to eliminate it. Attack from a safer distance with a crossbow by pressing the L1 button. And yes, bolts are a consumable item! Reload it by pressing the L2 button. She can perform a quick attack with the R1 button or do a leap attack with the R2 button. She’s definitely a nimbler option.
As you defeat enemies and destroy bosses, you’ll get to collect experience points. You can use these at save spots to unlock new skills. The cost of skills depends on your current level. With this one setting itself in the Soulslike genre, that means that you’ll drop all unspent experience points when you die. Since it drops on the spot where you’re defeated, you’ll have a chance to go back there and recover it. Die again during this, and you’ll lose those experience points for good. Some of the stuff you’ll unlock will be a boost to your overall stamina, an increase in ranged power, a boost to your maximum health, or an increase to your defense. You can also upgrade your equipment as long as you have
Trophy-wise, this release has a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy for you to aim for. The list is split into 16 Bronze trophies, 14 Silver trophies, and 4 Gold trophies. The objectives you’ll have to work on completing include defeating the many deadly bosses you’ll run into, defeating a monster with a counter morph, equipping an artefact and two rings at max level, having one of each consumable item in your inventory, unlocking all Talents for one Essence, finding all rings, finding all artefacts, finishing the game by reaching each of the endings, as well as some other secret miscellaneous objectives.
Single-player party-based Souslike Deathbound presents interesting gameplay twists that help it stand out from other entries in the genre. You’ll be exploring the forbidden city of Akratya, a land that has certainly claimed more than one soul thanks to its deadly inhabitants. You’ll be taking on a journey in which you’ll be binding with fallen warriors as you transform between characters mid-combat, as you make the most of your 4-hero party system. The different fallen warriors you’ll be interacting with will each have their own unique skill sets, combat styles, and stories. Think of each fallen warrior as a different class you can switch to on the fly, and you’ll start to get the hang of things. Deathbound is out on PlayStation 5 with a $29.99 price tag.
Disclaimer
This Deathbound review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by Tate Multimedia.
