Soulstice: The Final Preview

ign.com:

The Sacred City of Ilden is the perfect staging grounds for an apocalyptic attack by the nefarious Spawn of Chaos, an army of demonic creatures that happens to be swarming into the city through a giant Tear in the sky, not unlike Dragon Age Inquisition’s Fade Rift or Pokémon Legends: Arceus’ massive Space-Time Rift. None better to stop the invasion than the battle-hardened warrior Briar and her ghostly companion-slash-sister Lute, both of whom are Chimera; members of the mysterious Order of the Ashen Blade and the supposed heroes of this world. Things don’t exactly work out with the other Chimera, and you, playing as the dynamic duo, are left to vanquish the Spawn of Chaos by yourself – if not for the help of a few unlikely friends. This is the premise of Soulstice, an action-adventure game centered around frenetic third-person combat with lots of unique combos that would feel right at home in any Devil May Cry game.

You’ll spend quite a large chunk of time in Soulstice playing as Briar, who is followed around by Lute in her ghostly form as you hack and slash your way through hordes of foes as you move from mission to mission in a linear fashion, though at times you may also find yourself playing as Lute during key story sequences. The interplay between Briar and Lute is definitely worth calling out as a clear positive, notably the fact that Lute has the ability to pacify Soulstice’s many, many enemies mid-attack so you can leap in (as Briar) to deal serious damage. This dynamism is deepened through the design of the world as well as its demonic inhabitants. Making things more interesting, some of these monsters are incorporeal until you activate one of two different “fields” by pressing the left or right triggers.

It’s a