Souldiers is an independent Metroidvania action-adventure game with RPG elements that were made by Retro Forge and published by Dear Villagers, a division of Plug-In Digital. Souldiers takes place at the beginning of a war against the army of Dadelm.

The Royal Council of Zarga, one of the three countries that ruled Ascil, is making plans for its military. The King of Zarga is in charge of the War Council, which announces General Brigard’s plan to move his troops. Arkzel, the king’s magician and main advisor, has helped him win many battles in the past. He tells the king to change plans and leads the army to the edge of a cave. After a strong earthquake, they are stuck in the dark. They see a brilliant silhouette that invites them to join her. It’s a Valkyrie, a being that comes to find the dead so that they can live on after they die. The player wakes up in Terragaya, a realm stuck between the living and the dead, after choosing a class.

Combat & Gameplay of Souldiers

Souldiers is a 2D action-adventure game with Metroidvania-style combat. Whether he or she is an archer, a mage, or a scout, the hero has specific combat skills that help them beat their enemies. They have basic attacks that are strong and can avoid and block attacks.

The player’s stamina goes down as they move and use their skills. Souldiers help players figure out what happened to them and the other soldiers who died with them. Whether they choose to play as an archer, scout, or caster, it is their job to find the Guardian in Terragaya and move on to the next world. The character’s skills limit the areas that can be explored. Because of this, as the player gets new power-ups, they can go to new places. When an enemy is fought and defeated, the player gets to experience it, which lets him level up his character.

As the character moves up the skill tree, new and different powers will become available. Players have a lot of choices because each class has its own skill tree. This lets them make games that fit their tastes. The game’s map can be looked at any time, and it slowly comes into view as the player moves around.

Excellent taste in colors and designs

The story itself is fine. It mostly moves forward with clues that are hard to figure out and strange settings. It also has towns and a good number of minor characters, as well as a few good jokes that are told throughout the story. 

In the first area, there are large, dark areas with no light that you have to remember or be lucky to get through without taking damage. Most jumping puzzles have weird enemy rotations and things that are there just to be mean. For example, one of the first ones has enemies you can’t see attacking and requires going through a bunch of other areas that end with a trap you wouldn’t expect on the last island. Later, there are also enemies that throw bombs from places you can’t see and fireballs that bounce toward you. At some point, every light starts to feel like an enemy waiting to attack, everything starts to teleport, and there is so much strange logic that it stops being fun.

Magical Spells and Foes of the Souldiers

As a platformer/rogue-like game, you will be required to explore the regions of Terragaya while collecting goods, unlocking areas, solving puzzles, and fighting foes and bosses. The gameplay experience will test your endurance, patience, and understanding. You can create a character from scratch in the game, giving you the freedom to select a starting class, level up your character’s talents, and customize their appearance. 

The progression of levels is structured like a tree, with the unlocking of one ability/node leading to the availability of subsequent nodes in the tree. You can also improve your weapons and equipment as you play, which allows for unique builds and speaks to the game’s soul-like impact. With so many options for personalization, playing this game will be a blast for every player.

Conclusion

Souldiers doesn’t introduce anything unique to the table in terms of fighting or platforming. Instead, it recycles the same tired gameplay mechanics and story beats from dozens of other pixel-art games.

However, it carries out each of them to a high quality and puts the whole thing in a visually appealing package that provides a considerable amount of playtime.

I’m confident that you’ll have a good time and feel like you got your money’s worth if this is the type of game you like to play.