Lost Soul Aside

Lost Soul Aside is a hack and slash that harks back to the golden age of the genre, with its excellent combat — at times technical, at others mindless — serving as the backbone of the experience. Still, it ends up being one of those games filled with striking highs and discouraging lows. If it weren’t for the anachronistic concept it carries, the title could easily stand among the pantheon of great action games.

The expectations for Lost Soul Aside ended up being greater than the final product. On the one hand, we have fun and exciting combat, with a good variety of powers, items, and enemies. On the other, we have a confusing and poorly developed story, as well as its characters, who also lack charisma. Although the production's outcome is positive, it fell somewhat short, being recommended only for action-adventure fans (and those willing to bear a mediocre RPG).

Lost Soul Aside isn’t a bad game, but it undeniably carries the weight of its own ambition. Once the controller is in your hands, the magic fades, and what remains is a good game—honest but unfinished, spectacular yet shallow, fun but ultimately unable to leave a lasting mark.

Lost Soul Aside is an action game that never tries to hide its derivative nature, in a festival of references that openly shows the many sources of inspiration used by the Ultizero team. Technically fair and nothing more, the title suffers from some bugs which, aside from a few camera issues, fortunately almost never ruin the flow of the game. Gameplay itself, though also derivative, turns out to be varied and sufficiently deep, especially against bosses and tougher opponents. The point is that Lost Soul Aside doesn’t invent anything and borrows heavily from titles that made action RPG history, but it manages to do so well, at least as far as playability is concerned—and that’s enough to entertain fans. Sure, the story and characters won’t go down in history, and we’re not dealing with a masterpiece, but the feeling during combat makes Lost Soul Aside a more-than-decent title. That said, at full price it may easily discourage even those who are just looking for a good action game.

Despite a deep and enjoyable combat system, there are a few issues that hold Lost Soul Aside back from being a great action-RPG title.

Lost Soul Aside is indisputably not for everybody. But for those who click with its systems, they're in for a compelling gameplay-driven time reminiscent of PlayStation 2-era hack 'n' slashes. If you have been actively following the development of this title since its announcement, then I can undoubtedly understand the sheer disappointment you may feel. Yet, those not burdened with that level of expectation can vibe with Lost Soul Aside's messily ambitious combat-first heart.

Lost Soul Aside has the foundations of a great action game with strong combat, but those strengths are buried beneath an inconsequential story and noticeable polish issues.

Lost Soul Aside left a bitter aftertaste of hype seasoned with unmet expectations. It's one of the few RPGs that made me care less about its characters and story the more I played, due to its shoddy narrative and half-baked cutscenes. The gameplay is excellent, offering plenty of versatility for everyone and depth. The post-game challenges will undoubtedly please those wanting to test their hack and slash proficiency. That is, however, if they have the grit and tolerance to see the game through to the end.

Lost Soul Aside is an experience with ups and downs, where some elements work brilliantly and others fall short. On the negative side, we have a forgettable story, flat characters that are impossible to connect with, and a world that, in the end, we don't really care about. On the positive side, there's platforming with good and bad moments, lots of madness, and fast-paced combat full of clever mechanics that you'll enjoy more as you progress through the game.

Lost Soul Aside delivers fast, fluid, and visually striking combat with diverse weapons, combos, and Arena powers. Each weapon has its own skill tree and customization options, but the story is cliché, levels are repetitive, platforming is imprecise, and replayability is minimal. Technical performance suffers occasional frame drops.

As often happens with first works, Lost Soul Aside was the victim of its creator's unbridled ambitions and the vast inexperience of the team that supported him during development. Eleven years ago, the project, spearheaded by Yang Bing alone, seemed simply incredible, but today—especially with the latest generational leap and the advent of titles like Black Myth: Wukong—the magic of Lost Soul Aside has faded, becoming a sort of standard. The title is based on a frenetic, robust, and satisfying combat system unlike any other, but this alone cannot offset the numerous problems that plague all other aspects of Chinese production, nor does it justify the high entry price set by Sony this time around. Faced with a market now saturated with souls-like games and increasingly less diverse, fans of more traditional action RPGs and hack'n'slash games might still give it a chance.

Lost Soul Aside delivers a visually impressive action experience with deep combat mechanics that improve as the game progresses, although its story is clichéd and the gameplay can feel inconsistent at times; while the game is ambitious for a small studio and offers engaging boss fights, some generic enemies, awkward camera, and minor technical issues hold it back from reaching its full potential.

Lost Soul Aside is the definition of "what you see is what you get." No mind-blowing plot twists, graphical masterpieces, or revolutionary control systems, just a super-linear action game with tons of bosses, interspersed with simple platforming and puzzle challenges. While the story, lack of challenge, recycled level design, and sloppy pacing are disappointing, Lost Soul Aside is a straightforward, action-packed game for the enthusiast.

Lost Soul Aside is an action-heavy, flashy adventure with fun combat but a forgettable story.

Lost Soul Aside is one of those titles that, once you've played it, makes you realize the difference between knowing a video game series well and developing one. There are several elements worth saving, but they're not helped at all by the context in which they were inserted. And the idea of ​​launching everything at a premium price also lowers the appeal of the offering.

Despite some weaknesses that even the entertaining combat system can't cover, Lost Soul Aside is a game that players who enjoy the traditional action genre can enjoy.

A bland stylish action that proves how ambition and passion should never override actual experience.

With elements that compromise the experience, Lost Soul Aside is an example of a game that could have been excellent but drags on unnecessarily. The fast-paced combat delivers satisfying combos and the soundtrack is memorable, but even these strengths fall flat during a campaign hampered by a shallow narrative.

There are two souls fighting within Lost Soul Aside: the first is that of a small project created by solo developer Yang Bing and painstakingly nurtured over many years, while the second is that of a PlayStation-branded title sold at a triple-A price. It’s a “stylish action” video game inspired by the formula of Devil May Cry and the aesthetics of Final Fantasy that — not always for the right reasons — recalls the structure of old PS2-era hack and slash games. The combat system starts off with the handbrake on but steadily grows into something solid and challenging. The gameplay manages to stay fun throughout the adventure, but as soon as you step away from this core, a number of weaknesses start to surface: in addition to bland, impersonal storytelling and art direction, there are many rough edges, both in terms of presentation and mechanics. In short, it shows all the flaws and inexperience you’d expect from a small debut team, but these are inevitably magnified by a price and positioning that don’t reflect its true nature.

Lost Soul Aside delivers flashy, Devil May Cry-inspired combat, but stumbles everywhere else. The story is a cliché-ridden mess with weak characters, awkward cutscenes, and cringeworthy English voice acting. While the weapon variety, mid-combo switching, and magic abilities make for stylish and versatile fights, the lack of impact, clunky controls, and uneven difficulty spikes hold it back. Despite a decade of development, this long-awaited action game feels unpolished and far from worth its price.

Despite its clear inspirations and a few memorable moments, what remains is a half-baked, uneven experience that comes nowhere close to the classics it tries to emulate.

Lost Soul Aside started with good intentions, but once you take a closer look at everything surrounding its combat mechanics, it's clear that a lot of work is still needed.

Lost Soul Aside offers solid action with fun combat and combo variety, but its story and voice acting fall short. The exploration is satisfying, and replay value is boosted by modes like Boss Rush, though the difficulty lacks challenge.

Lost Soul Aside clearly reveals its sources of inspiration. Yet merely emulating what other franchises achieved in the past does not do enough to deliver a memorable title. Although it features engaging and occasionally complex combat, an unremarkable story, poor animations, and numerous performance issues may discourage players from completing Kaser and Arena's narrative.

For a game that started out as a passion project, it’s impressive how far it has come. But as a finished product, it feels like a rough diamond that was never truly polished.

Living up to its name, Lost Soul Aside is a soulless game. Its combat, which should be its strongest point, suffers from a lack of responsiveness and boils down to mashing two buttons, while its generic art direction and empty story fail to make any impact. Despite its indie origins, which could justify some flaws, its launch price as a AAA game makes its shortcomings difficult to forgive.

Lost Soul Aside suffers from a weak story, bland characters, and major technical issues, with only its varied combat and boss fights offering some redemption. Ultimately, it lacks focus — and a soul.

Regardless of the outcome, Yang Bing and the teams at UltiZero Games can be proud of the work accomplished, as the design of Lost Soul Aside was so grueling. Unfortunately, the result is insufficient to establish itself in the action game genre. Certainly, the title relies on calibrated and nervous gameplay, and this is where the soul of the project shines the most. Aside from certain artistic aspects (settings, designs, music), Lost Soul Aside struggles to be catchy: the story is too flat, the universe is generic, the characters are forgettable, the structure is redundant, the mechanics are hackneyed or underexploited. It's not a disaster either, but the final copy is barely adequate, to our great regret.

Lost Soul Aside needed to be just a tribute to Final Fantasy in the form of an energetic hack & slash game capable of thrilling us with its boss fights. Unfortunately, it tries to be too much and fails in the most important aspect: the quality of its execution.

Lost Soul Aside tries a lot of things while being inspired by the most popular Japanese games, but it is very far from them.

Lost Soul Aside isn’t soulless, but it truly is the definition of a mixed bag. Meant to be seen as the “Final Fantasy of China” and a potential new PlayStation flagship alongside games like Astro Bot and Stellar Blade, it ultimately falls short of those lofty ambitions, leaving behind a lingering sense of wasted potential.

There's some really snappy and interesting combat hidden within Lost Soul Aside, but it can be hard to appreciate after its slow, dull opening and drawn out chapters. With a transforming multi-weapon that's also a dragon, combo possibilities can be really fun to explore, but you often don't have enough reason to do so.

Lost Soul Aside feels like a smaller-scale game disguised and priced as a AAA title. While its gameplay is what will keep you hooked, it just fail at delivering at every other department with one of the weakest written dialogues to it’s comically bad voice acting.

Lost Soul Aside has some merits in its combat and can be enjoyable if you overlook the weak story and shallow characters, but it’s hard to recommend at full launch price with so many polish issues. However, if that’s not a problem for you, it can still be fun for Hack and Slash fans—just don’t expect anything grand and be prepared to put up with certain aspects of the game.

Despite what is clearly an earnest effort, Lost Soul Aside fails to do justice to whatever director Yang Bing’s vision was. It never stops feeling hamstrung by its lofty aspirations, but is derivative in its execution and doesn’t do any one thing particularly well. If you’re the type of player who can forgive an average experience in return for genuinely great combat, then it might still be worth your while to grab it on sale.

While acknowledging the 11-year-long commitment that finally brought the game to release, there are simply too many serious problems to ignore. Lost Soul Aside’s sometimes excellent action is undercut by flat characters, cliche story, terrible writing and rough mechanics.

Lost Soul Aside wore on me pretty quickly, with its repetitive arena-to-arena flow, characters I never spent enough time to care about or what happened to them, and unpolished issues and quirks. Except for the aesthetics and decent combat (which had their own drawbacks), I can’t really point to a part of LSA that I can say I genuinely had a good time with. While I wasn’t someone that has been eagerly waiting with bated breath for the game, I still was hopeful and intrigued by what the final game would turn out like after being worked on for so long, and it's disappointing how much it fell flat for me. Sometimes being cool just doesn’t cut it.

All in all, Lost Soul Aside is a thoroughly mediocre experience with little to redeem it. The combat lacks impact, boss fights devolve into button mashing, and the story comes off as a poor man’s Final Fantasy.

Lost Soul Aside is, ironically, a mostly soulless experience that never really comes together.

Lost Soul Aside would’ve been a great character action game if it hadn’t gone out of its way to do anything outside of that. Cosplaying as a Final Fantasy game, its wheel-spinning story doesn’t go anywhere and an unmemorable cast of (often derivative) characters are played by actors who aren’t given much to work with. Boring level design is going through the motions at best and annoyingly unskippable at worst, and it’s loaded with painfully poor 3D platforming sequences and extremely basic puzzles. Next time it should really just stick to combat.

Lost Soul Aside is not good, but it does serve as a vehicle for exciting, fast-paced boss fights and an entertaining, in-depth combat system. If you can stomach some truly abysmal writing, unlikable characters, and a painfully generic sci-fi/fantasy setting, then you could get something out of it, but for the most part, Lost Soul Aside is nowhere near the savior of the hack ‘n’ slash genre that I was really hoping it would be.

Just as the game itself is half-finished, this text is a bit like that too. There is also content that I didn't even get to experience, and even though it's a game that was started by one person, it has still been under development for such a long time that such a big game-breaking bug shouldn't be able to happen. The positive thing about all this is that there is still something worth experiencing, and I will continue the adventure all the way to the end once it's fixed.