Vambrace: Cold Soul

Once it clicks, Vambrace becomes a fun and brisk experience that trades in the desolation and grind of Darkest Dungeon for a more compact and less replayable adventure. There are costumes to earn from sidequests and achievements to earn that unlock in-game art, but there’s no new game plus to expedite the process. That said, there are a few times when you get to make key decisions that affect the story slightly and reward you with different costumes, so there is some incentive to return. Turn-based RPG enthusiasts and those who wanted more story out of Darkest Dungeon will find a lot to like here, but those who want a more streamlined or directed experience are given the cold shoulder.

I liked Vambrace: Cold Soul, but it’s certainly not for everyone. It requires more patience than many gamers can afford, and that’s even among those who are already into roguelikes. If you can settle into its groove, however (and won’t lose it when you’re sucker-punched right out of that groove), there’s some good, challenging fun to be had here.

While its visual environment and art style are exquisite and marvelous at every level and its plot is well written and involving, the game brings very little in terms of additional contributions to the RPG genre and its gameplay essentially sticks with the essential, becoming dull rather quickly. Overall, this is a rather risky experience to get into and one which can leave RPG fans feeling defrauded.

As interesting as defective. The soundtrack, the story and the character design almost make us forget some development issues. The title urgently needs a patch. Repetitive but addictive.

Vambrace: Cold Soul is by no means a bad game. It's far too derivative and simple to reach the same league as Darkest Dungeon as a classic, but it's an enjoyable time waster, with superb production values and neat, clean, classical turn based combat action. The best way to play the game is probably on the Nintendo Switch, too, since it's the kind of background noise that works while you've got the sport or a movie on TV.

This is, for the most part, a disappointment. By no means a terrible game, Vambrace: Cold Soul plays it a bit too safe with its concepts, as most of them are straight up copied from better tactical rogue-likes and RPGs, and especially Darkest Dungeon. Gorgeous character design can only get you so far...

Vambrace: Cold Soul falls down in almost every way that matters, and there are far better games out there more worthy of your time.