Lost Soul Aside Review – WHAT FINAL FANTASY XV WASN’T?

Originally the passion project of a single developer back in 2016, Lost Soul Aside has since been propped up with extra support by Sony’s China Hero Project. And yet, you can still feel its indie DNA straining beneath the decent, AAA-ish exterior. There’s real heart here, especially in the combat, which pays loud and proud homage to Devil May Cry and PlatinumGames’ character action titles. Though someone also tacked on a stack of generic RPG tropes, purely to justify the full-price.

You Got Pizzazz, Kid

Thankfully, the combat slaps, and it’s pretty simple to pull off all the slick moves. Once you unlock a few weapons and get into the boss fights, the game reveals exactly how much work has gone into its flashy, crouching tiger, hidden power action. Dodging and blocking require split-second timing, but the payoff is immense. Landing blue visual parry cues makes you feel like an MLG pro gamer, and going ham with abilities and discount Devil Trigger would make even uncle Dante proud. That said, it’s hard to tell when certain attacks are happening, especially when Mr 10,000 Swords rocks up. Yet when you finally overcome a brutal big bad, you’ll feel like you’ve just graduated from anime swordsman school with honours.

Boss encounters are definitely the highlight, as each one mixes stylish spectacle and sweaty-palmed precision. Whereas regular foes let you flex and experiment with combo creativity, the bosses keep you honest, demanding that you learn their tells and punish windows. Since there are no difficulty options, you’ll just have to “get good” as the kids say these days. However, there are some damage reduction and attack boost accessories that unlock when our protag, Kaser, AKA Temu Noctis, gets knocked out a couple of times. Though as a whole, it’s tough, but fair… well, mostly.

Unfortunately, a fair amount of that combat sheen is dulled by floaty animations and consistently weak sound design. If anyone just had PTSD flashbacks to Kingdom Hearts III, you’re not far off. And when a giant sword slash sounds like someone flicking a rubber band, it does kill the vibe a bit. Add in lurchy platforming controls, waxy character models, and audio mixing that starts fighting with itself—often cutting completely between scenes—and you’ll start to see the cracks forming in real-time. The voice acting isn’t great either. 

The Other Half

The platforming is a nice distraction from the relentless fighting, and going full Tony Hawk on your little dragon sidekick just adds to the over-the-top spectacle. However, the platforming does take a bit of getting used to, with random invisible walls at points for no particular reason that’ll make you go… okay, then! The linear hallways offer slight deviations from the main path for hidden goodies, but this game mostly moves in a straight line. Good thing the FPS on my base PS5 was pretty solid, with persistently high frame rates on Performance Mode. Yet, I’ve heard that the PC master race hasn’t had the best of luck, even with the Day 1 patch. So maybe stick with Sony for this one.

Now, we’ve gotta address the elephant in the room: the story. And by “elephant,” I mean the narrative equivalent of reheated leftovers. It’s the usual fantasy-sci-fi word salad—oppressive empire, sister’s soul gets taken, long-dormant evil that’s suddenly back, a ragtag rebellion, yadda yadda—but with no real personality. Oh, and our lead, Kaser? He’s so bland he makes toast look spicy. His dragon companion at least talks enough for two people with some decent banter here and there, which is both a blessing and a curse. The rest of the cast are stock anime tropes you’ve seen a hundred times before, with as much depth as a kiddie pool.

But hey, unless you’re name’s V, you don’t play Devil May Cry for Shakespeare—and the same applies here.. The main difference is that it wants you to sit through more cutscenes and stand-and-talk segments than you bargained for, which clearly prioritise style over substance. We get it, guys. You wanna be an RPG. Though, maybe just… don’t.

Decision

At the end of the day, Lost Soul Aside is a game of two halves: a phenomenal action core with enjoyable platforming, wrapped in a bargain-bin story and a sprinkling of half-baked RPG fluff. If you’re here purely for the combat, you’ll have a blast chaining combos and conquering some seriously cool boss fights. But if you were hoping for a gripping narrative or an expertly-polished AA package, well… don’t expect your pizza to arrive piping hot.

By Anthony Culinas – Reviewed on PlayStation 5

Great

Lost Soul Aside is a stylish, sensational brawler that nails the action but stumbles almost everywhere else. Recommended for character action die-fans—everyone else, approach with caution.

This game was reviewed using a download code provided by Sony. The Beta Network uses affiliate partnerships, however, this does not influence reviews or any other content published. The Beta Network may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links that are on the website.