Your humanity is lost. Your bond is your weapon. Your fight is about to begin.
Soulstice is a Dark Fantasy stylish action-adventure game developed by Reply Game Studios. It was released on September 20th, 2022.
Reveal trailer is here
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Official Gameplay Overview is here.
The Cinematic Trailer is here
The Holy Kingdom of Keidas has come under attack. Feral, powerful creatures known as "Wraiths" have torn through the veil separating the land of the dead from that of the living and threaten to destroy and consume all that lives. Only the Chimeras, warriors born of the union of two souls stand between humanity and complete and utter annihilation. Chimeras like Briar and her sister Lute, transformed by Lute's Heroic Sacrifice. But as the duo moves to defend humankind, they start to realize the Order they serve might hide an even darker secret.
Tropes:
- Action Girl: Briar is a seasoned warrior cutting down armies of the Corrupted. Lute fights with the use of her ghostly magic.
- Ax-Crazy: Both of Jared and Jadon are bloodthirsty and sadistic, but Jadon edges out as being the more deranged of the two halves. Most of his battle chatter is loud and manic proclamations of his desire to kill and crush Briar and Lute. Appropriately, his "half" of their head has its lips peeled back into a permanent snarl. Demian, Armina's shade, is similarly insane. His first order of business upon being reawakened is to attempt to kill Briar and Lute while laughing maniacally. Even prior to being turned into a shade, he apparently committed mass murder in order to get Armina's attention.
- Bash Brothers: Jadon and Jared are a Transcended who fight in complete unison with each other as a singular entity. They're notably the only Transcended with no power imbalance between the two halves until Briar and Lute merge in the end.
- Blood Knight: Jadon and Jared love themselves a good fight and care very little for anything else. As Transcendent they are absolutely consumed by bloodlust, laughing maniacally and spitting taunts as they rampage. They don't even begrudge Briar and Lute when they are slain by them, because they are so happy the sisters gave them the battle of a lifetime.
- BFS: Briar sports the Ashen Vindicator greatsword as her primary weapon. As another member of the Order, Donovan wields the same blade.
- Black Swords Are Better: Briar's sword is painted black.
- The Dividual: There is very little distinction between Jared and Jadon outside of the latter being a tad more deranged. When they're joined together, they speak in perfect unison and refer to themselves using "we" pronouns.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Jadon and Jared are bloodthirsty and arrogant nutjobs, but they genuinely care about each other. When they're defeated, Jared and Jadon share some comforting words before fading away.
- Expy: In addition to the above, Briar has many similarities to Claire of Claymore. The makers of the game have cited the manga as a major influence.
- Eyepatch of Power: Briar wears one.
- Fake Memories: The Order tampered with Briar's recollection of how she became a Corrupted, making her think she fatally wounded Lute in a frenzy, to exploit her guilt.
- Fully-Embraced Fiend: As Nemesis, Armina sees her new Transcended form as "pure" and "a goddess".
- Fusion Dance: Transcended are giant monstrosities formed from Chimera fully merging together into a single entity using a special crystal.
- Gameplay Grading: Similar to Bayonetta, every large encounter ends with a grading on speed, score and damage, with the max score being diamond.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Hannah caused the tear over Ilden and forced the present Chimera's transcending, but Lord Dugal and the Order of the Ashen Blade are the ones who turned them into Chimera in the first place.
- The Heartless: The wraiths are spirits from a parallel world who are driven to merge with living hosts, corrupting them in the process.
- Human Weapon: Chimeras, like Briar, are people turned into magical soldiers for fighting Wraiths and the Corrupted. They're seen as Transhumans, and often feared for it.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Layton is a bona fide First-Person Smartass, makes his dislike of the sisters and their condition quite clear, and speaks like he always has a thinly veiled insult under his tongue. He is also an agent of the Triarchy, working in secret to undermine the evil efforts of the real antagonist; Lord Dugal. He remains your staunch ally through the whole game, saves Briar's life in at least one occasion, and puts a great deal of trust on the sisters getting things done.
- Mirror Boss: Donovan and Hannah serve as this, as Donovan fights using the same weapon as Briar while Hannah's attacks are slightly modified versions of Lute's.
- Monochrome Apparition: Aside from her dark eyes, Lute is all blueish white.
- Occult Blue Eyes: Briar's remaining eye is unnaturally bright blue.
- Papa Wolf: Deconstructed; Donovan underwent the Chimera transformation to keep his dead daughter Hannah at his side. Problem is she hates her existence as a shade (and it's implied that such an existence causes her immeasurable pain), and lashes out against anything and anyone associated with the Order with dire consequences.
- Sequel Hook: Briar and Lute save the day by absorbing the relic after defeating Hannah, and they in turn become fully Transcended, though they thankfully still retain their sanity. Layton urges them to hide as they've now become a target for the Order, but just as they leave, Kordelia the Reaper shows up with Lord Dugal. As Kordelia departs to hunt down the Transcended sisters, Dugal looks to the horizon to show Layton the cities of Doran and Rheim, with different Tears cracking open the sky just like in Ilden.
- Shout-Out:
- The Reveal trailer has Briar smashing through a window in a way that brings to mind 2B smashing through a wall at the start of NieR: Automata.
- As Berserk was cited as an influence to the game, Donovan's name is a rather twisted joke, as it's a reference to a character from the manga who raped Guts, the main protagonist, while the latter was still a child.
- Sibling Team: Briar and Lute, clearly.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Briar is a tough and curt, while Lute is gentle and curious.
- Super-Soldier: The Chimeras appear to be a magical variant.
- Soul Jar: A purple crystal embedded in Briar's chest contains Lute's soul, same as all Chimera.
- Swiss-Army Weapon: Through a special mechanism, Briar's Ashen Vindicator can change its shape to become the Ashen Enforcer (for strong and slow attacks).
- Sword and Sorcerer: Briar and Lute are a sibling version, with Briar engaging in physical combat while Lute uses magic for support.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Armina forcibly suppressed Demian's consciousness upon fusing with him due to the latter's uncontrollable bloodlust. Demian, upon being reawakened, derides Armina for her haughty personality and lofty speeches. When Armina is defeated, Demian decides to finally pay her back for attempting to imprison him by killing her, even though it also kills him in the process.
- Briar cannot stand Layton at first, and the feeling is reciprocated. They become more amicable with each other when his actual role and her memories comes to light.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Layton starts the game very clearly wanting nothing to do with Briar, her sister, and the crisis of the city in general, with the increasingly dire situation further souring his temper. As the story goes on, he softens his attitude somewhat, starts revealing important truths and becomes genuinely worried for the sisters when the look like they have lost themselves to the Ascension.
- Touched by Vorlons: The source of a Chimera's power. The name comes from how they're essentially two people in one: A human to physically fight, and a ghost to make the monsters corporeal. In Briar's case, this is her and her sister Lute.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Chimera who Transcend gain a humongous boost in power to near-deific levels. They also completely lose their minds, becoming uncontrollably bloodthirsty or developing massive god complexes. Briar and Lute are the only ones who Transcend and manage to keep their sanity intact.
- X Meets Y: Devil May Cry meets Claymore.
