Deathbound

The soulslike is a well-worn genre by now, which means that we’re finally getting ones that don’t just ape the setting and aesthetics of FromSoft games, but try to implement mechanics that turn the genre on its head. Case in point: Deathbound, a party-based soulslike from a studio in Brazil. In Deathbound, players will recruit numerous characters to their party, but only be able to play one at a time. However, they’ll be able to swap between four of them with the press of a button, and each has their own playstyle and health pool. For example, if I begin with my heavy melee character but he’s being pummeled from afar, I can swap to my ranged mage character who has full HP and take out his attacker. Additionally, dealing damage as one character will restore the health of the others, making players have to consider when and where to swap between characters for the health of the overall party. Characters also have alignments which can grant buffs and debuffs based on how well they get along with one another, and are capable of synchronized attacks or techniques if you swap between them mid-combo or dodge, forcing players to always consider the entirety of the group at all times to maximize their chances of winning and/or simply doing cool shit in the game.

And while that’s all great and obviously gets into Deathbound’s meaty helping of systems, I want to especially shine a light on the last character I was able to unlock in the demo, who was a capoeira fighter and served as a great example of how cultural touchstones can make your game that much more interesting. The game could maybe use some better signposting considering how turned around I got in my demo, but otherwise, Deathbound is looking pretty great. You can see for yourself too, since Deathbound has a demo up on Steam right now. — Moises Taveras