Getting up close: Deathbound

Deathbound is an action RPG game in the soulslike style, developed by Trialforge Studio and distributed by Tate Multimídia, with a release date scheduled for August 8, 2024, the game will be available for the following platforms: PlayStation 5, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S.

Paladins and... technology?

Deathbound is the newest soulslike RPG game we tested, it is currently in the early access phase, so many things are not yet finalized. But despite that, it already shows incredible quality, even without the complete content it already looks very much like a final version, with just a few details to polish.

Let's start by talking about the game's theme, an aspect that I found very different and at the same time very cool, is a crazy mix of religious with a paladin vibe with a dark technological world of dark fantasy, so seeing a character in armor and sword fighting in an environment full of hi-tech things like elevators, automatic doors, barrels, in modern concrete buildings is common.

The game's aesthetic is very dark, really leaning towards dark fantasy, which combined with this differentiated theme reminiscent of Warhammer 40k, creates an environment that is somewhat more unique, it's not something we are used to seeing applied in games, at least not in a well-executed way, and in Deathbound we have this satisfactory level of quality.

The game also has a very cool story, in addition to the lore of the world itself, which revolves around powerful religious groups, it also deals with the past of its characters, some of which are in line with the religions and others that are opponents to these groups, each with its own peculiarity.

In fact, in the demo, it is embryonically demonstrated the story of 2 of the playable characters and their past, as well as an explanation of the game's main combat mechanic, which is the ability to switch characters in the middle of combat, where what happens is a spiritual connection between their bodies that unites them, thus allowing each one to take control of the body at different times, altering it according to the player's will during gameplay.

Where's the bonfire?

Deathbound ends up being able to fit into the soulslike category, as the game has several common characteristics, especially the death factor, which is something that you will inevitably end up going through a few times during gameplay, but fortunately it is not just another generic game of the genre that ends up not innovating, here we have several gameplay tools that differentiate it.

The main factor that sets it apart is the aforementioned central mechanic, the ability to switch characters in the middle of combat greatly dynamizes the game, as it allows for a series of different combos beyond the characters' standard ones, each of them has its own peculiarities.

For example, our first character is a warrior, with attacks more balanced between damage and speed, has a shield that stops projectiles and a relatively fast dodge, but the second character is a rogue, does not have defense mechanisms beyond her standard dodge, but is much faster, fragile, and also has a hand crossbow that allows her to attack enemies at a distance.

It is common to see in early access versions errors in level design and lack of fluidity in combat, which here is definitely not the case, especially when it comes to combat, everything is very fluid, which is an excellent sign, because if everything now seems to be correct with this topic, they are more at ease to work on other parts of the game that are not yet as good.

Combat in games of the Deathbound genre is possibly the main factor, and fortunately everything is very well integrated here, although progression is a bit slow, combat can be challenging and punitive without being frustrating, and the feeling of reward when achieving an objective like defeating a boss is great, as a good soulslike should be

The game also has a level and skills upgrade system, I didn't explore this part much during gameplay, but by the talent tree that the game shows, there will certainly be a huge variety of possible builds for your characters, which further contributes to the game's dynamics and replay factor.

So, is everything ready?

The answer to this question is... not yet. Although the game is well on its way to being finalized, there are still some aspects that are not 100% calibrated, but fortunately it is not a big deal to be solved and it is certainly something that will be corrected in the final release, at least that's what I hope.

The point that caught my attention the most were the animations that clearly are not finalized, the characters seem very clumsy and unnatural, making movements and behaving very artificially, these animations still need a good deal of attention, but will certainly be good.

Something that probably hinders a little the production of animations are the graphics, as the game's graphics are very beautiful, meticulously detailed, both in terms of characters and the environment, which is also a point that was extremely well worked on, and with that it raises the level of production considerably and requires a greater perfection in the work that is not yet in the final stage.

Another little problem I had at some moments in the game was with performance, for the most part everything ran perfectly, but at some moments I suffered from optimization problems, which is understandable when we remember that the game is in early access and given that it is not a very big problem, it will probably be something that will be already corrected in the final version.

All the aesthetic design part of the game is amazing, both in the HUD, which is minimalist but still beautiful, as well as in the theme of the environments, characters, and the world as a whole, so all the art direction is to be congratulated, because the quality is impressive.

For all these reasons, I believe that Deathbound is already an excellent game, and surely at its release it will be even better, with a little more dedication to some weaker points that still need to be improved, something that I firmly believe will not be a problem in the release given the level that has already been presented, the game will be a success.