Great ideas do not always translate into great games. This is the case with Deathbound, a new soulslike from Trialforge Studio in which you swap between up to four different characters at once using the innovative morph system. The premise is promising, but ultimately the final result after 10 hours of gameplay and credits rolled is a game that leaves too much on the table. Deathbound shows promise but fails to lean into its most interesting premise and ultimately ends up falling flat.
It’s Morphin Time!
The main selling point of Deathbound is the unique party-based combat system. In Deathbound, you receive up to seven different unique characters to control, each with their own playstyle. You begin as the balanced sword and shield-wielding Therone Guillaumen until, eventually, you come across the carcass of an assassin. After absorbing the Essence of the assassin, Anna Lepus, you can now swap between the two at will using the Morph mechanic. This mechanic is at the core of Deathbound’s identity and adds much-needed flavor to an otherwise basic combat system.
Morphing is primarily encouraged via an intertwined health and stamina system. Anytime you take damage, your total max stamina will also be permanently reduced by the same amount. If you take too many blows in a battle you will need to morph into another character who still has their maximum health to avoid a fatal hit. Dealing damage to enemies heals inactive party members allowing them to be used again. This mechanic works wonders for Deathbound’s many deadly encounters. I found myself making constant use of the morph mechanic to string together dodges, to combo into huge attacks, and as a survival tool. On the surface, Deathbound’s combat is slow and dated, but once you begin to master the use of morphs in combat the pace picks up and the combat experience becomes engaging.
Deathbound has a host of RPG elements to play with which take advantage of the party system. Each character, based on their background and ideologies, can either be in Synergy or Conflict with one another. Synergies are small buffs with no strings attached, Conflicts grant a major buff while also granting a significant debuff. Interweaving the individual character backgrounds with an important gameplay mechanic was inspired. However, once you’ve settled on a setup, there is no incentive to switch it up. No story moment forces you into certain characters, the buffs never change or can be upgraded. Allowing the player to lean more heavily into a specific Synergy or Conflict, or having them change as characters shift in their ideologies would have added depth complexity and encourage experimentation.
Despite having unique visual designs, the act of fighting enemies in Deathbound was often a frustrating, tedious, and unfair ordeal. It was quite often, I would turn a corner or open a door only to immediately be smacked with some kind of enemy attack that I had no possible way to see coming. Narrow corridors are plentiful in Deathbound but are filled with giant, awkward enemies that don’t belong. Either they get stuck on something or you get stuck on something. Either way, death means returning back to that corridor to repeat the process until you get lucky. Enemy attack animations were often stiff or lacked any telegraphs at all, making it extremely difficult to react properly or predict what the enemy was going to do next. This carries over to the bosses, which share the same problems but have the benefit of being in larger rooms and are easily dispatched.
Deathly Hollow
The world of Deathbound is an odd one. You play as characters clearly inspired by traditional medieval fantasy: a knight, an assassin, a mage, a monk, and so on. In contrast, as you explore the city of Akratya you will also come across broken down sedans and polygonal housing with neon techno lights pulsing around jagged edges. The mixture of dark fantasy with advanced technology gives Deathbound a unique feel and signals a civilization which has advanced past our own yet is steeped with archaic ideals and institutions. It’s a strong visual that is not fully realized by the narrative.
Unlike typical soulslikes, Deathbound’s story is direct. You experience most of it through various memory points throughout the game which replay some moment from the world’s past. The main plot centers around the meaning of death and features two warring factions: The Church of Death, who worship death as a divine, perpetual violent crusade in her name, and the Essencemancers, who are attempting to uncover the secrets of death. Throughout the adventure I was introduced to a plethora of important characters that pushed the plot forward. Unfortunately, none of them were memorable; some were even downright comical. I could never bring myself to care about the main plot of the world because it lacked an emotional connection, a connection that could have been made if the game made better use of its main selling point, the party system.
Through the party system you gain characters with various backgrounds and allegiances. Your first character, Therone Guillaumen, is a respected commander of the Church of Death. Later, you gain the party member Tehkri Hodai, an Essencemancer. This creates the opportunity for unique and fascinating dialogue between characters of different ideologies and backgrounds to explore. Deathbound never leans into this opportunity. One of your party members, Iulia, lost her entire family at the hands of a brutal and maniacal butcher named Agharos. Later, you gain that very butcher as a party member. However, the two only have one minor shouting match before another character promptly interrupts with an eloquent “shut up.” From that point forward, this dynamic between the victim, hell-bent on revenge, and the murderer, who gloats about his kill, is never capitalized. The whole conflict felt like a small sibling argument broken up by a frustrated parent.
Lingering Woes
Special attention must be taken to voice acting which ranged from solid to cringe-worthy. It’s hard to take a story seriously when NPCs are emotionless, children are awkward, and some note-worthy companions sound as if they were advised to do their worst impression of various accents from around the world.
Fast travel was another head-scratcher. Deathbound emulates Dark Souls in that you only unlock the ability much later into the game, requiring you to explore thoroughly and learn the world before being granted the benefit of teleporting around at will. In Dark Souls, this is effective because the level design is brilliantly interconnected. Deathbound does not have this luxury. Levels are either too bland or too frustrating to benefit from withholding such an ability for so long. Additionally, the annoyance goes one step further as you can only fast travel to the first checkpoint in each area. Unless you memorized the map and unlocked all shortcuts, this means that re-exploring previous areas will be a slog.
Tragic Death, Promising Rebirth
Deathbound is a failed experiment. The morph system is its one saving grace and truly does differentiate the game from others in the genre. Weaving together morphs into combo attacks and dodges is exciting and fun. The rest of the game just does not back it up. A forgettable story, comical voice acting, missed opportunities, frustrating level design, and unfair enemies push Deathbound away from the echelons of greatness in the soulslike genre. Perhaps with this experience under their belts, Trialforge Studio can learn from the missteps of Deathbound and come out of the other side with a new vision and a more realized adventure.
Deathbound is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC for $29.99.
The Review
Middling
