Analysis of Deathbound, a rather particular soullike

Deathbound is a genre of souls that unites and confronts antagonistic worlds such as the technological and the religious.

Related to death is an action RPG developed by Trialforge Studio. The action takes place in the fictional world of Ziêminal. This universe combines medieval elements with vestiges of advanced ancient technology, creating a unique and mysterious environment.

History between faith and science.

The story of Related to death It focuses on the conflict between faith and science. Centuries ago, the goddess Life tricked her sister, the goddess Death, into stealing her powers in order to create the First Men, an immortal race. This betrayal sparked an eternal war between the followers of Life and those of Death. Now, the immortals, originally endowed with eternal life, are divided and hunted by the servants of Death.

The world of Related to death It stands out enormously for its contrasts. Ancient technologies coexist with the medieval present, giving rise to a civilization home to ruthless creatures and exotic cultures. As players, we will wake up ZiéminalThis kingdom built on the ruins of a technological society and plunged into war. The Church of Death faces the Cult of Life in a crusade to eliminate the immortals.

Although at first it seems that we will only use one character, after starting we realize that Related to death It offers us to alternate between protagonists with different alignments, from life to death. All with their moral dilemmas in the face of which some rethink their alignment.

Alternative gameplay.

To begin with, we have the typical bonfires, which in this case will be more technological utensils. We also have shortcuts in the purest style From the softwarerunes or something similar to level up with and other “standards” that any souls copy and that few renew or reinterpret.

It’s here Related to death the more it sins and fails. It brings nothing relevant to the genre and what it does include, the essences, are an element that, as a central axis of the gameplay, is poorly realized.

What were we talking about with the theme of essences? This is the point or element of differentiation of Deathbound with other souls. The game allows us to absorb the essences of the warriors fallen in combat, we can have up to 4 active, but throughout the game we can collect up to 7 different ones. Each one has its own skills, talent tree and differentiating elements both aesthetically and in combat style. These are the ones we can find and enjoy:

1. Therone: He is the initial character, a knight with a sword and shield. His abilities include quick attacks, heavy attacks, blocking and parrying.
2. Anna Lepus: An assassin who uses daggers and a crossbow. He is ideal for short to medium range attacks, as well as stealth attacks.
3. Tehkri Hadoi: A warrior specializing in hand-to-hand combat with martial arts skills.
4. Yulia Tchevlaskia: A mage capable of casting powerful spells and controlling elements.
5. Agharos of Meriva: A tank with great durability and defensive capabilities.
6. Mamdile Ogate: An archer with long-range attack and trap skills.
7. Olivia Heinz: A healer capable of healing and supporting the team with support skills.

What should be a positive thing becomes a tedious and time-consuming chore, as Deathbound places a lot of emphasis on switching characters mid-combat to deliver powerful, deadly blows.

We are therefore condemned to having to change characters in an unorthodox way (the assigned buttons are not the best) in the middle of combat. Each of the 4 essences The ones we have don’t share the same life, which is good because we have four options before we die, but if one of them dies, that’s it.

As we said, this mechanic is not very fluid, it does not integrate well into the combat and the need to include it to be able to eliminate bosses or minions before they kill you in one hit is very annoying.

And so that the mechanical To be effective, we must change our essence just when we hit an enemy to do more damage. Which, as they say, is done by pressing the corresponding crossbar, having to release the gamepad of movement in the middle of combat.

Technically a bit poor.

In the technical part we will not go into details because it is quite limited. It barely meets the standards of a game of 2024with poor and poorly worked textures. The scenarios are poorly developed and are generally very sparse. The character’s movements seem somewhat orthopedic and the execution of certain skills or combinations does not have fluid or neat sequences.

To make matters worse, the clash between technology and medieval characters is total. If that was the aim of the study, it has achieved it. But I think that in some parts these two very antagonistic worlds had to come together and then separate and that this union which generated the later estrangement is nowhere visible.

It looks like an army medieval has been bizarrely transferred to a technological, apocalyptic world where some remnants of mechanics still function and have a purpose.

CONCLUSION

Related to death It’s a pretty fair title in its visual and sound section, where there is also no great work at the level of conceptual art. The animations of the characters, the settings and in general the level design are quite mediocre. The mix of science and The Church is not very cohesive and seems imposed.

It’s true that it tries to innovate with its essence mechanics, but that only confuses an already poorly crafted and unfluid combat. This is a game where decisions regarding its gameplay and conceptual art have definitely weighed it down.