Dolmen is set in a fictional universe where humans have colonized distant planets across the galaxy; expanding empires, federations, trading companies and mining colonies. In order to survive the inhospitable conditions, they genetically modified very different humans; these descendants are called Xeno species.
The player controls a mercenary – hired by Zoan Corp to intervene on the planet Revion Prime – where the Driller Xeno humans were carrying out a scientific and mining operation. Things have become catastrophic and the player is the first to manage to contain the problem and recover sensitive data and materials for Zoan Corp.
Saving the drillers is not mandatory… even if some of them survived. As you play through the mission, you’ll discover that the Zoan Corp has been hiding horrific secrets and dangerous technology.
The name – Dolmen – is used to describe megalithic constructions used in funerary rituals and portals to the afterlife; on Revion Prime it was used to describe the red crystal found on the planet. This crystal is a focus for drillers and they have used the name to refer to its ability to revolutionize portal travel.
For fans of the genre, Dolmen is an action RPG with Souls-like mechanics and to progress through the game, players must learn to control their character, timing enemy attacks as they manage resources like energy bar, stamina bar, life points, block, parry, etc.
The game offers a wide array of armor and weapons to suit different playstyles, including ranged, melee, and mixed combat.
Crafting gear requires players to gather different materials found in Revion Prime, combining technologies in different designs to enhance character skills and understand how each piece of gear can help defeat your enemies.
The game uses a rock, paper, scissors system, with each enemy being strong against two elements and weak against the third. Powerful enemies – bosses and champions – can be very difficult to defeat if you don’t identify the weakness between fire, cold and acid.
A unique mechanic in the game, called Energy Mode, allows the character to expend energy instead of stamina to perform melee attacks. During this energized condition, attacks are empowered with one of the elements, causing additional damage; however, the best result will occur if the weapon has the elemental damage buff the enemy is vulnerable to.
And if at first you don’t succeed: the bosses can be re-challenged several times using Dolmen crystals and you can also create a multiplayer session to eliminate them in cooperative mode. Each additional player will increase the difficulty of the fight, so that each battle will remain as an exciting challenge.
The game, of course, is not just about bosses. Regular enemies will also test your skills as they make a concerted effort to end your mission.
The art team tried to extract any phobias they could find from the books and materialize them into an enemy trying to kill the character. Are you afraid of spider/insect-like creatures? Are you afraid of the living dead? Hellish demons grabbing chains while trying to reach you? Gigantic monsters climbing buildings or moving underground? Perhaps flying terrors or dark matter assassins? Well, this game has them all.
The game is divided into three sectors: The Dump, where the main accident occurred; the Wastelands, where the player will experience the extent of the disaster and the Old Lab, where players will attempt to end the crisis. Throughout the game, players will feel like no one is welcome, with danger lurking around every corner.
Organic tissues and strange fungi grow everywhere; abominable creatures in search of new prey; a planet destroyed in a few hours. Pack it all in with great voice actors, musical artists working to max out mainline battles, text localization for over twelve languages, and added immersion on PS5 thanks to the DualSense wireless controller’s adaptive triggers, and we’ve got a good preview of what awaits players in this 12-16 hour adventure in a Xeno world.
