This has been a year of long-awaited games finally reaching players’ hands after nearly a decade in development. Hollow Knight: Silksong has been in the works for seven years and is just days away from release. Lost Soul Aside, meanwhile, was announced first in 2016 and has taken nine years to finally hit the shelves. What makes it even more interesting is that it was developed by a single person during its initial development, but expanded later on with Sony's help.
It was the kind of pull that piqued players’ curiosity, and it’s made even better with a gameplay trailer that felt like the pre-release Final Fantasy XV footage.
Fast forward to today, and reviews for Lost Soul Aside are out. The general consensus is that it’s a fairly solid hack-and-slash that doesn’t reinvent the genre. Instead, it leans on tried-and-true systems established by character action titles like Devil May Cry, where flashy combat, boss fights, and anime-inspired movements take the spotlight.
While critics and players have given it a lukewarm reception, the game succeeds at what it sets out to do: deliver a fun hack-and-slash where you can farm aura and pull off flashy moves with a diverse arsenal of weapons. In many ways, it feels like a title that would have been a big hit had it launched in the early 2010s, toward the end of the PlayStation 2 era.
There’s an undeniable thrill in its gameplay, and the combat looks stylish from start to finish. But beneath the flashy effects, the story feels barebones, with writing that seems stretched just to connect the fast-paced action sequences. It actually brings to mind Capcom’s black sheep, Chaos Legion, which also suffered from repetitive combat and a thin story. Still, that didn’t stop me from enjoying it and pushing through to the end credits, and Lost Soul Aside has a similar charm.
If the $60 price tag feels steep, this might be a game worth waiting to grab on sale. But if you’re craving that nostalgic feel of PlayStation 2 titles like Nightshade or the aforementioned Chaos Legion, this game has enough to scratch that itch. Its cookie-cutter story might not blow you away, but it feels right at home with those classics.
What does set it apart from older action titles is its massive production budget. Built on Unreal Engine 5, the graphics are impressive, though performance hiccups are noticeable. In many ways, it’s like playing a PlayStation 2 game wrapped in modern clothing.
Overall? Lost Soul Aside definitely has potential, but there’s nothing wrong with a game being “just okay.” Not every release has to be groundbreaking like Dark Souls, and it doesn’t need to be the next Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It doesn’t have to be perfect, as long as it delivers on its promise that it’s a no-holds-barred character action game, even if it arrived nine years too late.
And that’s perfectly okay.
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