The first truly next-gen game is a failed but impressive showcase – Tech Crunch

Next generation gaming is here with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X – other than that there are no next generation games in them. Souls of monsters The first title, which can truly be called the next gen, it shows – although it is a remake of a PS3 game… It also shows.

Original Souls of monsters Incredibly influential game. Its continuation, Dark souls, Was very popular and was slightly improved at first, but is now well established which has made the big series better. “Like souls” is now a genre in practice, although the originals are still surprisingly good nonpareil.

Some of the comparisons played Souls of monsters Glad to hear it was redesigned, and also by Bluepoint (who also remade the legends) The shadow of the giant figure), But worries that the game will not stand up to modern standards.

Can an old game really, really, really pay for the essentials that are a decade behind its offspring? Absurd Beautiful paint and still a blockbuster acting as the next gen intro? Well, it’s kind of – there’s no other way! Luckily the game really stands out, creating a scary, cinematic experience despite some really remarkable works.

I do not want to give a full review of the game; Suffice it to say that even though it looks and runs better, the focus of the game is almost completely unchanged. Any review from the last decade is still perfectly relevant, “the magic is too powerful” and “the cargo load is annoying.”

However, as a next gen gaming experience Souls of monsters Is still incomparable. It serves as a showcase not only for the PS5’s graphical strength, but also for its sound design, hoptix, speed and OS.

Image Credit: Sony

First, the graphics. Sony and Bluepoint make it clear that this should be a truly stylized remake, and the gameplay – basically five long, mostly linear stages – provides an excellent platform for breathtaking scenes that carefully tune in to the user experience.

The environments themselves are incredibly detailed, and the various enemies you fight felt good, but what impressed me was the lights. Realistic lighting has proven to be difficult even for top developers, and now the hardware has enough headroom to start doing it right.

Souls of monsters Does not use ray-tracing, the calculation-heavy lighting technique has been around for a long time in implementation, but the real-time lighting effects are dramatic and very engaging. It is a dark, gloomy world and the player is very limited in terms of personal light sources, i.e. carefully designed the way you enjoy the environment.

While the elaborate armor, props and monsters are all pretty awesome, it’s the realistic lighting that sets them up to look truly fresh and beautiful. The dynamic range is properly used to illuminate dark areas, such as the more terrifying tower of Latria.

Image Credit: Sony

This is not a big leap for the best game the PC has to offer right now, but it does excite me for game designers who really want to use light and shadow as game elements.

(Incidentally, do not bother with the “performance” and “cinema” option. The latter keeps the game smooth, for that matter Souls Games are a luxury, while the other system does not improve the look while severely affecting the framerate. Avoid it if you do not take sexy shots.)

Similarly the sound is done very well in the game and I am wary of exaggerating Sony’s “3D audio” – in fact, games have had these kinds of things on many platforms for years. Having a decent pair of headphones is the important bit. But the PS5 offers advanced workflows for sound expression; In all cases Souls of monsters It was very nice, with excellent separation, location and clarity. After recognizing the character of the attacking enemy and the screams and roars of dragons and boss monsters (as well as the general), I reliably knocked the enemy attack offscreen. Middle Of Latria) was appropriately cold.

Image Credit: Sony

It blended well with the advanced hopsticks of the dualSense controller, which seemed to have a different “feel” for each event. A dragon flies over, a monster stumbles on the ground, blocked attack, rides an elevator. Mostly these were nice and only sank for help, but some, like the elevator, felt to me like an annoying murmur rather than a rumble like grabbing a power tool. I hope the developers will be sensible about these things and identify annoying vibration patterns. Fortunately the severity of the PS5’s controls can be adjusted globally.

Likewise the adaptive triggers were good, but did not change the game. This was helpful when using the lens to know when the arrow was ready to release, but beyond some things like that it was not used for great benefit.

One that had an immediate effect on how I played was the incredibly short load times. The Souls series always suffers from long load times while traveling and dying, the latter you can expect to do a lot. But now it is rare to count to three before I come back to the fire.

This significantly reduces (but eliminates) frustration with the infamous unforgiving game, which actually makes it play differently. While I once could not bother to briefly move to another area or center to do some small tasks, I now know that I can get back to the Nexus, make a little fuss with my load and get back to Plataria in 30 seconds. If I die, I’ll be back in five seconds rather than 20, trust me, it adds real speed. (Load times have also been improved on PS4 games running on PS5.)

To help with this, Sony has implemented a new luxury suspension screen on its new console. (Annoyingly PS-shaped) When the PS button is pressed, a set of “cards” will show recent achievements and screen shots, but also ongoing tasks or game progress. Pause more than a breath in the lattice and the menu gave me the ability to immediately battle one of the other worlds, losing my souls, but avoiding the usual necessary Nexus stops. If the scattered player has the option of being partially submerged, it will definitely change how fast it accomplishes, and will be more effective.

The pause menu also provides a space for notes and notes in text and video format. Again, this is a fun game (I do not count Astro’s Game Room, Included game / technology demo, which is funny but a little bit) because one Souls Distinctive features of the series are hints and ghosts created by the player, which alternatively warn and deceive new players. In another game I may have relied too much on the PS5’s hints, but they seem somewhat unnecessary for this particular topic.

The only “real” PS5 release title to discuss, Souls of monsters An interesting but impressive creature. This certainly shows the new console positively in some ways, but the game itself (while still surprising) is dated in many ways, limiting the possibilities of what can be shown in the first place.

Of course remake is the best (and only for many) way to play a classic, and only for that it is recommended – the $ 70 price (much higher in Europe and elsewhere) is definitely a bit. One would believe that for the new higher price, one can expect the next generation of games and the next generation of disconnects. Well, we have to take what we can get for now.