Instead, stamina management is reserved for dodging. At least it turns out attacking doesn’t cost any stamina, though the animation is costly enough – in true Dark Souls fashion, once you’ve committed to an action, the animation must play out before you can continue your next move. Swing the sword with a quick light attack and it’s soon apparent what a piffle of difference it makes, barely chipping the Watchdog’s HP by more than single digits. This quickly became a brutal training ground for learning just how Eldest Souls’ mechanics differentiates itself.
With that in mind, I figured I’d be able to handle myself against the game’s first boss, the Watchdog. The combat basics include light and heavy attacks as well as a dodge button – so far, so familiar. I would also add Below to the list, purely for how Eldest Souls mimics the intro of a lone adventurer arriving by a humble rowing boat, though it fortunately eschews the survival elements of Capys’ bleak dungeon crawler. Certainly, the top-down perspective and pixel art recall Hyper Light Drifter while the boss rush structure is influenced by Titan Souls and Furi. With ‘Souls’ in the title, there’s no mistaking that Dark Souls is a major influence here, though there are also some notable indie titles in the mix.
That said, after a stressful 20 minutes and repeated deaths with Eldest Souls’ opening, it’s fair to say that Fallen Flag Studio might have something up its sleeve. As a hardened veteran of Dark Souls, playing a new Souls-like tends to fill me with dread, though it’s less fear of death and more whether or not this up-and-coming swaggering contender has got the chops to reach the bar FromSoft set.
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