Parents' Guide to Souldiers

Game Nintendo Switch , Xbox One , Xbox Series X/S , PlayStation 5 , PlayStation 4 , Windows 2022
The cover art for Souldiers, featuring dozens of knights, wizards, and more grouped together in dramatic posing.

Common Sense Media Review

Joey Thurmond By Joey Thurmond , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 10+

Big, beautiful adventure has difficulty and design issues.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 10+?

Any Positive Content?

  • The player faces off against a monster rising from its cavern with a club..
  • The player selects one of three character classes: the Scout, Archer, or Caster.
  • The player stands in front of a waterfall of a beautiful, colorful, medieval village.

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What's It About?

In SOULDIERS, the knights of Zarga prepare for war against Daldelm's forces! You set out with your battalion and make camp within a grotto, waiting for orders from high up. But an earthquake suddenly occurs, burying everyone in rubble. An angelic being appears to the soldiers in the dark and says they have perished, but offers them a chance at the afterlife in a magical world called Terragaya. After accepting her offer, everyone eventually finds refuge in the peaceful city of Hafian, composed of peoples of many fantastical races from other worlds. But all isn't as it seems with the humans' arrival, including the appearance of a parasitic, shadowy presence that threatens to consume all of Terragaya. Where did it come from? Is there more to the humans' circumstances than meets the eye? You must gain power where others have fallen to see if there's really a way to return to your home world.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say : Not yet rated
Kids say : Not yet rated

This is a deeply promising game that can't overcome its current set of shortcomings. Every beautiful setting, charming character, and slick animation in Souldiers is lovingly crafted. The old video game-style chiptune music is catchy and memorable, and there's so much to love about the gameplay experience. Movement and combat feel weighty and satisfying, unusually robust for a 2D platformer with light and heavy attacks, rolling, blocking and parrying, and more. You can choose to play as one of three classes (knight, archer, or wizard), each having unique moves and abilities as you level up, along with elemental artifacts you can instantly switch between to attack enemies weak to fire, water, or electricity. The game has a deep set of ever evolving mechanics in an already huge world, with dungeon levels that take several hours to complete; challenging, clever level design; and consistently compelling boss encounters and enemy variety. Souldiers even has side quests and mini-bosses within old and new areas. Players will not be short on things to do with over 20 hours of engaging content.

But with all that said, its flaws are all the more saddening since they add layers of frustration to the experience. Unresponsive inputs are common. Depending on your controls for movement and item management, one of them will be awkward and infuriating to manage with the analog stick. Normal enemies are an unusually serious threat with ridiculous damage outputs, annoying movement patterns, and high health. Bosses and platforming become impossibly hard, too, even with the easiest difficulty. Navigating the world can be a chore, with inconsistent checkpoints, forced encounters, and maps with poor markers and lackluster guidance that can throw you for a loop. Souldiers has the appearance, structure, and depth of a masterpiece, but there are too many oversights and inconsistencies with its design that weigh down what would otherwise be a phenomenal experience that's in dire need of balancing updates with difficulty, enemies, and mechanics.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the value of working together. Even when finding common ground seems difficult with someone who is very different from you, what are some things you can talk about to find shared interests and beliefs? How can you combine your talents and smarts to accomplish goals you wouldn't be able to alone?

  • The player's character is underestimated a lot because of his race and diminutive height. What are some ways that we may prematurely judge someone by their appearance and thus miss what good qualities and talents they have that aren't visible?

  • Is there anything risky you want to do to demonstrate your independence or skills? If so, are you doing it with caution and care? Are you rejecting help needlessly?

Game Details

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The cover art for Souldiers, featuring dozens of knights, wizards, and more grouped together in dramatic posing.

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