Deathbound

[h1]Potentials. Potentials. Potentials.[/h1] This game deserves a mixed review. In my Hell Is Us review I've written that indie games can still be good even if they hone in on one vision and perfect it, but what if it doesn't work? Well, Deathbound is a prime example of this idea. This action RPG asks the question, "What if a souls-like but the protagonist has the whole adventure team fused within him?" Well, the answer is an essence-switching mechanic which allows you to morph into different fighters as you see fit. This design has its moment, and mastering the four playstyles at a time is a fun ride. Unfortunately, everything else about Deathbound - conflicting art style, uninteresting levels, gank fights, limited build-crafting - brings the whole experience down. [h2]Things I Like About Deathbound:[/h2] [list] [*][b]Essence Morphing:[/b] This is easily the best part of the game. Deathbound lets you choose four out of the seven warriors (unlock gradually through progression) to bring into battles. Each of them possess unique playstyle with separated health, stamina and damage value. Think of them as four different bodies you can freely switch between during actions. Use Rogue …

*This review was machine translated from Korean to English. Deathbound Great Idea. Shame They Turned It into a Game. 🔄 Pyrite: Fool's Gold The only good thing about this game is the Essence-swapping system. Your roster consists of ranged, hybrid, and melee classes, Each Essence brings a distinct weapon, damage, and synergy, making it fun to experiment with party compositions. A well-timed swap mid-attack cancels the recovery animation, triggering a transition into an automatic strike. Because characters have separate health bars, individual Essences feel too weak alone compared to typical Soulslike heroes, forcing you to rely on Morphstrikes. Beyond utility, the slow-mo during the swap looks sleek. Swapping between Essences is intuitive and responsive. Each character maps to a direction on the D-pad, requiring no complex inputs. It is baffling how this mechanic feels crisp and responsive while the rest of the controls are a dumpster fire. However, even this single advantage isn't without its caveats. Combined with other half-baked mechanics, it undermines the system's brilliance. Because you manage separate health bars, each character's base performance feels stripped down. Th…

10/10 I highly recommend this. It's basically Mortal Shell, but if Mortal Shell had something worth a damn to actually say lol.

I recommend this game on sale. It actually manages to do the souls-like tag justice unlike most games that throw it on as a way to say "Not brain dead easy." The game is around DS1 in its combat fluidity and complexity with some aspects better, some worse. The unique mechanic of having multiple characters acting as on the fly playstyle swaps with a separate health bar is pretty interesting and well fleshed out.

the game looks cool plays great but there is 2 things that break it for me -no mouse in menu -save points are garbage and there are not enough save points so when you die at a boss fight it puts you way back and to get essence back you have to kill all enemies again to get back to the location where you died in boss area

[i]...some small bugs , but otherwise i have no complaints - quite an impressive in-game world created with a lot of symbolism and 2 factions confronting - it shows a lot of ambition from the studio/developers ![/i]