Soulless: Ray Of Hope

I feel bad negatively reviewing since the game was apparently made by teenagers, but at the end of the day it is still a paid game that is very buggy. With one of those bugs even softlocking my save.

I played this on my Acer Aspire 16 AI (N25Q20) with an Intel Core Ultra 5 226V, 16GB LPDDR5X, and the Intel Arc 130V GPU. Game was installed on a MicroSD Card, running Windows 11, and played with a wired PS5 controller. The technical stuff: I was getting 200+ FPS on my laptop's 16" OLED (2048x1280, 120Hz). However, I couldn't lock the framerate to 120FPS, which is a minor annoyance. The game is tiny (under 2GB). Gameplay wise, it’s a simple 2D platformer with light puzzles. If you've played Limbo, you know the vibe: heavy atmosphere, environmental storytelling, no hand-holding. The background music is good and somber. The story is fine but short. I finished two endings (didn't bother going for the other endings and all the achievements).

Overall, a neat little game (especially for it being for a starting studio). The upsides is that the game isn't very complicated, and is a good start for a casual player. The puzzles are fairly simplistic, and easy to do. It was also neat that there were multiple endings. For the price of the game. Its good value. I have many nitpicks about the game as well. My biggest gripes are the climbing mechanic is exorbitantly slow, and will easily get you killed. The other being that some of the obstacles have poor timing, and will frequently fall into impossible to complete loops. So you will have to sit there, and wait for the loops to fix itself. The arrow section is exorbitantly buggy, and will just have arrows snap onto you, and kill you outright. Overall, the game would be a 6.5/10 for me, but is good for a starter game for a studio.

The gameplay is fairly simplistic, which is fine, though I feel like this is much less of a puzzle platformer and more of a "Die and learn from your experience" type platformer. Nothing wrong with that type of platformer, just not my particular cup of tea.

Yeah, its cool.

Soulless: Ray of Hope, developed by Frisky Fatal Games and published by Meridian4, is a hauntingly atmospheric 2D puzzle-platformer that weaves together melancholy storytelling, minimalist design, and expressive world-building into a short but memorable journey. It follows Elin, a young boy who awakens in a dark and desolate world where light is scarce and the boundaries between reality and dream seem to blur. Driven by the desire to rescue his lost friend, Elin traverses a realm filled with crumbling ruins, shadowy creatures, and mysterious remnants of a civilization long gone. Beneath its simple premise lies a tale about perseverance, guilt, and the search for redemption, all told with very little dialogue but through visuals, sound, and emotional tone. The game’s greatest strength lies in its ability to communicate a world and a mood through atmosphere rather than exposition. Visually, Soulless: Ray of Hope is striking in its simplicity. It embraces a silhouette art style reminiscent of games like Limbo, but distinguishes itself with layered backgrounds, glowing accents, and delicate color gradients that infuse the bleakness with beauty. Every environment feels meticulously cra…