When you kill enemies, they have a chance to drop different rarities of loot that can be used for crafting weapons and shields. Speaking of fresh and new things, the only thing Dolmen has of its own is the crafting system. However, when things are this bad, and the developer pushes to copy everything on a one-to-one scale without introducing anything new or fresh to the table, then I am left with no choice. It was obvious what Massive Work Entertainment tried with Dolmen, and I am not a fan of bashing someone's work. I like aliens, and I like sci-fi just as much as I like dark and gothic fantasy. Sometimes you can't tell if there is an open path in front of you or a dead end, and when you have a game that takes a lot of inspiration from an exploration model then that's a recipe for disaster. Everything looks the same in Dolmen, there are too many repeated textures, and the lighting isn't that great either. However, in Dolmen, it took me two hours to find a pathway I kept missing because it was blending in with the ugly-looking walls and textures. The exploration in those games is well-executed, and it's one of their biggest draws. At least in previous souls titles like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring, you can sense where you are supposed to go. The level design in Dolem is just as uninspired, and the sense of direction is bad. Combine this with atrocious player-controlled attacks, and you get a combat system that feels disjointed, overly clunky, and repetitive. What's even worse is the enemy attack animations. While falling off the edge during combat is nothing new to the Souls franchise, in Dolme n it happens way too often when it shouldn't. I've fallen off the edges many times due to delayed animations, and how far your character moves forward or backward when doing specific combo hits. The attack animations themselves are extremely stiff and feel rigid instead of organic. You can lock on to your targets, which, thankfully, makes combat feel a bit better. There are a lot of weird delays, and the game can feel unresponsive at times, which, in return, gives off a poor experience. And yes, there is rolling in the game, but the stamina depletion makes it awkward to use. As always, your light attacks do less damage but swing faster, and your heavy attacks can stun the enemy for a bit and deal more damage. Your R1 is your light attack, and R2 is your heavy attack.
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Even the controls are a copycat of the From Software games. If you are going to make an insect one of your enemies, at least make it look cool as opposed to something that I've seen in millions of other space games. Fighting bugs on a space planet is not anything new. Instead, Massive Work Entertainment decides to literally copy most of the mechanics, throw in a bunch of art assets to make it look different, and call it a day.ĭon't even get me started on the horrendous combat and creature designs. I understand wanting to appeal to the Souls fans, but if you are going to try it, then please be creative or throw in a twist that ties into the specific lore of the game. Second, when you die, you get the message: "Time Elapsed" on the screen, which is basically Dolmen's version of "You Died." Just like a Souls game, you have to run back to your holographic-looking corpse and collect it to regain whatever experience points you dropped.
It doesn't play well, feels awkward, looks awful, and, ultimately, it's a repetitive slog.įor one, the UI is basically a direct copy of Dark Souls. As a massive souls fan, I found this game rather insulting to those who enjoy souls titles. Do I discuss the awful copy-pasted attempt at your typical souls' mechanics and UI, or do I talk about the horrendous enemy design and atrociously awkward unresponsive combat? Elden Ring and Dark Souls may have their bits of jank here and there, but not on the same level as other games that attempt to replicate the genre's combat systems.
Do Not Disrespect the Souls Genre Like This It's even worse than you could've imagined. Finally! A proper sci-fi souls title! Not too fast! Why does it sound too good to be true? That's because it is.
As a souls fan, it sounds really exciting. Welcome to Dolmen, a game that mixes cosmic horror with souls-like action. GAMING INSTINCTS IS AN AMAZON AFFILIATE AND DOES GAIN FINANCIAL BENEFITS IF YOU CHOOSE TO PURCHASE THIS PRODUCT ON THIS PAGE.Īnother indie developer and another attempt at a souls-like video game running on Unreal Engine 4. A REVIEW COPY WAS PROVIDED BY SABER INTERACTIVE FOR THE PURPOSES OF REVIEW.
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*DISCLAIMER - THIS PRODUCT IS BEING REVIEWED ON THE XBOX SERIES X. RELEASE DATE: MAY 20th, 2022 DEVELOPER: MASSIVE WORK ENTERTAINMENT PUBLISHER: KOCH MEDIA
Dolmen video game Pc#
PLATFORMS: PLAYSTATION 5, PLAYSTATION 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC
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