DLCXuan-Yuan Sword VII Art CollectionLoading store offers
Xuan-Yuan Sword VII
The draw is real-time combo combat paired with a journey through the late Western Han period. It suits a solo session built around an action RPG rather than shared play. The current offer is ≈ $34.47 from 
GAMIVO; whether it fits your budget depends on how much the blend of mythology, story, and direct combat appeals to you. The next announced Steam sale window may offer another opportunity, but it does not promise a discount for this game. Xuan-Yuan Sword VII costs $34.99; Dec 17, 2026 – Jan 4, 2027 is the next announced Steam sale window, though the game is not guaranteed to participate.
All-time low ~ $10.49across Steam & third-party stores
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Price History
Past 36 months · Updated dailyHistorical Low~ $10.492024-05Current Low Across Stores~ $34.99Fanaticalvs. Historical Low+234%
Prices cover Steam and 39 authorized stores; only legitimate offers are counted. The chart shows weekly market-wide lows and Steam's official price across the past 36 months.
DLC
01About Xuan-Yuan Sword VII
Xuan-Yuan Sword VII is a third-person action RPG set in a myth-inflected version of China during the late Western Han dynasty. As Taishi Zhao, you fight in real time using combos, skills, dodges, blocks, and ripostes while pursuing the truth behind a family tragedy. Steam player rating: 62% positive from 8,489 reviews.
Credits
Developer
SOFTSTAR · DOMO Studio
Publisher
SOFTSTAR · Yooreka Studio
Lowest recorded in 36 months
$10.492024-05-09 · FanaticalBase game · same records as the chart above; USD history, not a regional Steam low.Language support
| Language | Interface | Subtitles | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Traditional Chinese | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| English | Yes | Yes | — |
Show 7 more languages
| Language | Interface | Subtitles | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| German | Yes | Yes | — |
| Russian | Yes | Yes | — |
| Japanese | Yes | Yes | — |
| Spanish-Latin America | Yes | Yes | — |
| Korean | Yes | Yes | — |
| French | Yes | Yes | — |
| Turkish | Yes | Yes | — |
Steam PC edition data · 2026-10-20
02Before you buy
Play style
The Steam PC game is a single-player, real-time action RPG and supports full controller input.
Language
Full audio is available in Simplified and Traditional Chinese. English has subtitles but not full audio.
03Frequently asked questions
What is the story about?
You play Taishi Zhao, seeking to protect his family and uncover the truth in the late Western Han period.
What is combat like?
Combat is real-time, with combos, active skills, dodging, blocking, and ripostes.
What does the Elysium Scroll do?
The Elysium Scroll can absorb monsters, help create items, and support character development through its facilities.
Popular Steam reviews
Native-language selection · 10 reviewsSelected helpful reviews in this language show both recommendations and criticisms. This selection does not represent the overall positive rating; opinions reflect the version reviewed.
RecommendedSteam player
Hold "space" to skip puzzle. thank you. this game is an instant recommend.Show moreShow less
1 hours at review183 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
I expected more out of the 7th game of a popular franchise that has such a rich history as this one. The game is short - (took me <20 hours to beat game on hardest difficulty and unlock every achievement) The game is strictly linear - (the entire game is a long corridor with no way to stray from the path and no optional areas) Can only save at shrines - (If you die, you can lose an hour or more of progress because there's sections of the game where you go an entire dungeons or plot points without any save shrines) Very little depth to combat - (I just spamming my heavy attack the entire time and never had to dodge or move even when I got hit because you can just stunlock enemies by doing so) Poorly designed soul capture mechanic - (to capture souls, you need to cast a spell on the ground and hope the enemy stands in the spell area. The spell only has a chance to capture souls though, it's not guarenteed to work every time. You can't kill the monster either, you have to wait for the spell to suck up their soul. It has a higher probability of working when enemies are low HP, but your allies will likely kill the monster or push them out of the area before their soul is captured and then you have to wait 30 seconds for it to come off cooldown to try again... 80% I failed to capture souls when I tried) The music was very nice though.Show moreShow less
21.8 hours at review293 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
Update after completing the game: TL:DR: I still recommend this game. It's decent, has some obvious flaws, but I had a good time. The game is shorter than I expected. Took me 25 hours start to finish with some amount of backtracking. For comparison Gujian 3 took me about 100 hours to finish. Not a good or bad thing per se, just so you know. More positives: - Great boss designs near the end. I had a blast with the last few bosses.That clockwork robot boss is my favorite. - Decent story. - Good environment design. - Again, very good voice acting. Really sells the emotions even without good facial expression animations. And more negatives: - Non-boss battle gets repetitive towards the end. Enemy variety and attack options are limited compared to previous entries. Given that this is their first game using UE4 I'm willing to cut them some slack, but I hope in future entries this gets better. - Surprising lack of teammate AI settings. And enemies seem to focus primarily on you and ignore your teammate. - Unfriendly puzzles. I was stuck on a puzzle and there were no in-game hints anywhere to be found. Had to look up a walkthrough for that part. Luckily there was only one such puzzle. Definitely a leap forward compared to the Gate of Firmament. Worth the price. ---------------------------------------------------- Original review: As a long time fan of the Xuanyuan series, I'm very happy about the steps DOMO took with this installment. Pros: - More realistic character design. - Intuitive combat. Somewhat challenging boss fights. - Good voice acting. - Good English translation (I played half an hour on English before switching to traditional Chinese for maximum immersion) - Allows limited none-linear exploration. I fought a horde of enemies that's clearly above my levels, and that was one of the most interesting fight I've had so far. Cons: - Facial expressions are lacking especially for side characters. But still an improvement from previous games. - A bit too many cut scenes in the first hour and a half. It gets better later. - Lack of UI customization. I find the quest marker displays quite annoying and redundant, but there's no way to customize the ones I want besides untracking the quest. Overall, I'm quite happy about the game so far. A lot of it might be nostalgia, but nonetheless the game is still solid for players new to the franchise. It's probably not as good as Gujian 3, but still quite fun to play.Show moreShow less
5.1 hours at review142 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
I don't normally write reviews but this one is a special one. I grew up with Xuanyuan sword series and its beautiful story with traditional turn based RPG elements. This one is not the same. Lets go over the fatal flaws in this game and why you should not buy it. Combat: As an action RPG it fails to deliver smooth combat and rather than having a core mechanic of parry counters or combos. It is more of mashed up sekiro with dark souls in a bad way. Blocking in this game is a joke, it doesn't indicate what kind of attacks are blockable and which are not. Parry does exist in this game and if you do activate a parry, you can do a counter attack. But sometimes bosses and enemies continue to attack and you don't get I-frames. So you can either take more damage by activating the counter attack, or hold block and still take damage. Sometimes in a battle, your controls are unresponsive. As in you have stamina, and just standing and trying to click to attack but your character won't move. This happens to me very often after I parry and cannot do a counter. Overall, the combat is very sluggish, and no animation canceling, so expect a punish from enemies if you used a long move without iframes. Story: The game runs about 13-14 hours on hard, but you will probably die to bosses like me which will extend your game time by 5-10 hours on hard difficulty. The story is really short compared to previous works in the series and is not interesting at all. No background on the world, no background on the important characters, and no explanation of motives other than the main characters. Really lackluster story telling with watered down plot. Difficulty: I played on Hard so your mileage may vary. The early game mobs are a joke, wolves will die if you keep attacking them. Then after the 1st boss, every boss is a trial and error learning curve. The bosses will kill you in 2 hit combo. You can't rely on blocks or parries since you do have a posture meter like sekiro. Dodging works better most of the time. Then there are status aliments which is by far the leading cause of death when fighting bosses. The aliment won't kill you but they stick around on you for a good while draining your health super fast. Your potions heals about a third of your HP gradually (you get instant potions near end game and they are really expensive) and your HP decreases faster than the potion can heal if you have a status aliment. Even if you block the enemy attack, the aliment will still stick on you. Its all about taking down the enemy before they can do massive damage to you. Content: The chess mini game is interesting and I think the most fun in this game. Other than that, everything else is pretty lacking. The combat system is really lacking content. You only get 5 learnable stances (heavy attacks + skill). Some stances deal more posture damage to enemies and you can perform execution once broken. But not all enemies have postures, especially not bosses, so they are pretty useless. The skills are good but they have long cooldowns so you can't use it all the time. You don't get magic or range attacks but you have a timestop mechanic. The cooldown is super long though. The enemies variety is very small. There is only 1 playable character, with 2 support characters. This is the smallest roster I have seen in XuanYuan sword games. It is really laughable. I guess all in all they spent all their money on developing for unreal engine and threw away what made the series so great. The story, the characters, the handdrawn skills and animations. I know it is tough for single player RPG nowdays to make money, but I am sure the true fans of the series will appreciate it if they just stick to the essences of the series rather than trying to appeal to flashy new styles and giving up on the series' core values.Show moreShow less
26.4 hours at review55 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
I am simple man... Give me sword in world full of demons ... So far, game looks good. 30$ is good price. update: DLC is free!Show moreShow less
1.6 hours at review89 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
Honestly speaking, making a game that doesnt look or feel like from UE4, it is indeed an achievement. The latest installment of Xuan Yuen Sword ditched the round based strategy, and evolved into an action focus game. There is only one single weapon for each character, to use and upgrade, instead of buying more powerful one from stores as the previous games in the series. Armors and accessories can be bought or forged but the variety is very limited. The animation is extremely odd when climbing over or down the cliff through some hangings. Textures and modelling at the not-too-eye-catching places are horrible, e.g. shelves with scrolls. Character movement, some in-game assets shared the same "feeling" from the predecessor, probably DOMO just import those, including the coding, to the new game. Most NPCs share the same face. There is mentioning of facial motion capture in the game credit, but I dont see any in the cut scenes. Game world is the smallest among previous generations, walking between towns, villages and dungeons takes maybe around a minute, but then those locations are small as hell, not much exploration can be done. Game was good in the beginning at it was fresh, everything gets rotten as soon as you get the hang of the game. However, I was impressed with the implement of mini-game, Zhoulu Chess. With different function pieces you collected later on, the game gets more strategicly challenging. By defeating the developers at the hidden DOMO studio, the reward is nothing grand but disappointment. Xuan Yuen Sword series has gone down hill since DOMO tried to follow the trend into 3D gaming, XYS7 is the biggest shame.Show moreShow less
51.9 hours at review53 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
A charming tale with some rough edges. -Overview- Xuan-Yuan Sword VII is a mostly linear, story-driven action RPG with heaps of charm and solid, satisfying gameplay. While it is rough around the edges, with the occasional dodgy animation or minor continuity issue, it's a stable and enjoyable experience, overall. Players fill the shoes of Taishi Zhao on a quest to save his sister. 🖱🎮Xuan-Yuan works with both keyboard/mouse and controller. I used the latter.🎮🖱 -Gameplay- Basics: Presented as a series of open-world areas with fast-travel points and side-quests, Xuan-Yuan features largely linear progression, with players advancing to new areas throughout the story, meeting new characters and more powerful foes. Saving is limited to specific locations and auto-saves, but actions between deaths are not saved, meaning any loadout changes, items purchased, crafted, found, skills unlocked, etc., will be reverted upon death. This can be very annoying when at a boss, as one has to reapply changes for every attempt. Players are presented with a few relatively basic puzzles during their journey. These typically involve moving blocks around to form a picture or complete a code. Unfortunately, these can be somewhat time consuming to solve – not because of their complexity, but because it takes so long to actually move the blocks around. Thankfully, these puzzles are few in number, so not to become wearisome. I found a nice surprise in the mini-game “Zhuolu chess”; a genuinely enjoyable little game played by a few characters in the game. There's a side-quest in which the protagonist must become the Zhuolo chess master of the land, and I found it a surprisingly enjoyable experience. Other side-quests generally comprise of small story snippets or fetch quests. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2272561496 Combat: Xuan-Yuan employs the dodge, parry, heavy attack, light attack combat mechanics featured in Dark Souls, and adds its own flavour of stances, abilities and companions. I played on the hardest of the three difficulty settings, and found the vast majority of combat rather easy, while bosses could be extremely punishing. Character movement is smooth and precise, and allows one to position themselves exactly where they want to be, though this is less useful than in the aforementioned title due to the lack of a backstab function. Similarly, though parrying an enemy attack still provides a small advantage in the form of a free hit, there's no punishing critical blow to deliver, diminishing the reward of pulling off a successful parry; a potentially very risky move. Several stances are available that affect your combat style; some focus on concussive damage capable of stunning enemies, while others focus on direct damage or crowd control. I found all but one of the stances to be useful and well balanced, leaving the choice down to personal preference. Complementing these are Taishi Zhao's two abilities that allow him to slow time and restrict enemy movement, synergizing well with companion abilities and stance moves to group enemies for mass destruction. Said companions accompany the protagonist throughout the game, and are reasonably useful in combat against common enemies, though are next to useless in boss fights due to their low damage and them seemingly not drawing aggro. Enemy variety is decent, with both humans and monsters to deal with. A few new units are added here and there, to keep things interesting. With ranged types, heavy melee, light melee and more, their composition is good, too. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2272562289 On the subject of bosses, every one in Xuan-Yuan is different from the last, and some have unique, interesting mechanics, while others are more or less just sponges. A trait they all seem to share, though, is their total resistance to flinching, stumbling and being stunned. Parrying a boss will do damage, but don't expect it to produce an opening. Undoubtedly the most punishing aspect, however, is that some bosses deal deadly status effects to the player. Even the most minor of hits can do this, and will rapidly reduce the player's health bar to almost nothing. This won't kill you, but you cannot out-heal the damage, so it's time to just run around, avoiding being hit. There are trinkets you can craft to increase elemental resistance, but there's little indication you need them (or that they exist) before arriving at the relevant boss. At this point, you must either deal with it and push through, or load a previous save, if you have one, to do some crafting, assuming you have the materials. World Design: Xuan-Yuan mixes things up by having players move between the open-world areas and linear dungeons throughout the story, as well as by having a nice variety of outdoor themes including lush forest, snowy mountains and other, more foreboding locales. -Story- A story of family, monsters and war, Xuan-Yuan's narrative is a pleasant one, with likeable characters and an interesting setting. Following Taishi Zhao and his sister, the plot doesn't do anything radical, but instead spends its time forging connections between its characters and the player, through the ordeals we see them put through, and the conversation between them. There was the occasional “wait, what?” moment when characters seemed to gain knowledge from nowhere, or, conversely, learned about something they previously displayed knowledge of, but these were rare enough not to sour the experience. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2272563715 -Technical- This game was played with the following PC specs: Intel i5-4440 3.10 GHz 16GB DDR3 RAM GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB 1680x1050 resolution Windows 10 Game installed on HDD Visuals: Xuan-Yuan is a pretty game, overall, though some smaller details are somewhat lacking. Facial animations, barring lip sync, are fine for main characters but less detailed on some NPCs; their lips and eyes move, but the rest of the face is very rigid. Walking animations, while fine during gameplay, are very dodgy in cutscenes; characters' leg animations don't match their actual speed of movement. It's very noticeable. The English translation of the dialogue is also somewhat poor in places, with the occasional subtle meaning lost in translation. On the plus side, the game's views and atmosphere are stunning. Performance: Update: The game has received several patches since I played, and runs pretty smoothly now. Using the specs listed above, the game runs at a pretty steady 60fps on a mix of medium/high settings. Audio: Xuan-Yuan's soundtrack is fantastic, with a lot of beautiful tracks playing at appropriate moments to create a great atmosphere. Sound effects are good, and voice acting seems decent too, though as the spoken language is not one I understand, I would likely miss some flaws. Issues: Aside from the aforementioned freezes, I did not encounter any issues of note. The game did not crash or present any progression-stopping bugs. -Summary- Xuan-Yuan is a enjoyable experience, with a nice story and solid gameplay, but it suffers from a few rough edges that will hopefully be addressed in future. If you're looking for more quality reviews like this, follow our curator page, Devils in the Detail.Show moreShow less
22.4 hours at review61 people found this helpful
Received for free
Not recommendedSteam player
Gameplay was mediocre at best. Game was extremely linear and not much open world exploration. I've played all the previous installments in the series and this installment simply disappointed. Perhaps the knowledge of knowing the vast worlds of previous games biases my judgment here, but DOMO's latest installment feels more like a resolution of XY4 instead of a full story and world by itself. Some good to the game - boss fights were insanely difficult to me, music was top notch, and the art was a beautiful nod to the culture.Show moreShow less
15.2 hours at review26 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
Information / Review English Xuan-Yuan Sword VII is a RPG which was developed by SOFTSTAR and DOMO Studio. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2541146743 Gameplay / Story There is a simple reason why Taishi Zhao embarks on this adventure as a hero: his sister was badly wounded and although her spirit continues to accompany Taishi, her body is in a bad state. So he moves into the area not only to find a cure, but also to face a disaster that is much greater than the fate of his family. Many villages and paths are picturesque, several landscape shots could be wonderful postcard motifs, the soundtrack underlines the journey with an enchanting melancholy and in front of closed doors and paths you solve small puzzles that are reminiscent of Tomb Raider in a successful way. You can even play a fictional and, in its simple way, noble chess variant with a clever set of rules. It's not a Gwent, of course, but it is definitely a stylish alternative. You even create your own equipment and upgrade it by using resources for the desired specialization. This creates an individualization on a small scale that loosens up the otherwise strictly straightforward adventure a little. You don't spend hours in the same area, don't plant gardens and certainly don't kill X of Y monsters. In fact, once finished opponents are usually permanently dead, while small side tasks require monotonous running back and forth and often lose yourself in dull conversations in between, but do not wake up a monster hunter or the witcher. The basically manageable combat system offers some interesting aspects, including the two independent comrades-in-arms. Both perform special attacks at the push of a button and Taishi also has other skills: for example, he captures the souls of his enemies in order to use them later to create better equipment. If he hits opponents vehemently or with very specific attacks, he can finally finish them off with a finisher, which is especially useful with tough enemies who still have a large part of their health. h1] Pro + entertaining scenario anchored in history and myths + extensive manufacturing and upgrading of equipment + Chess as an interesting mini game + Japan from yesteryear in a suitable graphic style + Soundtrack that fits + isolated puzzles provide Tomb Raider flair + Guns deliver good sound when in use + challenging combat system + Achievements and trading cards Contra - partly incorrect subtitles - Stiff animations, also in film and many dialog scenes Conclusion Xuan-Yuan Sword VII offers you an atmospheric adventure, which scores with picturesque landscape shots, an interesting story and loving details. Information / Review Deutsch Xuan-Yuan Sword VII ist ein RPG, welches von SOFTSTAR und DOMO Studio entwickelt wurde. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2541146743 Gameplay / Geschichte Warum sich Taishi Zhao als Held in dieses Abenteuer begibt, hat einen einfachen Grund: Seine Schwester wurde schwer verwundet und obwohl ihr Geist Taishi weiterhin begleitet, steht es um ihren Körper schlecht. Er zieht also in die Umgebung, um nicht nur eine Heilung zu finden, sondern bald auch einem Unheil zu begegnen, das noch viel größer ist als das Schicksal seiner Familie. Viele Dörfer und Wege sind etwa malerisch schön, etliche Landschaftsaufnahmen könnten wundervolle Postkartenmotive sein, der Soundtrack untermalt die Reise mit einer bezaubernden Melancholie und vor verschlossenen Türen und Wegen löst man kleine Rätsel, die auf gelungene Art an Tomb Raider erinnern. Man kann sogar eine fiktive und auf ihre einfache Art edle Schach-Variante mit cleverem Regelwerk spielen. Ein Gwent ist das freilich nicht, eine stilvolle Alternative aber allemal. Man erschafft sogar eigene Ausrüstung und wertet selbige auf, indem man Ressourcen für die gewünschte Spezialisierung einsetzt. Das schafft im Kleinen eine Individualisierung, die das ansonsten streng geradlinige Abenteuer ein wenig auflockert. Man ist ja nicht stundenlang in ein und derselben Gegend unterwegs, pflanzt keine Gärten und erlegt schon gar nicht X von Y Monster. Tatsächlich sind einmal erledigte Gegner meist dauerhaft tot, während kleine Nebenaufgaben zwar monotones Hin- und Herlaufen erfordern und sich zwischendurch oft in drögen Unterhaltungen verlieren, aber eben weder einen Monster Hunter noch den Hexer erwecken. Dabei bietet das grundsätzlich überschaubare Kampfsysteme einige interessante Aspekte, zu denen schon die zwei selbstständigen Mitstreiter zählen. Beide führen auf Knopfdruck außerdem besondere Angriffe aus und auch Taishi beherrscht weitere Fähigkeiten: Er fängt etwa die Seelen seiner Feinde ein, um sie später beim Herstellen besserer Ausrüstung einzusetzen. Schlägt er vehement oder mit ganz bestimmten Attacken auf Gegner ein, kann er sie nicht zuletzt mit einem Finisher erledigen, was vor allem bei zähen Feinden praktisch ist, die noch über einen großen Teil ihrer Gesundheit verfügen. Pro + unterhaltsames, in Geschichte und Mythen verankertes Szenario + umfangreiches Herstellen und Verbessern der Ausrüstung + Schach als interessantes Minispiel + Japan von früher in einem passenden Grafikstil + Soundtrack der passend ist + vereinzelte Rätsel sorgen für Tomb-Raider-Flair + Waffen liefern bei Benutzung guten Sound + herausforderndes Kampfsystem + Errungenschaften und Sammelkarten Kontra - teils fehlerhafte Untertitel - steife Animationen, auch in Film und vielen Dialogszenen Fazit Xuan-Yuan Sword VII bietet dir ein Stimmungsvolles Abenteuer, welches durch malerische Landschaftsaufnahmen, einer interessanten Erzählung und liebevollen Details punktet.Show moreShow less
25.3 hours at review49 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
I don't recommend this game. I actually pre-ordered this, as I'm a huge fan of the old Xuan Yuan Jian Series; I enjoyed Gates of Firmament even though the combat was very bad, the story made up for it. I played this game in Chinese (audio/subtitles, which don't have a text skip option so you have to wait for audio tracks to finish playing or skip the entire cutscene). In-Depth Explanation: XYS series has always been well-respected for it's plot development, the gameplay has been on and off (with the migration to 3D gameplay basically killing all elements of FUN because this studio seems to not really have the skill to manage 3D development). So let's start with the plot, your character starts off as a caretaker of his sister, the advancement of the story is closely linked to this situation, thus the entire game can be summed up as "hero tries to save the sister". This is the entire plot of the game. There is no over-arching goal to defeat evil, save the world, learn about other cultures, visit other countries (which was common in other XYS games), this game is just "save the sister". This plot is delivered through a strict on-rails story advancement. Zones are divided by fast-travel statues but these statues are quite far apart and if you need to backtrack it is a huge pain in the ass because movement is so slow. This also made backtracking a pain in the ass for certain quests. Save points are divided by campsites, but these camp sites are also far apart so if you have been battling or making progress and die, you roll back pretty far into the past. This became a problem towards mid game as a lot of cliffs aren't barriered so you can accidentally fall off while doing some pseudo-platforming, this would roll you back to your last save point. On the topic of quests, there aren't very many, there's very few side quests in this game; the previous game had hundreds. Off the top of my head, there is the mini-game zhuluqi side quest, a rumors gathering quest, and a few fetch quests. Some XYS tradition/legacy stuff that was missing, you don't get to use the namesake sword until NG+. There's not really a demon-crafting/mixing system, the way it's done this time around is a basic crafting system based on harvesting souls which you then combine to create a demon for equipping. There's a lot less creativity because of significantly fewer items/demon types in the game, and you can't use demons to craft (only souls and item materials). DOMO Studio has only 1 interaction other than the 4 zhuluqi games, there are no DOMO side quests (which are a tradition in the other games). The environment/art/models look great, NPCs look like garbage, but the monsters look really good, especially the bosses. This feels super underutilized though because nothing is really "fleshed out". Some of the towns look amazing, but there's nobody to interact with. Mountain mazes look great, but they're a 1 time visit/usage location. Scores: Music: 10/10, it's fantastic. XYS never disappoints with sound, and the music/effects in this game are fantastic. Graphics: 8/10, the environments look great (when they render properly). Bosses look amazing, overall ambience development is great. 2D art is a 10/10. The problem is that this game is VERY POORLY OPTIMIZED. Also some weird issues with reflections/shadows. Gameplay: 4/10, this game was designed as an ARPG (first in the series), and it's a very, very, bad ARPG. You have the standard Souls-like combat movements, dodge/roll, normal attack+combo, heavy/special attack+combo, block. You can change to an alternate stance which changes your special attack, and you can level up your specials for super-moves on cooldown. Movement overall however, is very sluggish, you don't feel "fast" even when sprinting, and it's a slog to move zone to zone. Plot/Story: 4/10, the story in this game is a disaster, there's very little investment in the characters such that it feels almost like an afterthought when there's some sort of plot filler in idle/rest dialogue. Conclusion: The main thing is that this game feels unfinished; feels like they had all these great ideas, great environments, great (in theory) combat system, but everything falls short of being a "good" experience. You enter a really cool town... but there's nothing to interact with. You go into a very beautifully rendered mountain maze, but there's nothing in it. You have a weapon that you can upgrade and the closeup is really cool... but you can barely see it in actual combat. You have teammates that you can customize... but you can't control them, and the enemy ignores them so what's the point of upgrading? Everything just feels incomplete, and honestly this game is a huge disappointment, and really kills what trust I have left in this company. Final Note: I really think this company is just milking its fans at this point. I own physical collectors editions of previous games in the series and some of the stuff the company does is just pathetic. In recent years I've only been buying on Steam (albeit still pre-ordering), and the game experiences has left me with "meh" feelings in the end. I 100% do not recommend buying physical copies of any Softstar games; my physical copies came with keys that were eventually disabled because my desktop updated from Win10 1709 to 1909, and the company said "well it is your fault for updating your computer". I was able to eventually finish the games on Steam and no longer support them through their own stores. Overall: 6.5/10Show moreShow less
48.9 hours at review21 people found this helpful
Source: original Steam user reviews. Helpful votes are an archived snapshot, not live data. Last collected: 08/15/2026.