Don”t let the colourful game world of Asterigos fool you. You”ll bite the dust a few times in this Soulslike – and it”s really fun!
Prejudices should be avoided at all costs. This is clear to just about everyone by now, but putting it into practice is a challenge all of its own. Everyone has a certain pigeonhole thinking, including us, of course. But it is not only with people that a look behind the façade can be surprising, but also with games. So when we saw Asterigos, we didn”t go down on our knees in awe, but rather thought: Oh, it looks so cute. It really can”t be that hard.
Well, wrong thinking.
In the course of the (Steam Next Fest) we took a sniff at the demo of the action RPG and noticed that the black core of the motley game smells strongly of Dark Souls.
You can watch the trailer for Asterigos here:
What”s Asterigos about?
We play a young warrior from the Northwind Legion who is searching for her father in the fictional, ancient world of Aphes. The search is quite difficult, however, because every few metres an enemy gets in our way. While the small creatures are rarely a big problem, the bosses are really tough. They drink up the healing potions as if it were free beer at the Oktoberfest.
You can watch our fight against the first boss here – keep in mind that we play on the middle of the three possible difficulty levels. So if that”s not enough of a challenge for you, you can always level up.
Asterigos contains a few beacons along the way, as befits a true Souls-like game. The only difference is that the savepoints here are called something else and glow mysteriously blue. There you can replenish your life bar. All enemies in the game world spawn again, even if you have already killed them. If you kick the bucket, you will start again at the last beacon.
How does Asterigos play?
The combat system is fairly classic third-person action, but differs a little because of the different weapons. We can equip two of six combat devices at a time, which in turn have two different abilities. We summarise for you:
- Sword and shield: The classic. Damage and speed is in the healthy middle range, plus we can block with the shield at the touch of a button.
- Hammer: The hooligan variant with a lot of power. We deal a lot of damage, but we”re slow and can”t block.
- Daggers: We dash around with the daggers as if we had drunk too many energy drinks, but do very little damage.
- Lance: The lance is not for beginners. The aim is to parry at exactly the right moment to trigger a powerful counter.
- Staff: With the magic stick we can shoot our opponents from a distance.
- Armbands: These are not just fancy accessories, we can also use them to lay mines on the ground and summon a giant sword for a short time. A tactical approach is advantageous here.
In addition, with enough mana, we can use certain abilities that also change with our choice of weapons. For example, we use it to perform a whirlwind-like attack or a mobile shield surrounds us at the touch of a button.
You notice, there is enough variety in the combat system. However, during our playtime it quickly became apparent that some weapons need a lot more practice. The lance is very challenging due to the parry function, the staff is clearly inferior with boss opponents and the bracelets are quite awkward with the minions.
Fortunately, we can change weapons at any time and thus try our way through a bit. However, since we can improve the individual weapons, it is advantageous to focus on two. Sword, hammer and daggers are thus significantly stronger in our experience. In our fight against the crocodile boss, we used hammers and daggers, which allowed us to dish out a lot and still dodge nimbly.
What we like so far:
- The combat system: The fights go smoothly. The different weapons and abilities also add a lot of variety.
- The Style: Graphically, Asterigos reminds us of Immortals: Fenyx Rising. Whether you like that is of course a matter of taste. We particularly liked the design of the enemies.
- The boss fights: What would a successful battle system be without outstanding bosses? Exactly: quickly boring. The particularly large enemies are really nicely challenging, but it never feels unfair at any point.
What we don”t like so far:
- The weapon balancing: Lance, staff and bracers are clearly inferior to the other weapons in a direct comparison. We would really like not to have to pick up a sword and shield for the hundredth time in a game.
- The tubular levels: More free-roaming environments would have been nice. Not every game has to offer an open world, but here we unfortunately run from one narrow corridor to the next. That could change in the full game, though, at least there are still side quests and collectibles scattered around the world that speak for a larger game world.
Editor”s Verdict
sterigos has mastered the most important thing of a Soulslike: the battle system. It was just really fun and motivating, even if I bit the dust a few times with the bosses. The weapons are also all interesting and fun, with favourites emerging very quickly for me.
The game world could have offered a bit more variety, as it looks rather unspectacular in the demo. But in a few days we will be able to find out how it looks in the final game.
The demo of Asterigos looks very promising to me. The game is very pretty, I like the graphic style and design. The first story approaches also make me curious: What happened in this city? Where did the character”s father disappear to?
And the battles and special abilities have also convinced me so far. The idea of combining two weapons at a time to create your own fighting style leaves a lot of room for experimentation. I”m looking forward to trying out all the weapons and abilities here in the actual game and thus finding my preferred play style. Only the skill system seems a little overwhelming at first glance. A tutorial would be appropriate here in the finished game to explain the somewhat complicated distribution of points.
As a beginner when it comes to action role-playing games, I also like the option of selecting a lower difficulty level. The medium difficulty proved to be just right for me: the game remains challenging enough for me this way, but doesn”t frustrate me excessively with countless deaths.
