Lost Soul Aside Review — Devil Blade Cry?

Lost Soul Aside is one of the slickest and action-packed games around, bringing an Unreal Engine 4-powered hack-‘n-slash experience to gamers itching for some dodge-‘n-whack action. While it’s a refreshing and interesting take on the genre, with a host of great enemy designs and weapon variation, its story and characters left me wanting a little more, despite having a great initial premise.

The narrative itself follows Kaser and his dragon-like companion named Arena, a character capable of transforming into weapons and other elements that are useful in battles and throughout Kaser’s journey. Kaser’s main mission is to find the soul of his recently-deceased sister (hence the name), which is an interesting venture into the idea of being able to recover someone’s soul, but there are a lot of awkward lines, exposition dumps, and a lack of pazzazz with the cut-scenes. Not game-breakers by any means, but going from the stylish and suitably ‘cool’ combat to cutscenes that look a little dated does feel at odds with one another.

As for what shines, Lost Soul Aside is somewhat of a love-letter to that Devil May Cry and Bayonetta-esque gameplay, and it delivers that homage well. Combat is all about fighting bonkers enemy types using quick and heavy attacks, well-timed dodges, and powerful abilities. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, and to Lost Soul Aside‘s credit, the presentation and ‘feel’ of combat will appease fans who love feeling like an acrobatic monster-killer.

You’ll get to grips with the combat pretty quickly, and switching Arena to morph into different blades and scyths becomes more and more seamless as you master the combat system. Boss fights are where you’re really tested, though, as you’ll have to be a bit less aggressive on attack and master countering opportunities.

With all that said, alongside the snazzy particle effects and slick combat lies some less-than-captivating cut-scenes, but it’s really nothing that detracts from the core experience. Lost Soul Aside might not be as finely tuned as something like DMC 5 or Stellar Blade, but if you’ve burned your way through those games and are craving some more action, it’s well worth checking out.

Lost Soul Aside is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.