Young Souls Review – PC

Beat ‘em ups are not as common as they used to be. Modern beat ‘em ups focus on trying to be a multiple genre game and tend to fall flat. Young Souls, however, is an exception to that troupe. With a lot of spunk and individuality, Young Souls is a beautifully drawn and written co-op beat ‘em up that brings on a lot of RPG elements.

Young Souls‘ story follows Tristan and Jenn, twin teenage delinquents who lost their family has been taken in by the Professor. One day, the Goblin King, Dwarvengobben, kidnaps the Professor with the intention of forcing him into helping with an invasion of the overworld. The twins follow the trail the goblins left and find the gate that leads them to their world. The twins are then tasked to track down runes and deliver them to their town’s mayor in order to delve deeper and rescue the Professor.

The characters and the scripts are well written. The twins are highly entertaining with their quick quips and the punk teenager theme. Young Souls does not have any voiceovers but does a solid job of keeping everything looking great and moving fluently in scenes. The cast’s personalities shine through, including Dwarvengobben’s Goblin commanders. The game is a sight to be seen as well. Characters are beautifully animated in 2D art and environments are 3D, making Young Souls the perfectly drawn 2.5D game currently out.

The gameplay is very reminiscent of old-school beat ‘em ups. You go from area to area fighting any baddies that come onto the screen and progress to completion. RPG elements are then injected in for a perfect combination. You can find and tweak equipment found through defeating enemies or completing quests. You can also buy equipment or potions to help make fights balanced.

The Underworld is divided into four sections. The first three sections are dungeon areas that lead to mini sections mostly gated off by locks that need keys found throughout each dungeon. You enter each area and destroy everything you come across until you make it to the end where you fight a mini-boss or a sequence in the story, which then usually leads to another level chunk or boss battle. Some areas in each dungeon are optional and can lead to more powerful loot and stronger rematches against old bosses.

Aside from the Goblin underworld, you also have free reign of the overworld. The twins’ bedroom is where they can level up once they have enough experience. You can also take them into the town itself either via fast travel or by riding the moped. The town has a gym for increasing stats and a couple of shops. A few of the shops include a blacksmith to help increase the stats of your equipment and a potion shop.

Some of the enemies you come across throughout the game can be very difficult. They can be resistant to parries and block most attacks you throw at them. On top of that, bosses can have up to four health bars, which makes all of the boss battles that much more difficult. Enemies also hit hard and fast. Some can even kill a character in two or three hits with no invulnerability time. These battles can be slow while making you do small amounts of damage with small windows of attack.

The difficulty does not just affect how hard the enemies can be. The player can carry a few lives depending on the difficulty chosen. The lower the difficulty, the more lives you have. This helps the player also learn the habit of the enemies while not completely being frustrated have to start from the top of the area. Once you have properly geared up and upgraded, Young Souls can feel astoundingly easy based on how you build your stats up. You can choose to increase your strength in the gym and wear light equipment that allows you to zoom through each area without having to worry about anyone being able to catch you. Or you can be super slow with no speed, wear the godliest equipment you can find, and smash anything with the flick of your wrist. There is no wrong way to become an unstoppable force.

Young Souls is a fantastic beat ‘em up that can be enjoyed with a friend or solo. The designs of the characters and the environment are beautifully drawn and are just as enjoyable as the gameplay. The writing is superb as well and each character has their own uniqueness to them. Bosses can be difficult and have you trying multiple times to conquer them, but with the right equipment and adjusting the difficulty, you can easily overcome them. Overall, I would recommend giving Young Souls a spin if you are looking for a new game to pick up.

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Author: Josh Coffman

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