Souls of the Forest
a hack infamous for its crazed creator making insane difficulty with insane mechanics
I have to admit, the first version I played of this (which I can’t even remember what version exactly) like twoish years ago(?) really didn’t impress me, it felt so overwhelming that I could feel the map breathing down my neck stifling me.
However, as it stands, the current version of Souls of the Forest is a game I’d have to recommend to everyone to at least try once. It really strikes a wonderful balance of having such familiar mechanics in a different coat of skin and usually taking the weapon triangle convenience into something that affects almost every other moment.
The enemies are just as deadly and versatile as ever, but the player units have just enough of a stronger fighting edge that creates a very tough but very fair feeling experience.
What I wasn’t expecting to be drawn in by, however, was the writing. I was pretty damn entrenched in the dynamic of Rakel and Beryl. I felt the game did a good job of justifying both of their opposing viewpoints about the world and didn’t insist one was more correct than the other.
Extended Thoughts/Critiques
I did feel later on the game really lost steam post where the intended route split would be after chapter 16.
It felt like ch6/7 also did an excellent job of establishing the soulsborne as a terrifying force but then it gets a bit sidelined with the other country, and when we return… they’ve made zero progress since we’ve last seen them.
Like I didn’t mind too much, because the plot felt focused on the character dynamics was the focus rather than stopping the cult.
…then Rakel leaves and you side with Val to defend the empire.
Imo, the current route in the game is a bit dry relative to what was there earlier. The story changes so much focus and relegates Beryl from an up and coming leader to someone who kinda just gets thrown to the sidelines in the face of two new lords.
Both were semi-established and I don’t have anything particularly wrong with them in a vacuum, but I still feel that we didn’t really… have super much of a reason to get attached to the lord that joins in ch17 AND THEN the lord that joins in ch19. Both really compete for establishing themselves and as a result, the lord that I grew attached to got elbowed out of problem solving the plot he discovered first with Rakel.
It feels like he’s almost forgotten by the game and then remembers by having one of the two new lords pull Beryl aside and asks “but how do you feel about X”
I also feel like the objectives of the maps after this were a bit more… linear/boring. The game had mostly seize maps post super early game, but it was a bit surreal to have a game that generally went hard to avoid cheese kinda just went “eh, do what you want”
ch17 = talk with anyone
ch17x = talk with someone who can be a flier
ch18 = prep map
ch19 = fog of war map which I did like enough
ch20 = nothing particularly wrong, but didn’t do much for me sieze map
ch21 = Big symmetric defeat boss castle map, with chest items on par with enemy drops
ch22 = Rout! and a really fun rout!
ch23 = defeat boss, cool set piece idea but I 1 turned effortlessly
endgame = felt more focused on being different rather than being fun IMO
Also the way that enemies stacked S ranks for stats ironically made them less threatening for the most part because they lost the weapon flexibility they once had. Just swapped out interesting enemies for more stat stick enemies which I didn’t love.
I also think the game feels less about “unique characters” and more “making the weapon types/classes themselves unique” for the most part but that’s completely fine and more just me noticing something about the design lol.
Tons of nitpicking aside…
All in all, I can say I played an FE title unlike any other. And I cannot wait to see the other route. Though I’ll probably replay with a different squad before that even drops lmfao.