More than “what” I would ask “who”? Of course, Our Lord; He gives and takes, as He pleases, like it or not. 
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I sure do
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“Sir, a dove gave soul to my hack”
“A dove WHAT?”
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to vaguepost about the vaguepost if its the one im thinking of then its really funny seeing it get mentioned. cause it always seemed to me that it lacked exactly what you’re describing soul when i played and later dwelled on it.
coming off as if it didn’t have much personal vision and defaulted for wide appeal, shying away from earnest creation n shit yknow
also the most soulful hack is The Szechuan Sword - A PostModern Strategy Game
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I was a beta tester for it. The biggest problem was the fact it was a bit too ambitious, with not enough time to properly do the things we wanted to do. It absolutely had it’s problems but it’s still my favorite hack out there. Even if the passion thing was not entirely obvious to you, it certainly was for me who interacted with the dev team on the daily.
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From the range of characters’ personality to lore and mixing of themes. You can have a soft spot for a certain character or sympathize as to how we do in characters in media which is nice. There is something that is also heartbreaking to see that character die off or part ways with the main character in the end of the hack’s story. These factors have to be properly executed to give it meaning and weight to the story. There are hacks that using those are also pointless if you’re playing with expendable, replaceable and disposable units. Iron emblem 1 and 2 execute this lack of very well especially if you as the player are using generics.
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A Dev with a vision that doesn’t compromise for anything.
Especially said vision is player hostile, unfun or needs prior knowledge that only the dev would have about their own narrative.
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To give an actual answer:
Soul can only be obtained unintentionally.
The creator must be oblivious to the concept of soul… as soon as one learns of soul… it becomes unobtainable. The paradox of soul.
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The Hitman and the Seer
Innate: Aphelios has access to an arsenal of 5 Moonstone Weapons, created by his sister Alune. He equips two weapons at any one time, one as his main weapon and one as his off-hand. Each weapon has a unique basic attack and passive effect.
Aphelios begins the game with Calibrum as his main weapon and Severum in his off-hand, with Gravitum, Infernum, and Crescendum queued in reserve. The queue order can be rearranged based on weapon usage.
Innate - Moonlight: Weapons spawn with 50 Moonlight for ammunition, which is consumed on basic attacks on-attack or to cast his abilities. Abilities that cause Aphelios to attack do not cost additional Moonlight on top of their ability cost. Once his main weapon is exhausted of Moonlight, it is moved to the end of the queue and Aphelios assembles his next available weapon over 1 second to equip it from his reserve, with its ability being placed on a 1.5 second cooldown before that time. Aphelios cannot cast Phase during the assembly.
Innate - Weapon Master: Aphelios cannot improve his abilities with skill points. He starts the game with Phase and gains access to abilities at level 2 and Moonlight Vigil at level 6, with the latter improving automatically at levels 11 and 16. Instead, Aphelios may spend his skill points to gain bonus attack damage, bonus attack speed or lethality.
Bonus Attack Damage:
4.5 / 9 / 13.5 / 18 / 22.5 / 27
Bonus Attack Speed:
9 / 18 / 27 / 36 / 45 / 54%
Lethality:
5.5 / 11 / 16.5 / 22 / 27.5 / 33
“This will be your voice.”
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To me a romhack has “soul” when you feel like you can see its creator’s personality and creative intentions by playing it.
They didn’t do it because they were ticking boxes, concerned about reviews, worried that they might be fired if they didn’t roll over to higher-ups, or because they had to come up with filler. They wanted to do it and they went and did it.
It’s easier to get that feeling if the romhack in question isn’t polished, because if it is, then the creator may have favored balance and “good design” to the detriment of their original vision, and had other people’s feedback influence the final product.
It’s also easier to get that feeling when it’s something innovative or at least uncommon, because that’s riskier to implement/release but they went and did it anyway.
Ultimately, the soul is in the eye of the gamer.
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You simply have it or you seek it. It seems like you are a seeker spensir…
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