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Bonfireside Chat 184: Soulslikes in Review (Part 1)
🕑 Added 2021-07-04 14:01:01 +0000 UTCThis is a different kind of episode for us, because instead of talking about one game in depth, we're looking back at all of the non-Souls games we've covered for the show and asking ourselves two questions: Would we recommend you play these today? And what element, mechanical or aesthetic, would you like to see someone take from each game and use elsewhere?
This first part goes through all of the games we talked about on the original run of the show, so:
- King's Field IV: The Ancient City
- 3D Dot Game Heroes
- Shovel Knight
- Lords of the Fallen
- Shadow Tower
- Shadow Tower: Abyss
- Titan Souls
- Momodora 4: Reverie Under the Moonlight
- Hyper Light Drifter
- Salt & Sanctuary
- DarkMaus
- Let It Die
- Nioh
- Hollow Knight
Comments
Duckfeed.tv
We're going to contradict ourselves because we record a lot and have done the show for a long time, and I don't know exactly what we said about the gun monkeys. Obviously something about the goofiness of those enemies relative to the setting didn't work for us. Please allow us some grace. - K
Nathaniel
You say you miss goofy enemies in Souls but in the Sekiro season you spent like 5 minutes complaining that a monkey with a gun was too silly and tonally inconsistent
tundacct
saw this post last week and i had never heard of it either, about halfway through now and i'm enjoying it! cool art and the soundtrack has some real bangers. thanks for the recommendation, joshua!
Jimmy Wilkinson
Love this episode - as a non-standard BSCR listener who doesn't care for the Souls games, it was great to get a taster platter. Looking forward to the second episode.
Isaac Hoff
Great episode! Really helpful to have a quick rundown of all these in one place. At one point, you mentioned wondering what the first game to have a dodge roll with invincibility was. The first one that came to my mind was Alien Soldier on the Genesis. A really phenomenal game by Treasure firing on all cylinders. And in the context of this episode, it actually made me realize some similarities and possible influence it may have had on Souls. The game is more or less entirely a boss rush, with very brief run & gun segments in between that primarily serve as a way to restore your health and ammo for the next boss. Aside from the dodge roll, I actually think the largest similarity to Souls is in the boss and enemy designs. They are all just gnarly, grotesque aliens with some of the wildest sprite work I've ever seen. Some of them are badass, some of them are derpy, and some are even cute! Each fight is unique as you figure out how to read each of the imposing bosses attacks and how best to respond to them. The breakneck pace and how different each fight is ensures you never feel bored. Anyway, sorry for rambling, but it's an interesting comparison I hadn't thought of before. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if someone at From had drawn from this game for inspiration.
Duckfeed.tv
Good to know! It wasn't on my radar, personally. -GB
Joshua Kane
Loved the episode, and I haven't heard either of you mention Vigil: The Longest Night yet, which is a pretty impressive souls-like metroidvania. I've stalled out on a lot of games in that genre, but finished it and enjoyed my time throughout.
Josh
Top tier episode, glad its spread into multiple episodes because this topic is fantastic and yall are great at getting your points across without being damning to other perspectives.
cojiro123
Every episode of BSC(R) is amazing. Whether it's a deep dive into one of Soulsborn games, a Soulslike, or a retrospective such as this or your 'music of' series. My fav podcast!
Andrew Hunter
This was a great listen. Best podcast on earth. It’s maybe the biggest stroke of luck I’ve had in my life that my favorite creators make a show about my favorite thing.
Eli Leslie
EIGHT YEARS??? Holy cow guys. I came to the Souls games (and so the show as well) pretty late, but hella congrats fellas
