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The PlayStation Vita handheld gaming console did not win the popularity among gamers that its predecessor, PSP, managed to achieve. But even despite the fact that smartphones are systematically pushing out the handhelds from the market, Sony’s internal studios continue to produce rather curious video games for their set-top box. Soul Sacrifice Delta is one such game.
Immediately it should be noted that we have a remake of the game Soul Sacrifice, released last year. As if the developers did not convince you that this is a sequel - do not believe them. It is a highly enhanced and perfected original, to which name the word Delta is attributed. Work on the mistakes, meanwhile, was done a rather big and updated game will surely please those who liked the original.
The author of the game is the famous game designer Keiji Inafune, best known for his Mega Man series (in Japan, this series was called Rockman). Also, this talented Japanese man had a hand in such famous projects as Street Fighter, Onimusha and Dead Rising. If you played Dendy in games such as Chip 'n Dale or Duck Tales - know that this person painted them.
Plot
Soul Sacrifice Delta begins at the moment when a certain nameless protagonist is prepared for the sacrifice. The distraught wizard Maguzar sacrifices people through cruel rituals in order to maintain eternal life. The protagonist is locked in a cage and waiting in full despair in the wings. Suddenly, he sees among the debris a strange-looking book resembling the Necronomicon of Howard Phillips Lovecraft. The book speaks to him, at this moment the game begins.
The book, whose name is Librom, belongs to an evil wizard and contains the story of his life from the very beginning to the present. Traveling through the pages of the book, you will be able to survive all the key moments that fell to the lot of Maguzar and as a result drove him to madness. The hero has to go through a lot of tests in order to gain strength and experience, after which he will be able to fight back the sorcerer and be able to stand up for himself.
The plot in the game is served in the form of text stories with illustrations and voice-over of the narrator, and all this action is diluted by the so-called Phantom Quests, when you have to fight with horrible monsters and giant bosses. Actually, this is what the whole game consists of, but in a seemingly uncomplicated game-play there are a lot of interesting nuances.
Game process
The game was originally supposed to be some kind of Sony response to the famous Monster Hunter series of games in which the player must fight giant monsters, constantly pumping skills and improving their weapons to defeat even more impressive opponents. Since the Monster Hunter series has largely become exclusive to Nintendo consoles, Sony has no choice but to try to create a representative of this genre. It turned out they have it or not - to judge only yourself.
In Soul Sacrifice Delta is really a huge selection of enemies for every taste and color, and their appearance constantly forced me to remember the book Lovecraft. Not for nothing, I mentioned it Necronomicon, since the game is literally saturated with the atmosphere of horror and hopelessness inherent in the works of this American author. Monsters amaze the imagination with their appearance and thorough elaboration of the smallest details.
Before starting the next quest, the player is given the opportunity to choose from a huge list of spells only six - they will be available to him during the fight. The right combination of these magical skills is your key to victory. In the course of the fight, you can combine the attacking and healing magic with each other, by the way, this possibility was not in the original game, so it can be considered a kind of evolution of the combat system.
Other changes to the remake can also be attributed to a significant increase in the number of available quests and secondary storylines. There were more than enough of them in the original, but in the updated version of the game there were just an incredible amount of them.
After defeating the enemy, the player is free to decide what to do with the soul of the defeated monster. He can sacrifice her and thereby increase the skill of the attacking spells, or he can simply save the soul of the monster and thereby restore his life force reserves. Depending on your style of play, the main character develops in one direction or another. In general, all the magic available to you is somehow built on the character’s personal sacrifices. To become a powerful magician, the protagonist will have to sacrifice their health and even donate their organs in exchange for new abilities. You can’t say anything here - the concept is really very gloomy.
In the updated version of Delta, the game also added the ability to side with one of the three magic factions, each of which gives the hero some additional bonuses during each fight. One focuses on improving the health of the hero, the other - to increase his magical power, and the third - at high speed. Again, the whole style of the further game depends on the accepted side.
In general, the entire emphasis in the game is placed on very spectacular battles with incredibly strong opponents, which makes the game in terms of complexity resemble the Dark Souls series. Sometimes, to kill a monster, you have to pretty much move your brains, and if at the very beginning of the game everything is extremely simple, then closer to the middle of it you begin to freak out and bite your elbows naturally. Hardcore lovers will definitely appreciate this moment.
Visual component and sound
The visual component of the game leaves a dual impression. It seems to be the character models and monsters are made above all praise. Their level of detail is really impressive, and high-quality animation makes you believe that all these monstrous creatures could actually exist.
But if you look a little closer, it becomes clear that, graphically, the game is a rather raw product. The textures are used in low resolution, and the dirty-brown color palette is difficult for even the most unassuming players. On the other hand, the world of the game is harsh and gloomy, so bright colors and pink ponies would simply be out of place here.
As I said above, the design of the monsters is something average between the works of Lovecraft and Salvador Dali. These incredible creatures seem to have been born in the depths of someone’s inflamed consciousness. The psychedelia of monstrous images and the depressing atmosphere of the game give it an incomparable charm.
What one cannot find fault with in this game is the incredibly beautiful battles in terms of the abundance of special effects. On the screen there is such a feast for the eyes, when the main character and his assistants converge in battle with the monstrous creatures of the underworld. The abundance of effects is simply amazing, and in such moments you can forget about the rest of the graphic flaws of the game.
In general, in the era of smartphones and tablets, the PS Vita handheld console was very hard. The smartphone line is updated every year, offering users a new level of technical power and absolutely incredible graphics in games, and pocket consoles are not updated for 5-6 years, due to which they quickly become obsolete in all respects. But nothing can be done, these are the laws of the market. But on pocket consoles there are familiar buttons, analog handles and triggers - why not an advantage over touch devices?
Sound and music in the game are worthy of special mention. Powerful symphonic compositions are interspersed with delicate piano melodies, so that you feel the immersion in the game especially brightly. When you talk about music, it is very difficult to put into words your feelings on this subject, so the advice here is to give only this: you have to hear it with your own ears.
Online component
You can play this game with your friends online. The four of you can go on a crusade against the most powerful bosses and defeat them, working closely with each other. This will help those players who are stuck on one or another complex mission. At such a moment, you can call a friend and ask him to help you. Nothing is easier!
Group play can significantly diversify the process of solo wanderings. During the battle, you can sacrifice one of your friends or even sacrifice your own life to use powerful magic against especially experienced bosses. As I said, this game is built on endless sacrifices. Lovecraft would appreciate such an approach. If you die during a duel, you turn into a kind of ghost who is able to help your comrades by giving them strength or interfering with monsters, so death in this case should not particularly frighten you.
Results
Soul Sacrifice Delta will surely appeal to those players who love long thoughtful games with a million possibilities in which you can poke around and figure it out for hours and days. But it should be noted right away that if you are already familiar with the original Soul Sacrifice - the game is unlikely to surprise you with something. Yes, the work on the bugs was done. Yes, a lot of new content has been added to the game, but you have to start pumping your character from scratch. Despite the fact that the developers have foreseen a transfer to the game of the character from its previous version, it works defectively and most of your progress will remain in the past.
Pros:
- Strong adult plot.
- Incredible monster designs!
- A huge amount of game content.
- Deep combat system with a bunch of subtleties.
Minuses:
- Rough graphic component of the game.
- Quite a specific genre of the game.
- This is not a new game, but only a modified old one.
The final score of the game: 7 out of 10.
The game is a curious hybrid of Monster Hunter, Dark Souls and MMORPG, if you connect your friends to the passage. Combine all this with a grim plot, creepy monsters and endless epic battles - this is exactly what Soul Sacrifice Delta represents.
The article is based on materials .
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