Souldead Review

Immerse yourself in a dark universe saturated with dark magic in the new fast-paced shooter Souldead! Hordes of demons are waiting for you, attacking you from all sides in a cursed world that lies in ruins. Defeat them and face their leaders and send them back to hell if you are up to the task.

Souldead is a dynamic first-person shooter where instead of the usual weapons you will have mystical artefacts such as a fast-shooting magic wand, fire-throwing spellbook and even an enchanted shotgun. They don’t require ammo but instead, they use mana, which can be drained from your foes or picked up as supplies. As you progress through the game, you will also be able to get even paladin’s heart and holy cross into your arsenal. Use the environment, many walls and ledges have special platforms which boost your jumps. They allow you to deal heavy damage with charged slams or use them to get to high spots with useful items. In addition, with the help of telekinesis, you can grab various objects, such as barrels, to throw them at enemies or clear a passage for yourself.

Playing this game you feel the atmosphere of classic FPS games, where the levels were filled with sinister unknowns. I had to die often and memorize the location of dangerous enemies in order to pass the level, just like in good old Doom. The fights are exciting and very fast, a real bullet hell. Monsters have various vulnerabilities and are immune, so you have to constantly switch weapons in order to kill them. The game is about exploring the level in search of clues to progress to the final boss, with rooms full of enemies and various puzzles that are solved by solving simple tasks and deft dodges through traps. At the same time, the atmosphere of chaos, destruction and dark fantasy reigns in the game.

As for the weaknesses of the game, because of its gloomy atmosphere, at times the levels are very dark, and sometimes it is difficult to see the passage or monsters. This is exacerbated during battles when you need to quickly deal with opponents. Since they do not have a backlight or outline, they disappear into the darkness of the rooms and it is difficult to understand from where they are fired at the player. However, the game is still in development, so this may be fixed by the time it is released.

Souldead is a game produced by the Polish studio Heathen Software, which instead of combining different game genres, tries to be one and do it well. The founder, creator and only developer who is responsible for the whole thing are Tomasz Salacinski, a former member of a metal band who decided to pour his love for FPSs like Doom, Quake, Hexen/Heretic into code and, using the Unreal Engine, make a game he himself would love to play.

Visit Souldead Steam page to play a free demo that will last till 19th October 2022.