Lost Soul Aside Review

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The “Rule of Cool” in tabletop role-playing games means prioritizing awesome moments over strict rules or logical consequences. *Lost Soul Aside*, a promising game from the China Hero Project, seems to embrace this idea wholeheartedly, constantly striving for maximum coolness. However, this approach leads to a game that feels fragmented and overwhelming, filled with familiar RPG elements, references to other games, repetitive battles, and ideas that feel tacked on simply because they *sound* cool.

Lost Soul Aside puts you in the role of Kaser, and the story begins when he finds a powerful, ancient dragon named Arena in a secret laboratory. This discovery launches him on a mission to gather crystal shards, rescue his sister’s soul, and stop Aramon – a formidable villain sealed away long ago – from returning. Over roughly 13 hours of gameplay, you’ll meet a variety of characters, including Selene, leader of the GLIMMER resistance fighting against the empire, and Seleria, who once battled Aramon alongside Arena. However, the game introduces several supporting characters without giving players enough time to truly connect with them.

From the beginning of LSA, I felt like I’d joined the game several hours in, missing important backstory and character introductions. The main character returned to the capital after an event I didn’t understand, and it seemed to be a significant moment based on how other characters reacted. I never really felt connected to the story; many events felt unexplained or didn’t make sense. I often wondered things like: how did the villain know my character’s name? Why would someone who previously tried to kill me suddenly help me? And why should I care about a character’s sacrifice if I barely knew them?

Lost Soul Aside tries to create emotional moments, but it doesn’t build them up effectively. I didn’t feel connected to the characters, even in important scenes – like when the main character’s sister was in danger. After only a short time with her, and mostly just hearing her call me ‘brother,’ it was hard to care. The game felt like it skipped over crucial story details, leaving me with a summary of events instead of a fully developed narrative.

I especially loved the combat in LSA. It features four unique weapons, and each one has its own skill tree to develop, making it the most polished part of the game.

Switching weapons is done by pressing a button that briefly slows down time, then moving the joystick. While it works, it didn’t feel fluid enough to include in my attack combos. The powerful special abilities you charge up in arenas can’t be chained into combos at all. You can follow up certain attacks with strong “Burst” attacks, but the visual cue – a faint blue glow around your character – is hard to see amidst all the on-screen effects. I usually ended up avoiding these attacks or just randomly pressing the button, hoping something would happen.

This game offers enough depth for players who enjoy learning complex systems, and it’s generally fun to experiment with. However, a few small changes could have made it truly great. Things like smooth weapon switching using combos or a quick joystick flick, and clearer visual cues for powerful attacks, would have significantly improved the combat. Even with those improvements, though, the game still suffers from repetitive enemies and bosses that are too durable, which can make the experience feel stale over time.

The game follows a predictable pattern: you receive a location from an Imperial city contact, travel there by boat, explore to find a portal to an alternate dimension, and then retrieve a soul crystal fragment. You repeat this process for each main level, which all boast unique and visually appealing environments – like frozen kingdoms, lush fields, and a hidden Chinese monastery. While the main levels are diverse, the alternate dimensions themselves feel quite similar, sharing a futuristic, Tron-inspired aesthetic that mainly changes in color.

Even though the game takes place in beautiful environments, the gameplay quickly became repetitive. I spent most of my time rushing between small combat arenas, fighting the same enemies over and over, with only occasional mini-bosses to break things up. Levels are long – often over an hour – and you’re constantly forced into new fights with no real chance to rest. While there are brief moments of platforming, they don’t last long enough to provide much relief. Despite initially enjoying the combat, I eventually grew tired of the endless fighting.

Beyond a few minor graphical glitches, LSA really shines with its impressive visuals. The creatures, called Voidrax, are intimidating and feel like they belong in a *Final Fantasy* game. The environments create a strong fantasy atmosphere, and the characters Kaser and Arena look fantastic. The game doesn’t shy away from its inspirations – Kaser’s attacks and abilities often reminded me of Cloud Strife and Sora, and exploring the Alternate Dimensions felt like playing *Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance* again. Throughout the game, LSA constantly pushes the boundaries, prioritizing cool moments and over-the-top action even if it doesn’t always make logical sense.

The game’s cutscenes were really over-the-top and happened quickly, sometimes making it hard to follow the story. There was a lot of action with the camera moving and special effects, and the character Kaser was constantly in motion. It was a little disappointing when events shown in the cutscenes couldn’t be replicated in the game itself, which felt disconnected. Thankfully, the game ran without any problems on my PlayStation 5.

Kaser had some unusual abilities that I didn’t quite understand. For example, when traveling to distant platforms, he’d briefly grow wings, which then transformed into a running track, and finally a self-propelled surfboard, before reverting back to wings. It was visually interesting, but seemed pointless. I think it would have been better as a hidden ability you could activate with a button press, allowing Arena to change forms.

Okay, so the game *looked* really good, honestly sometimes amazing, and ran pretty well for the most part. But I kept running into issues – the game would crash sometimes, and there were shops with text still in Chinese, which was super immersion-breaking. The lighting was also really inconsistent; characters would look like they were lit differently than everything around them, and sometimes lights just didn’t work at all! I mean, it has the PlayStation Studios logo on it, so I expect a really polished experience, and this just didn’t feel there yet. I kept getting jarring cuts to black between scenes, the audio would randomly drop out, and there were a few times where the voice acting just didn’t play. It felt a little rough around the edges, especially considering how long this game has been in development.

I quickly lost interest in Lost Soul Aside. The game felt repetitive, moving from one arena to the next, and I didn’t connect with the characters or their stories. It also had a lot of rough edges and glitches. Aside from the appealing visuals and okay combat system – which wasn’t perfect either – I didn’t really enjoy any part of the game. I’d been hoping for more after following its development for so long, and it was disappointing to see it fall short. Looking good isn’t enough to make a game truly enjoyable.

5

Versions tested: PlayStation 5. Lost Soul Aside is also available for PC.

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2025-09-26 05:27