“The Japanese pirates have terrorized the Ming Dynasty for generations. You’ve devoted your life as a soldier to fighting the. And now you are in their turf, alone with your sword; the last soldier in pirates’ land in this 3D-action game inspired by traditional Chinese ink painting landscapes.”
The Last Soldier of Ming Dynasty is created by a team of passionate game developers origins from China. Its campaign background is set in historical Ming Dynasty.
Official Trailer Credit: 2P Games
Souls-Game
Player plays as the last surviving member of an army belongs to the Qi Army, an army exists in Ming dynasty history. Our protagonist, Haiping. Finds himself awake on an island controlled by Japanese pirate force. Player begins to start the tutorial to understand more about the game mechanic. The game mechanics pattern is easily identified as Souls-game, an identity that is named by the community. Player has to progress to a certain checkpoint, then rest at place to save. The enemies are strong and powerful. Player could be one-hit killed if not prepare properly. In order to face more challenging enemies, player has to collect the collectibles or obtaining the equipment from the enemies. As player progresses further, the stronger the boss they will encounter. It often takes player to die a few times in order to recognize the enemies’ battle combo patterns.
Combat System
Image credit: Circuit_Art
The combat system is inspired by Sekiro Die Twice from From Software. Player’s main move are stab, cleave and sweep. Most important is parry. However, the parry mechanic isn’t as simple as blocking the attack during i-frame. Player has to anticipate the enemy’s moves(stab, cleave and sweep) in order to parry. Once parry matched, player will dodge immediately and strikes back accordingly. Furthermore, you are offered to use close-combat weapon like sword and spear or long-ranged weapon like bow and arrows. Last but not least, player can practice to use apply different moves as a combo to unlock an ultimate combination attack. These ultimate combination attack consumes the Qi(aka Mana point) in order to deliver deadly strikes to the enemies.
Visual Art Style
Image credit: Circuit_Art
Last Soldier uses the authentic Chinese painting graphic style as the game art direction. Player will be exposed to traditional calligraphic art in UI and during battle. Which it is visible when player uses their heavy attack or ultimate combo during combo. Furthermore, they apply this art style to the world-map as well.
Menu List
Image credit: Circuit_Art
In the menu, we see a list of categories listing many important information for our players. We have Weapon, Gear for defense, Skill for combination of attacks and ultimate moves, Task for objective, Codex for memo, Map and System. The menu allows player to prepare themselves for combat while the task and codex reminds player of the current and past events and engagements. Player will obtain more powerful weapons and gears as they progress.
Dream World
Image credit: Circuit_Art
Player can access Dream at save checkpoint. Once enter the Dream world, player can train and practice their moves to unlock the battle skill. Player will be appointed with an officer who served with you and he will be your instructor. Player also can practice their combat skills by fighting with Nemesis. Nemesis mode will be unlocked once player has defeated enemy’s boss fight. Player can also understand more about Haiping and Qi Army through seeking answers from the officer.
So What’s Wrong ?
Image credit: Circuit_Art
The game bugs are astonishingly many and some can even make the gameplay experience bad. During my personal gameplay, I’ve experienced my character’s body being dragged once I perform an ultimate skill. The only solution I found is restart the game. Next, I cannot use my bow and arrows even after I’ve equipped them in my inventory. Furthermore, I’m unable to hide behind obstacle because the enemies’ arrow can penetrate through obstacle and damage me. Beside of that, I do experience stuttering during the beginning of the game and some in-game location as well. Also, I found there are so many object decorations at the surrounding however I’m unable to interact with them nor even destroy them. The only object I can interact are the collectibles. Finally, the game’s UI Language design are confusing. By default, I play the game in English but there’ re some words still displays Chinese which is confusing.
In Overall
Image credit: Circuit_Art
The game itself is fun if players can overlook the bugs and issues. I believe the game is still patchable if the developer team still polishing the game. Thus, the game is still a recommended piece for souls-like lovers to give a try.
