Like a Jenga tower on the verge of toppling, the evolution of the roguelike genre recycles the ideas of each entry prior, constantly putting its new, most improved addition on top. Given this strategy of rapid growth, developers bear the weighty burden of knowing that there will always be a product ready to surpass their title’s gameplay and design decisions, thereby threatening typical industry ideals of longevity, value, and identity. Thanks to a healthy dose of situational awareness under these suffocating circumstances, Soul Stalker, created and developed by Radhood, usually finds the ability to be empowered, rather than threatened, through scope and focus. While its moment-to-moment gameplay doesn’t nearly measure up to the overachieving excellence of other roguelikes, Soul Stalker is a decent time due to its distinct art direction, comfort in simplicity, and affordable asking price. By allowing itself levity and independence from the penthouse pursuing competition of the genre, Soul Stalker is a safe, if inconsistent, piece of the roguelike tower to pull out and play.
Playing With Paper
The Soul of Soul Stalker exists primarily in its visuals, where the Paper Mario series’ hand-crafted and colorful artistic influence is evident to the extent that its admirer sheds any inhibitions or shyness towards the connotations of direct imitation. While some may see the replicated style as nothing more than an identity crisis when separated from their favorite plumber, I was charmed to discover the artistic direction outside of the Mushroom Kingdom. These expressive efforts aren’t always a homerun, however. While the character design supplies enough quirky and cute concepts to crowd a sheet of stickers, the world these personalities inhabit is disappointingly hollow. Although the three-dimensional backdrops emphasize the two-dimensional beings with an endearing display of divergence, using impressive lighting and a bold outlining effect to accentuate the look, this doesn’t supply a reason for the unimaginative and dull environments not to receive equal attention in artistic efforts. Curating a world reflective of these characters’ creative designs would have gone a long way in enveloping me in the aesthetic, but I was often left only imagining the papery possibilities. For similar reasons, Soul Stalker’s soundtrack and story left me disappointed. Paying attention to either half-hearted artistic avenue contributed very little to the atmosphere, leaving the world empty in ways it deserves better than.
Existing Outside of Evolution
Describing Soul Stalker’s gameplay leaves little to the imagination. Any gamer modestly experienced in roguelikes is sure to find another title as a frame of reference to draw upon. Whether describing the core loop as a bullet heaven, a horde survivor, or an auto shooter, the reason these descriptors exist and are applicable is that Soul Stalker isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel. With each run, the player navigates a map, collecting new weapons and traits to improve their ability to automatically slash or shoot at enemies and, most importantly, increase their likelihood of surviving the run. This familiarity is far from a bad thing, and I appreciated the haste of being able to pick up on a game proudly restrained in scope. Variety and content come in a few forms. Twenty-one characters, differentiated by stats and traits, are unlockable through specific tasks. A collected currency allows the player to purchase traits and weapons that they can start their run with, providing direction in their builds. These additions offer variety to the primary Journey mode, which consists of levels with increasingly difficult drawbacks. For a more unpredictable set of conditions, the Jobs mode provides three constantly changing runs with randomly selected characters, weapons, and trinkets.
The Price to Pay
Regardless of the mode you choose, Soul Stalker contains a few caveats that shouldn’t go unaddressed. Small stage sizes, technical issues, and unpredictable hit boxes occasionally interrupted my experience, leaving me feeling defeated due to factors beyond my control. Most prominently problematic, however, were the balancing issues of certain builds, funneling me into specific ways of playing. The only compromise to this problem was to artificially challenge myself by ruling out traits, characters, and weapons that proved to be objectively better than others.
While Soul Stalker is undoubtedly flawed, its price point feels like a recognition of its imperfections. For less than the price of a fast food meal, the title provides enough familiar fun to frame itself as a worthwhile investment against a genre where every game is determined to move upwards and remain unprecedented in quality. I can see myself launching Soul Stalker for a few runs every once in a while, and when so many roguelikes exist, eternally vying for attention, commitment is one of the best compliments I can give such a game.
