The Relic: First Guardian arrives as an ambitious Dark Fantasy RPG chasing the same soulslike space that is heavily contested by contenders like Lies of P and Khazan. Instead of competing and making its space in the genre, the game falls flat on its face. There are some clear and crisp elements like satisfying parries, well-designed bosses, and a build system with room for exploration. Unfortunately, the game is currently buried under a ton of technical issues, questionable AI usage, lackluster story, boring quests, and structural problems.
A Combat System Worth Salvaging
Buried under all the issues is a combat system that is satisfying and compelling. The combat foundation is strong and is complemented by the variety in buildcrafting. Parrying in particular stands out as surprisingly crisp, especially given how janky the surrounding controls can feel. It is genuinely one of the only elements of the game that is carrying the experience. Boss designs are also well-designed and thought out. Several encounters are genuinely good, creative fights that reward learning the boss’s moveset to punish them through parrying. A couple of specific boss fights can be annoying, but being honest, every soulslike has a few of them.
Build variety is another genuine bright spot for The Relic: First Guardian. There’s a meaningful range of playstyles on offer, and switching weapons noticeably changes how combat feels, giving the game real replayability for players willing to experiment with different loadouts across a 40-plus hour playthrough. For a game this early in its life, that kind of foundational combat and build depth is a promising sign. However, seeing how the game is littered with issues, you have to ask: how many players will be even willing to buildcraft in the game?
A Rough Presentation, Made Worse by AI
The most glaring issue that presents itself before a player experiences any technical issue is the visual quality. The Relic: First Guardian runs into serious problems from a presentation aspect. The game often feels blurry, muddy, and lacks meaningful graphic settings to fix it. It will not be far-fetched to compare the visuals to 480p video and decade-old console visuals. There are also some optimization issues with the game, which are again highlighted by a near-total absence of options to adjust resolution scaling or upscaling. The game also features blatant use of AI without proper disclosure. There is a clear use of AI-generated visual assets and voice acting. This can be a jarring experience and is one of the reason why the story and narrative feels so lackluster. The dialogue frequently fails to sync with character mouth movements. Narrative delivery comes across as flat or distracting rather than immersive.
Systems That Need More Time In The Oven
The Relic: First Guardian in its current state, there is no way around it, is incomplete. Beyond the visuals, structural issues are dragging the experience down further. The most damaging is the save system: the game relies on a single automatic save similar to Souls-style checkpointing, but multiple players report being rolled back hours after defeating bosses, completing quests, or even finishing an entire area, with no manual save option available as a safety net.
For a game built around lengthy exploration and tough boss fights, losing that much progress to an unreliable save system is a significant strike against it. Quest design and levelling are also extremely repetitive and lack any real depth. Some elements of the combat are well designed, but they are overshadowed by a clunky lock-on system and uncooperative camera angles. Audio issues, sound mixing problems, and translation errors round out a list of technical complaints that, while individually minor, add up to a game that feels unfinished in its current state.
Final Verdict
The Relic: First Guardian has the foundation to become a good soulslike thanks to its crisp parrying and well-designed bosses. However, it is currently let down by a rough and AI-compromised presentation. Structural and technical issues that waste tons of time and overall experience of the game. This makes the game hard to recommend in its current state, as it is clearly incomplete. There’s clearly a good game trying to get out from underneath these issues, and if the developers continue patching at their current pace, this could be worth a second look in a few months. Right now, though, most players are right to wait.
