Young Souls Review – Young Souls Review – Dungeon Brawling With The Best Of Them

Young Souls stars two orphans who are used to being overlooked, but you shouldn’t ignore their adventure. This RPG brawler sports more depth than your run-of-the-mill beat ‘em up thanks to slick combat, enjoyable customization, and sharp writing. Whether you’re cutting down monsters alone or alongside a buddy, brawler connoisseurs should take notice. 

Orphaned twins Jenn and Tristan feel like they’re up against the world. They are hot-headed, foul-mouthed teens who have been taught to take care of themselves and earned a bad reputation in their hometown as troublemakers. Their adoptive father, the Professor who gave his house to them one year earlier is their only friend. They have a good relationship but it turns strange when they discover that the Professor is missing. A portal found in the Professor’s laboratory revealed an underground world where goblins live. This leader intends to attack their community. While that’s a problem, Jenn and Tristan’s primary concern is rescuing the Professor, and they are more than eager to pick up swords, shields, and other weapons to cut down goblin after goblin standing in their way.

Young Souls’ solid writing treats players to a likable cast and a more emotionally charged story than expected. Jenn, Tristan and their reflections on the events brought a sense of self-awareness to both Jenn and Tristan. A villain who cares about the systemic murder of his subjects was also refreshing. The twins feel earnest and relatable instead of one-dimensional edgelords, especially when asking themselves if they’re ready to call the Professor “dad.”

Kicking goblin butt rocks thanks to combat’s fluidity and the impactful feedback from landing blows. It doesn’t matter if you’re using daggers, swords, hammers, or heavy axes, stringing combos and air-juggling baddies feels great. Although the timing of blocks and parries is inconsistent which can be frustrating, a successful parry will trigger a slow-motion effect that feels satisfying. You can upgrade sub-weapons to add depth. These include a bow and screen-hopping teleportation spells. Mob-clearing bombs are also available. My favorite is a chain which yanks your enemies at you, or vice versa. Young Souls might not break the mold, but it’s an absolute blast to play. 

Goblins pose a more significant threat than the average beat ’em up fodder. Their ability to evade, block and parry makes them an interesting challenge. This kept me from wasting my time swinging my weapon. Surprisingly, I found it was more important to think about my offense than just hitting the attack button against bosses. Although there are some enemies that can be annoying (shield-wielding shieldmen blocking way too many times), Young Souls makes the fight fun. I encourage seasoned players to choose the developer’s recommended difficulty.

It’s possible to play with a friend, although co-op is only available in your area. Still, I’m impressed with how much fun Young Souls is to play alone. You can quickly switch between siblings by pressing a button. This allows you to create cool combo chains. It’s great for quick, dramatic saves. Every sibling gets their own health and limited revives. To allow each twin to recuperate, I love the fight game strategy that involves constantly tagging in/out and mixing up your offense. 

Jenn and Tristan play initially identically. However, this can change in fun ways as each person has their own loadout. Based on the type and weight of their bodies, weapons and armor can fundamentally change their playstyles. Jenn was a fast-attacking, evasive tank and Tristan was a death-dealing one. It is best to have twins who can protect you from all dangers. However, having both of them play similar is also a good strategy. My Jenn’s speedier build fared better against a slow-moving boss, so doubling up on that strategy helped me take it down quicker. 

Young Souls’ structure resembles a condensed run-based dungeon crawler. You’ll battle your way through rooms of enemies to earn treasure, resources, and keys to unlock new zones and chests. The level design can be a bit simplistic. The game mixes things up with boss rush challenges and encounters against a legendary warrior who rewards a new weapon type each time she’s defeated. This level is the most creative. You can kill ghosts only with a specific weapon, but it makes you susceptible to one hit kills. Young Souls might enjoy a more adventurous exploration as many levels are too boring. The good news is that you can easily backtrack and find the item you want thanks to the easy-to-use fast-travel system, numerous checkpoints and locked chests marked on the map. Young Souls is the easiest game to complete 100 percent in a short time. 

In between dungeon runs, you’ll zip around town on your moped to sell items and buy outfits, including buff-granting sneakers. You can even hit the gym to complete simple but enjoyable exercise mini-games to raise the twins’ physical attributes. However, warping home to level up is a tad annoying, as is the fact that you can’t equip battle gear in the human world. 

As the kind-hearted Professor learned, give Jenn and Tristan a chance, and they’ll impress you in more ways than one. Young Souls is an exceptional adventure you shouldn’t miss if you’re searching for the next great game to tackle with a friend or want a quality RPG brawler to dig into alone.