
Timing a parry is difficult, especially when there’s so much going on. Particularly when there are a lot of enemies on screen. The trouble is, that even with the right sword and the right armour set, combat can still feel messy. Get the right combination of equipment, and you’ll make your time with Young Souls much easier. In terms of weapons, those with a higher rarity will have useful skills on them, such as added bleed, or an additional electric attack. And when you’re in the area dominated by fire enemies, you’ll want your burn-resistant armour. Be prepared to swap between armour sets regularly certain areas are filled with ice-attack enemies, and so your freeze-resistant armour will come in very handy. The equipment you gain while playing will massively help how combat plays out for you, however. Yes, it’s difficult, and even on the games’ easiest difficulty – suitable for children and those who want to take things easy, it says – you’ll still get your ass kicked until you familiarise yourself with all of Young Souls‘ intricacies. But fail to engage with all the systems that Young Souls throws at you, and you’ll find yourself getting flung across the battlefield like a ping-pong ball. And, if you’re playing in single player – more on co-op in a minute – you can tag both characters in and out, dealing additional damage to your enemies as you do. You’ll also need to be on the ball with dodging and parrying to truly shine. It’s fast-paced, requiring you to lay into your enemies with a combo of light attacks, throwing in the odd magic attack when you’ve got enough mana. This is the bread-and-butter of the game, and at its best it can feel wonderful. What perhaps isn’t so easily forgiven, though, is Young Souls‘ combat. But it’s an understandable choice given its development roots – and one that is easily forgiven. When the rest of its presentation feels so premium, the lack of any sort of voicing for the characters feels a bit empty. The only thing that lets Young Souls down is its lack of voice acting. It’s incredibly polished and pristine – a real credit to 1P2P Studio, the two-man team behind development. Even the enemies you’ll soon lay waste to are charming and a pleasure to look at.

It’s hard not to fall in love with the characters you meet along the way thanks to their animation style. With a sumptuous 2D art style, Young Souls looks divine. They don’t wear their special goblin armour while out on the streets. But in the human world, Jenn and Tristan can visit shops to buy new trainers – which provide various benefits to them in combat – or clothes, which are purely cosmetic.
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You’re free to go between the goblin realm and Jenn and Tristan’s “real” world whenever you like, although most of your progression will happen within the dungeons of the goblin realm. Coupled with an interesting XP system – which sees Jen and Tristan level up from the experience they gain only after they’ve been to sleep – Young Souls’ approach to character progression is very engaging indeed.Īs is the world you find yourself in.
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You’ll also amass various types of gems and useful currency which can be used to upgrade weapons and armour, making them more powerful and useful than before. You’ll find loot – in the form of weapons, armour and equipment – in chests dotted around Young Souls’ environments, and you’ll also be rewarded with new gear as you take down bosses and large foes. Much of your time will be spent destroying enemies in brawler-like combat, though an upgrade and loot system elevates the game to RPG status. It’s in this goblin realm that you’ll spend most of your time with Young Souls, exploring its many dungeons, battling enemies and collecting helpful loot and treasure. Expecting to find a standard laboratory, they instead find a gateway to a goblin realm. The professor has, up until this point, been pretty secretive with his work, but when the twins find him to have vanished one afternoon, they have no choice but to sneak into his private workshop to hunt down clues as to where he might have gone. Young Souls casts you as twins Tristan and Jenn, a pair of teenage orphans who have spent the last year of their lives living in a mansion with a mad-cap professor.

Now, it can finally get the chance to shine with its launch on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC. But as was the way with Stadia exclusives, it entered the world with a whimper and received little fanfare.
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Despite being publicised as a brand new release hitting PC and consoles today, it in fact saw its debut on Stadia in August 2021. But a few key elements really let it down. With a gorgeous art style, an engaging story, protagonists you can’t help but like, and plenty of loot, Young Souls should be an instant winner.
