Recently, survival simulators seem to be experiencing a new birth and are being released in huge numbers. Even Soulmask, which will be discussed in this short review, came out at the same time that Night of the Dead was released, and several other representatives of the genre appeared before that. Many of them are as similar to each other as two peas in a pod, but some still stand out because of their unique mechanics.
Soulmask tries to bring something new to the genre with the mask mechanic that the game is named after. However, in reality it is just another piece of character equipment that is equipped on the character. Yes, this is a good addition that allows you to get certain bonuses that suit different playstyles, but it’s certainly not a “killer feature.” In fact, the new product feels like another survival simulator, but in fact this is not necessarily a minus, especially if you want the “classic” gameplay. By the way, the display of masks can be disabled in the settings, which is what I did, since, in my opinion, they only spoil the appearance of the characters.
Most of the survival simulators released in recent years not only turned out to be similar, but also suffered from poor optimization, a huge number of bugs and other problems. Fortunately, Soulmask works more than decently already at the early access stage. The graphics here are beautiful and match the screenshots shown on Steam. And not like in the case of Enshrouded, when we were shown beautiful landscapes, but in reality everything turned out to be much worse. The optimization also deserves respect – it plays without stutters, serious FPS drops and crashes. These seem to be basic things, but many similar projects cannot even boast of this.
The combat system in Soulmask is not bad, but there are not enough stars in the sky. It’s still far from even the average third-person single-player action game, but it does its job. Each weapon offers its own gameplay, as well as active and passive abilities. For example, a spear can be thrown forward to pull the enemy, but a blade, on the contrary, allows you to quickly approach the enemy. There is also a block to reduce damage received and evasion.
There is one mechanic in Soulmask that is reminiscent of Palworld, or even more Conan Exile. People from your tribe can automate various boring processes, like cutting down trees and creating items on a machine. You can assign a specific job to each person by customizing the task in detail. For example, in the case of cutting down trees, you can specify the location, the required quantity and the specific chest where he will put everything. This is really very convenient, and now I would like to see the same in Palworld.
One of the most important features of any survival simulator, in my opinion, is world/server customization. The Soulmask developers approached this issue with all responsibility and added just a huge number of parameters. It seems easier to list the things that can’t be changed rather than the things that can. On Steam you can find user reviews that the enemies in the game are too strong, crafting is too long, and so on. However, all this could be easily avoided by simply adjusting some points. In my game, I, of course, did not weaken the enemies, but I speeded up the experience and time for creating items, and also increased the amount of resources obtained, so as not to spend a lot of time on what I don’t like. Of course, no one is stopping you from complicating the game even more or making some kind of hybrid version. As an example, make enemies stronger, but at the same time increase the loot dropped from them. There are tons of possibilities!
Leveling up in Soulmask is pretty standard for survivalists. If you’ve played other similar games, you’ll immediately understand what’s what. Killing enemies and performing other actions gives experience to level up. Thus, you receive skill points, which are spent on improving the main characteristics: perception, physique, strength, durability and agility. Also, each weapon has its own skill level, which opens up new opportunities when upgraded. As mentioned earlier, you can improve the mask – it has its own separate talent tree. However, the most important is the technology window, because it is there that you will open everything you need, including tools, weapons, workbenches, and more.
The game itself is rather slow to unfold (an issue partially addressed by the aforementioned world customization). We start in a nondescript forest, in which there are almost no interesting places nearby, so you are forced to carry out typical training tasks in the style of “collect branches” and “set up a workbench” for a long time. However, over time, even more opportunities and content open up to us. New locations look much more beautiful, various temples and dungeons appear, and sometimes you have to fight bosses with unique features.
Overall, Soulmask doesn’t revolutionize the genre, but perhaps the game doesn’t need to. This is just a good survival simulator with beautiful graphics, a good combat system and the ability to customize the gameplay in detail for yourself. The project does not suffer from early access problems and offers a lot of content from the very start.