The development history of Lost Soul Aside reads like an epic fantasy in and of itself. Originally the dream project of a solo developer, Yang Bing, it was revealed in 2016 before being picked up as part of Sony’s China Hero Project. Between 2016 and 2025, however, the game went through various different teams and visions, finally being released as a weird fusion of Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy, and an Anime 101 storytelling guidebook. The end result is a fascinating mess that isn’t a complete disaster but instead manages to be almost the dictionary definition of mediocre.
First, up, Lost Soul Aside has some fairly impressive production values. At times it looks really nice and the framerate was mostly satisfactory on a base PS5 using performance mode, although there were moments when I wasn’t sure if there were deliberate slow-mo effects or if the game was lagging somewhat. Environments are varied, albeit following the generic pattern of fire zone, ice zone etc. Voice acting is functional but the English dub isn’t going to win any awards (the actors don’t have a great deal to work with to be fair), while the music is decent with some great battle music and area themes.
The solid quality of the game’s aesthetics is undermined, however, by an almost complete lack of any individuality. Almost every character looks like they’ve been lifted from a generic anime protagonist class, and my wife immediately thought it was a Final Fantasy game despite having little to no interest in gaming. Your main character, Kaser, is an emo cypher with long black trenchcoat and a taciturn personality, whilst his companions are various flavours of waifu (the goth one, the noble but reserved one, etc.). Your quest starts out as a political one as you fight against the tyrannical Empire as the guerrilla group, Glimmer. It soon shifts into a more magical tale as a demonic force known as the Voidrax begin to steal the souls of humans, with Kaser’s sister, Louisa, being one of their victims.
The early stages of the game are very slow, but I quite liked the setting and characters until it took a turn for the more generic fantasy narrative. The Emperor becomes a slightly more complex character as the game progresses and continues to wear the most ludicrously oversized helmet this side of Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs. After the Voidrax attack, you become linked to a mysterious power called Lord Arena, who has been trapped for centuries, whilst his power is used to develop the technological breakthroughs of the Empire. Arena is ostensibly a giant dragon, but his power is so diminished that he manifests as a far smaller presence, as well as seemingly being your weapons too.
There is the bones of an interesting story here but, whether due to translation or lack of experience, it feels like a flow chart of ideas rather than anything more complex. You soon have to complete the traditional McGuffin quest as you go off in search of Life Crystals.
So, Lost Soul Aside looks decent and is entirely generic but does it offer anything new? Well, kind of, since the combat system is fluid and filled with potential. You start off with a standard sword, but unlock a huge two-handed version, a speedy polearm, and a scythe as you progress. These all have secondary skills that are vital in area progression, which is welcome but they are rarely mixed up and feel as by the numbers as much of the rest of the game. Combat itself features an unlockable combo tree and an impressive number of attacks considering the two button controls. Alongside the light and heavy attacks you have various skills and can call on Lord Arena to power your attacks when the relevant metre is filled.
Each of the weapons feel pretty distinct in combat and you can switch between them on the fly. Some enemies are susceptible to different elements so later in the game you can equip different versions of each weapon to take advantage of this. As with Final Fantasy XVI, though, this aspect is underdone and could have been used to greater effect. As well as elemental characteristics, you pick up weapon charms that add extra bonuses. These actually have to be fitted onto the weapons themselves and can lead to some ludicrous looking creations if you want. I found that the ones adding base attack bonus and health renewal on criticals were the most effective.
This combat system comes into its own in a number of challenging boss fights but these are few and far between as most of the time you’ll be fighting mobs of similar looking enemies that offer little in the way of challenge. The vast majority of battles can be overcome by spamming the light attack, especially when you unlock the polearm and scythe which are both fast enough to overwhelm your opponents. I’m curious as to whether the combat comes into its own more on the harder difficulty unlocked upon completion but not enough to draw me back into the game yet.
Perhaps the most egregious feature here is the fact that Kaser pulls off some amazing acrobatics and magical transformations but all in non-interactive cutscenes. I actually found myself longing for some QTEs just to feel involved in some way. I wouldn’t be surprised if these were originally a feature but were removed as that feature became less popular. The end result, though, is a series of long corridor levels with brainless battles, inane dialogue, only occasionally redeemed with boss battles that require you to use the full range of skills in a depressingly under-utilised combat system.
