Soulstone Survivors Review Summary

Fun and addictive gameplay: Players find the game extremely fun and addictive, with enjoyable and engaging gameplay mechanics. The game is praised for its replayability and entertaining nature, making it a great time killer.

Worth the price: The game is considered to offer good value for money, with many players stating that it is worth the price. The affordable price point and the amount of content provided make it a worthwhile purchase.

Refinement of Vampire Survivors formula: The game is seen as an excellent refinement of the Vampire Survivors formula, offering a similar but improved experience. It is recommended for fans of Vampire Survivors and is considered one of the best in the genre.

Aesthetically pleasing graphics: The game features beautiful and detailed graphics, with pleasant and colorful visuals. This enhances the overall gaming experience.

Plenty of unlockables: There are numerous skills, passives, weapons, and characters to unlock, providing a lot of content and depth. This keeps players engaged and motivated to continue playing.

Repetitive and boring gameplay: Gameplay can become tedious and boring over time, with repetitive tasks and a lack of variation. This includes limited build variety and monotonous gameplay after extended periods.

Overwhelming visual clutter: The game suffers from visual pollution and clutter, which can be overwhelming and make it difficult to avoid damage. This includes issues with visual effects obscuring gameplay and causing eye strain.

Excessive grind in gameplay: Many players find the game to be excessively grindy, especially in the end stages. This includes grinding for materials and a general grind-heavy gameplay loop.

Balancing and scaling issues: The game has balancing issues, including unbalanced character abilities and scaling issues at higher difficulties. This also extends to runes needing balancing.

Lack of challenge and content: The game lacks challenge and interesting achievements, leading to a lack of overall content and things to do. This results in a lack of sense of achievement.

Comprehensive progression systems: The game features extensive character and meta progression systems, including skill trees, unlocks, and upgrades. Players can engage with various progression mechanics such as talent trees, prestige levels, and character building.

Diverse character builds: The game offers a wide variety of character builds, allowing players to optimize and customize their characters with different build options and synergies. This includes flexible build creation and a variety of classes, skills, and builds.

Roguelike and action gameplay: The game combines elements of the roguelike genre with fast-paced action, offering a gameplay experience similar to ARPGs. It includes roguelite elements and bullet-hell mechanics, providing a dynamic and challenging environment.

Customizable rune system: A detailed rune system allows for extensive customization of character builds. Players can utilize runes in combination with skills and other systems to create unique and powerful builds.

Balanced skill mechanics: The game includes a variety of skills and abilities that require balancing. Players can combine skills and runes to create effective builds, though some balance issues may need addressing.

FPS drops and freezes: Several players experienced significant FPS drops and freezes, particularly during intense gameplay or with specific characters and abilities.

Visual effects causing performance issues: High visual effects settings can lead to performance issues, including FPS drops and lag, making the game difficult to play smoothly.

Crashes and stability issues: Some players encountered crashes and stability issues that affected their gameplay experience.

Non-English language feedback: There are some feedback in non-English languages indicating performance issues, but the details are less clear due to language barriers.

Heating issues: The game can cause heating issues on certain devices, including the Steam Deck and some computers.

Recommended for roguelite and survivor-like fans: The game is highly recommended for fans of roguelites and survivor-like games, often praised as one of the best in the genre.

Great value for money: The game offers great value for its price, making it a worthwhile purchase for those looking for quality and enjoyment.

Recommended for bullet heaven and shmup fans: Fans of bullet heaven, shmup, and autoshooter games will find this game highly enjoyable due to its satisfying combat and endless progression.

Worth trying even outside the genre: Even if you are not a fan of the genre, the game is worth trying due to its high quality and engaging gameplay.

Alternative to Vampire Survivors: If you are a fan of Vampire Survivors or similar games and looking for something new, this game is highly recommended.

Community fair range: $10.00 - $15.00.

Game completion: 130.0h.

Session length: 1.0h.

The game starts with weak and repetitive early content but becomes more enjoyable as players unlock more characters and skills, with the late-game offering deeper engagement despite being grindy.

Reported time to anchor: 1h.

Friction: Weak early game content; Repetitive early runs; Grindy progression.

Unlock drivers: Character progression; Variety of builds; Meta-progression systems.

Grind-Enjoying Progressionist: Grinding for meta-progression, experimenting with different builds and characters. Motivation: Progression and unlocking new content. Stance: sale.

Chill Seeker: Casual, short sessions for relaxation. Motivation: Relaxation and stress relief. Stance: sale.

Content Appreciator: Exploring different builds, characters, and modes. Motivation: Enjoyment of content and replayability. Stance: buy.

Performance data is limited, but available reports indicate the game runs well on Windows systems with 8-11GB VRAM.

Windows 8-11GB VRAM: positive. The game runs well on this hardware configuration.

Steam Deck: The game has received mixed feedback regarding its performance on the Steam Deck. While many users praise its optimization and smooth gameplay, there are significant issues related to battery drain, heat, UI scaling, stability, and data loss. These technical barriers can detract from the overall experience and require attention for improvement.

Linux and Proton: The game generally runs well on Linux with a native Linux version available. However, there are minor performance issues and some compatibility problems with gamepads.

Monetization: The game receives mixed feedback regarding its monetization. While some users compare it to predatory practices like slot machines, others appreciate the free updates and lack of paid DLC. There is also a positive sentiment towards potentially spending more money on the game due to its quality.

External guides: The primary issues highlighted by users revolve around the lack of in-game resources to understand complex mechanics and stat changes, which significantly impacts their ability to optimize builds and enjoy the game without frustration. Additionally, the complexity and overwhelming amount of information needed to excel can detract from the overall user experience. The presence of hidden skills that require external resources to understand adds another layer of complexity, which can be both a positive and negative aspect depending on the user's preference.

Compatible with Steam Deck: The game is compatible with the Steam Deck, allowing players to enjoy it on the go.

Game in early access: The game is currently in early access, which means it's still under development and may have incomplete features or bugs.

Cheats enhance gameplay: Players have mentioned the use of cheats to improve their gaming experience.