Soulmask Review Summary

Positive overall game experience: Many players expressed that the game is fun, well-polished, and fantastic overall. These comments highlight a general satisfaction with the game's quality and enjoyment factor.

Plenty of content and value: The game offers a lot of content and is seen as motivating to learn. The free DLC during the launch month adds significant value, making the game appealing and worth the investment.

Well-implemented tribe system: The tribe management and automation system is frequently praised. Players appreciate the AI tribe members and the overall tribal management mechanics.

Rewarding exploration mechanics: The game encourages exploration with a vast map and rewarding gameplay. Players find exploration fun and rewarding, which adds to the game's appeal.

Must-have for survival craft fans: The game is highly recommended for fans of survival and crafting games. It is praised as one of the best in its genre, offering excellent survival and building mechanics.

Clunky combat mechanics: Many players have reported that the combat feels stiff, unresponsive, and unrefined. The overall experience is described as janky and less fluid than expected.

Complex and confusing menus: The game's menu system is criticized for being overly complex, excessive, and confusing. Players find it cumbersome and poorly designed.

Unfinished and unpolished game: The game is perceived as incomplete and unpolished, with numerous bugs and performance issues. Players feel that the gameplay is outdated and janky.

Unintuitive controls: Controls are described as finicky, jerky, and non-intuitive. Players find them difficult to use and inconvenient.

Frustrating building mechanics: The building mechanics are seen as cumbersome, stupid, and unrefined. Players express frustration with the current implementation.

Comprehensive crafting system: The game features an extensive crafting system that includes mechanics for automation, farming, and building. Players appreciate the depth and complexity of these systems.

Multiple gameplay modes: The game offers various gameplay modes, including single-player and multiplayer options. This variety caters to different player preferences and enhances replayability.

Exploration in a vast world: The game offers a vast open world for exploration, with a large and varied map. Players enjoy the freedom and variety this provides.

Customizable gameplay settings: The game offers a range of customization options, allowing players to tailor their gameplay experience. This includes difficulty settings and various gameplay parameters.

Tribe automation system: The tribe automation system allows players to manage and automate tasks for tribe members. This feature is well-received for its convenience and depth.

Smooth performance on various hardware: Many players report that the game runs smoothly, even on older hardware, indicating good optimization for a variety of systems.

High ping and latency issues: Several players have experienced high ping and latency issues, making the game difficult to play, especially during peak hours.

Game launching and freezing issues: Players have encountered problems with launching the game, including freezing during loading screens and other related issues.

Frequent game crashes: The game frequently crashes for many players, which significantly disrupts the gaming experience.

Server capacity and performance issues: There are reports of server capacity issues and poor server performance, affecting the overall gameplay experience.

Recommended for survival game fans: The game is highly recommended for players who enjoy survival games, particularly fans of titles like Conan Exiles, Valheim, and Enshrouded.

General game recommendation: The game and its DLC are generally recommended by players, suggesting it offers good value and content.

Community and developer support: Players show support for the developers and suggest checking community layouts and trading card options, indicating a strong community and developer engagement.

Customizable and challenging gameplay: The game is recommended for players who enjoy customizing their gameplay experience and those who like challenging, strategic games with a sense of progression.

Polished with lots of content: The game is noted for being polished and offering a lot of content, including free DLC, which adds significant value.

Community fair range: $25.00 - $35.00.

Game completion: 70.0h.

Soulmask is a rewarding survival game with a natural progression system that clicks after players push through the initial learning curve and start seeing the rewards of their efforts, especially in cooperative play.

Reported time to anchor: 2h.

Friction: Steep learning curve; Incomplete tutorial; Grind in early to mid-game; Complex tribe management.

Unlock drivers: Cooperative play with friends; Meaningful progression; Rewarding base-building; Exploration and discovery.

Survival Enthusiast: Explorative and experimental, focusing on learning and mastering game systems. Motivation: Enjoyment of deep survival mechanics and overcoming challenges. Stance: sale.

Builder and Progressionist: Focused on base building, resource management, and progression. Motivation: Satisfaction from building and progression systems. Stance: sale.

Veteran Strategist: Strategic and methodical, focusing on long-term planning and resource management. Motivation: Appreciation for innovative and strategic gameplay mechanics. Stance: buy.

Performance varies significantly across different hardware cohorts, with higher VRAM configurations generally reporting better experiences. Lower VRAM setups often report crashes and optimization issues, while higher VRAM setups tend to have smoother gameplay but still encounter some problems.

Windows <8GB VRAM: negative. This cohort frequently reports crashes and poor optimization, with several users experiencing game-breaking issues.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM: mixed. Users report a mix of positive experiences and significant performance issues, including memory leaks and crashes.

Windows 8-11GB VRAM: mixed. This cohort experiences a mix of smooth gameplay and frequent crashes, with some users reporting corrupted save files.

Steam Deck: The analysis of user feedback reveals significant issues with controller support, frequent crashes, UI/UX problems, and mixed experiences with Linux/Proton compatibility. These issues collectively impact the overall user experience on the Steam Deck, requiring attention to improve stability and playability.

Linux and Proton: The game has mixed reviews regarding its compatibility with Linux and Proton. While some users report issues such as difficulties in joining servers and overall performance problems, others have had a positive experience, particularly when using Proton Experimental. The consensus suggests that the game is playable on Linux but may require some tweaking and does not work perfectly.

Monetization: The analysis of user reviews for the game reveals several key themes. The most prominent issue is the release of paid DLC while the game is still in Early Access, which many users see as a negative practice. Additionally, the timing and pricing of the DLC are criticized, especially given the incomplete state of the base game. Some reviews mention that the DLC was made free for existing and new buyers within a month of its release, which is seen as a positive move. There are also concerns about the value for money, particularly with the additional cost of the DLC. Finally, many reviews criticize the developers for focusing on paid DLC instead of improving the base game. Overall, the sentiment is mixed, with significant criticism directed at the monetization strategy and developer priorities.

External guides: The primary user complaints revolve around the necessity of external guides for basic gameplay understanding, frustration with crafting and inventory management, and issues with AI pathfinding and UI. These points highlight significant barriers in user experience related to instructional data, valuation data, and spatial data.

Needs perfect controller support: Players are requesting flawless controller support for the game. This suggests that the current controller support may be lacking or have issues that need to be addressed.