Usurper Soulbound Preview (Steam Early Access)

by Jim Smale · November 8, 2021

Our Usurper: Soulbound Preview takes on this tough Rogue-lite Action RPG. Players are trapped without a physical body in a horrifying dimension and must possess the bodies of their enemies and other heroes alike as they fight their way back.

Usurper Soulbound Preview Pros:

Decent graphics.
2.33GB download size.
Controller support.
Remote play together support.
The controller acts as a mouse on the menus.
Graphics – fullscreen, resolution, v-sync, a field of view slider, resolution scale slider, view distance scale, foliage density, anti-aliasing, post-processing, shadow/texture/effect quality, motion blur, bloom, gamma, and brightness.
Can rebind controls for both keyboard and the controller.
Single-player and co-op mode.
Tutorial pop-ups as you play.
Combat uses stamina for attacks, you have heavy, light, and medium attacks. Lock-on/off and block. Dodge is good as is a parry system that allows you to do critical damage.
3D action-adventure gameplay.
Roguelike mode.
Controller buttons show up on tutorials.
Usurping is an act whereby you lower an enemies health and then take over their body.
Enemies’ stun difficulties are shown by the color of the bar above their heads.
Taking over the body of an enemy is a mini-game.
Gold can be found in-game from enemies and breaking pots and barrels.
A vendor sells scrolls, weapons, stores gold, and new Usurper bodies each with unique stats.
SP is earned from Usurper altars and is used to upgrade either magic or physical skills in between runs.
When you take a lot of damage you get thrown out of your body and fight on as a weaker soul version of yourself.
Usurping a body will give some health.
Save points which also act as a respawn point.
You keep gold upon death.
You have a weight limit for loot.
As you Usurper new bodies and find new loot it unlocks the ability to buy them in the shop.
Can carry a couple of weapons at once.
D-pad acts as a shortcut for switching weapons and using scrolls.
Weapons have a durability meter and break afterward.
Levels randomize every run.
A brilliant target changer with the right stick direction dictating who you face.
Big boss battles.
Usurper altars don’t just grant SP, you find all of them in a level to open up the next floor of the dungeon.
Summon aid is a scroll that will allow you to bring another player in.

Usurper Soulbound Preview Cons:

No Steam achievements.
Clunky to use the controller on menus.
Not the best loading times.
Hard to see the stamina bar above your player’s head at times.
No voicework.
Dealing with mobs is hard.
Slow pace.
You don’t get any camera control.
Items/scrolls and any loot at all is just a little spark of color and text.
Very dark game.
Hard to judge attacks.
Has this powerful lock-on mechanic whereby as soon as your character locks on you walk slower, this is tedious in the tight corridors and the range is so far it’s sometimes baffling.
Walls don’t always go transparent to allow you to see.
To kind of guide you around they lock doors off by a level requirement.

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