The world has crumbled. A catastrophe called the Void has swallowed the land of Arsilutus, leaving only the damned and the desperate to scavenge among the ruins. As the First Guardian, you are tasked with an almost absurd objective: gather the shattered pieces of the Great Relic and pull civilization back from oblivion. It is a premise that borrows liberally from the Soulslike playbook, but The Relic: First Guardian seems untroubled by that fact, choosing instead to lean into what makes it distinct.
A hands-on preview revealed a game obsessed with the small stories hiding in its cursed landscape. After crashing through the door of a burning cottage early in the demo, you find a woman dying from wounds sustained in an attack. Around her body, glowing relics and notes lie scattered, piecing together a fragment of tragedy. A family denied entry to raiders. A home set to flame. The moment passes quickly, but it lingers. This storytelling approach repeats across Arsilutus. A town decimated by a father's vengeance. Refugees who delayed their escape one too many times. A knight who abandoned his post, now haunted by specters of his own shame. These narratives arrive not through lengthy cutscenes but as voiced snippets, almost like an interactive audiobook of brief, poignant snapshots. Many draw inspiration from Asian folklore, lending the world a texture that feels less like generic Dark Souls fan fiction and more like something with its own mythology to explore.
Combat itself operates on a philosophy rooted in Dark Souls fundamentals, emphasis on timing over reflexes. You carry a sword and shield, capable of attacking, blocking, parrying, and dodging in the traditional rhythm. Heavy attacks are absent, replaced by magic abilities tied to cooldowns rather than mana pools. Stamina exists but does not drain during attacks, fundamentally reshaping how you approach engagement. Animations lock you in place longer than modern games demand, creating deliberate windows of vulnerability and opportunity. It skews toward the clunky side, but the design intention is clear: combat rewards pattern recognition and patience, not twitch speed.
Bosses are where The Relic: First Guardian truly distinguishes itself. More than 70 await, each functioning as a combat puzzle with a distinct solution. Branko, the Bloodstained Shield, is a ferocious warrior whose overhead onslaught punishes blocking. Victory comes from parrying his attacks repeatedly, draining his stamina until his stance breaks and you can counterattack. Entom the Starved, by contrast, relies on unblockable charges and overhead drops, demanding evasion and quick chip damage rather than defensive parrying. Mog, a polished swordsman, presents yet another entirely different challenge. The variety extends beyond mechanics into visual design and narrative weight. Each boss carries a story. Mog fled his duty as a Brutal-slayer, a coward whose remorse manifests as spectral guardians. Entom was once a young man cursed with endless hunger after consuming a mysterious cure, forced to devour the villagers around him, including his own parents who hid his transformation.
Progression abandons traditional level-up systems and soul collection. Instead, growth hinges on equipment. Defeating bosses yields Relics, special items that grant stat boosts and passive effects. Early on you can activate only a few, but capacity expands as you push forward. Armor provides defense and secondary bonuses like stamina or cooldown speed. Weapons, however, follow a different path. Each is unique and can be upgraded through an upgrade tree powered by Ancient Relic Energy found while exploring. These unlock character buffs and new combat moves. The Focus strike, for instance, launches you skyward with an uppercut, followed by a diving cleave. The blacksmith allows further refinement in exchange for coins and materials, solidifying your chosen loadout as you progress.
The world itself opens as a semi-open map, tighter and more confined than a full open world, bounded by high cliffs and featuring a loose sense of forward progression with periodic branches. Yellow rune-etched stones called Tibelle's Blessing serve as checkpoints and safe havens, restoring health and refilling healing items while functioning as respawn points and select fast-travel anchors. No glowing trail points you toward objectives. You follow faint roads and let curiosity guide you, discovering stories and enemies organically as you explore.
The Relic: First Guardian releases on July 31 for PC and PlayStation 5.
Author Emily Chen: "This is a Soulslike that understands its DNA and isn't afraid to slow things down, trusting that patience and pattern recognition make for more interesting combat than reaction speed alone."
Comments