Here we are with another game from an indie studio inspired by the works of FromSoftware. Who can blame them, their games are wonderful anger-inducing pieces of art that the majority of gamers have gotten good to love. From the addictive gameplay, the amazing bosses, and some creative lore within their worlds. Now due to the love for these games, the market has become oversaturated with them. However, I see this as a chance for us to play in genres that FromSoftware wouldn’t go near.
Bleak Faith: Forsaken, developed by Archangel Studios originally released the game for PC back in March 2023. Now, they’re bringing their Souls-like to consoles with a new version that’s been tweaked and enhanced in various ways for newcomers. I was able to play for a few hours before the planned release next month. The whole game was open to me so It was all up to my skills with the genre to determine how far I’d get. Find out what I got up to down below.
Bleak Fath: Forsaken releases on August 6th for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Here’s the newest trailer down below:
Story – A Narrative Lost in The Omnistructure
When playing a Souls title, the story isn’t told traditionally like most games; instead, it is shown through lore. Bleak Faith: Forsaken is no different with the game being very vague from the get-go. The game opens with a cutscene showing the world alongside the inhabitants. It doesn’t give you much and once it’s time to take the reins, you feel confused about how you got there. The general premise is that you explore the last remnants of civilization. You take control of a withered body with the desire to explore and survive. You’ll learn the world’s history and lose yourself in a journey like no other.
Begin the game with nothing and scrounge around for weapons and armour
As I explored the Omnistructure, there was tons of environmental storytelling taking place. Each environment almost feels like entering a different genre. Whether I’m exploring a keep from a medieval fantasy to the sunken city from a future dystopia. I also discovered a lot of statues of civilization possibly fossilised from some form of disaster. I’d also meet a few NPCs that would give me pieces of lore. All of these elements were enough for me to keep on my journey to see what else I could find in this ever-changing landscape.
Gameplay – Exploration Is the Star Within This Souls-Like
When it comes to Souls-likes they usually keep the gameplay the same with the occasional difference. This is a fact with Bleak Faith: Forsaken since it shares many controls found in FromSoftware’s games. You have the usual stamina and health systems, blocking at the right time performs perfect blocks for great openings and there are Bleak Faith’s versions of bonfires known as homunculus’s that are both respawn points and a way to fast travel. Healing is more like Demon’s Souls and Bloodborne with items to use instead of a refillable item. One interesting difference between the typical Souls-like games is that there are no “souls” to pick up. Instead, Bleak Faith opts for a more traditional levelling-up system that provides skills points to spend on character attributes.
I found a good amount of weapons and armour to customise my character during my four hours of playtime. I started off using heavier weapons for damage but later switched to lighter speedier weapons like the Kamas. Alongside weapons, there are different abilities to use within specific weapons or through character skills. Going back to the Kamas, I had an ability where I practically became a beyblade and could tear through a group of enemies. I also unlocked the Dragon’s Breath ability to perform a close-up attack which wasn’t as good as I hoped for. Hopefully, once I go back I can find abilities that fit my playstyle.
Here is my character after four hours of gameplay
Bleak Faith’s world is a very dark depressing landscape with small pockets of lighter areas. I managed to explore a few areas which at first all felt like a maze. I never felt like I was going the right way and would find numerous alternative paths leading to mostly dead ends or U-turning back to the start of the area. This would usually annoy me but I loved stumbling around, trying to figure out where to go without aid. Granted Bleak Faith eventually reveals an item that shows you where to go. However, it was luckily still pretty vague so the journey didn’t change too much.
Regarding the enemies you’ll face in the Omnistructure, they’re not very hard to defeat. Usually, the enemies leading up to bosses in Souls games can be quite difficult. However, Bleak Faith’s enemies are very easy to read and performing a perfect block each time is child’s play. I later encountered larger enemies that were a lot more fun to fight and were slightly harder to read. One enemy was a giant with a club and after dealing a good amount of damage I could then climb the beast and start attacking him like I was playing Shadow of the Colossus.
Cut down larger enemies via the legs and then proceed to jump on its back and give it a good stabbing
Speaking of bosses I managed to battle the first one, Konrad The Traitor. He, like the regular enemies, was easy to read with most attacks. Though that didn’t mean it wasn’t a fun fight, he bested me quite a few times whilst I was learning the game. When I eventually defeated him, I received his weapon and with it one of the attacks that was used on me. Now, I did come across a weird bug that caused an instant kill with one of his AOE attacks. If hit it would skip the death animation and take me to the you died screen. At the time I had full health and on the second occasion it happened I had low health so it looks to be a random occurrence. Luckily, it never occurred again and I continued to enjoy everything Bleak Faith was sending my way.
Graphics & Sound – It’s Pretty Bleak
The world of Bleak Faith: Forsaken is like the title, pretty damn bleak. With most areas presenting different forms of horrific fantasy. One thing that I noticed was how dark the areas were, especially the sewer area. You couldn’t see too much and would need to use an item to navigate through. Bleak Faith’s aesthetic isn’t super detailed compared to the Souls games but with what we get it’s a lot better looking than I thought. One of the last areas I visited was this high-wall location opposite a large area of water. I soon realised that under the water was a sunken destroyed city inhabited by giant glowing jellyfish. This was one area that I’m looking forward to revisiting and exploring every part.
The audio for Bleak Faith is fine, nothing too special for this souls-like. It succeeds in presenting appropriate tracks for the atmosphere of areas. However, it’s nothing I’d be searching up later unlike the works of FromSoftware. On the upside, when I was facing a boss, the music used for it did increase the intensity of the fight. Other than music, voice actors for NPCs are fine, they sound like characters that would be in games of this genre. Sound effects for weapons and enemies are fine as well, I do quite like both the look and sound of the perfect block. It’s a bright spark that looks like a firework has gone off and is visually pleasing to me.
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- The Omnitstructure is quite bleak near the beginning but soon becomes a lot more dystopian
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- You’ll see many withered statues of a lost civilization
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- Encounter these creepy enemies after leaving the first area
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- The first boss put up a good fight but eventually fell to my blade
Bleak Faith: Forsaken was previewed on the PS5 via a code from Perp Games.
