Deathbound is an upcoming souls-like action RPG and thanks to the development team at Trialforge Studio in Brazil and publisher Tate Multimedia, MKAU has been given the opportunity to try out the latest demo, with the full game due to be released in 2024 on Steam. This demo is incredible, and with just a small insight into the full game, I cannot wait until the full release.

Long ago, divine sisters Goddess Life and Goddess Death created the First Men of humankind, but Goddess Life betrayed her sister, and stole her powers to give the people eternal life. Unable to die, the civilization flourished over thousands of years, advancing with technology that seemed like magic and building cities that spanned continents. Overwhelmed by their own immortality, the people started to turn to the Goddess Death and gave up their gift, which immediately crumbled their civilization, destroying their world.

Built from the destruction of the Old World centuries ago, our story takes place in Akratya, Ziêminal. A world where the faithful to the Goddess of Death, the Church of Death, rules the lands as the most powerful political organization. Ruthless in their faith, they stop at nothing to persecute anyone who does not follow in their footsteps.

The Essencemakers, a zealot sect of the Cult of Life who worship the Goddess Life, are on a quest to recover the long-lost technology of the First Men to aid them in giving back immortality to humankind, no matter what it takes.

In an intuitive party system, dubbed the “Binding System”, you command up to four fallen warriors who can be switched in and out depending on your needs. Each warrior can be absorbed through the Essence, gaining their personalities and unique skill sets, allowing the ability to Morphstrike. An integral part of the experience, Morphstrikes deathly blows to your enemies, combining the talents of your warriors through seamless character switching in battle, unleashing devastating combination attacks. The world being as brutal as it is, you must really consider how to face your enemies or face death itself. The game is filled with monsters whose nature is based on the five stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

I’m not a novice to soul-like games, but this game has a bit of a learning curve to fully embrace this party system, especially in the heat of the battle. Each warrior has their own health and stamina, which overlap. This means, that if your warrior loses health, you also lose stamina, making it harder to land critical blows.

Keeping an eye on the health and stamina of each warrior is imperative so you can quickly switch to a different warrior who has more stamina available. Healing the present warrior also takes health off the others, so bear that in mind before you start spamming your consumables.

The hostile architecture of the city and the bodies strewn in the streets under the control of an oppressive government give an immersive experience that’s hard to describe. This game is dark and gritty with a modern-medieval environment. The archaic sight of people burning on a stake in the street is in stark contrast to the specks of futuristic advanced technology around you, which only gives an insight into the way the Church of Death prefers to govern its city. I wouldn’t want to go against their Word.

I can’t continue without giving too much away, but this game is insanely enjoyable already. Even in a pre-alpha state, it’s leaps and bounds ahead of other games in this genre. I cannot wait for the full release and be able to review this game in full.

Written by: Emily France