Soulslinger: Envoy of Death’s chaotic intensity captured me back in 2023 when I played it at its Early Access launch. It was not the most unique game out there, with a roguelite progression system as standard as you could imagine, but I knew that its strengths would lie in the late-game balance. Small areas, dozens of enemies, and quick access to a power fantasy—what you come to Soulslinger for. On full release, it leans further into things it does best, but unfortunately also does not correct enough of the missteps that plagued it even back then.
The first issue that puts a gigantic dampen on a fast-paced action roguelite like this is that the framerate tends to dip into abysmal, single-digit territory during enemy spawns. While it runs perfectly most of the time, regardless of the number of enemies or effects on screen, on its bigger maps, or during the later stages of its endless mode it can get brutal. One accidental hit is enough to change the course of a run, let alone several as the game struggles to get back to its regular speed.
Enemy spam was an issue at launch, but I think by now it is part of the appeal. All the guns added throughout the years are primed for breaking any balance, be that the Night Quartet which never runs out of ammo as long as you wait a little before firing again, or the Wraithshot which holds one bullet, but pierces and is permanently imbued with your equipped ammo powerup, which means that with a quick setup you can just aim at the floor and watch everything in a straight line explode.
With its heavy auto-aim and new explosive abilities, Soulslinger moved away from the need to hone in on hitting shots, which is a shame, especially since it largely renders the system that powers you up if you do not miss a shot, but it has other elements that still keep you busy: movement, ammo management and reload timings. The often tiny arenas require some careful planning and timing to not get hit or overwhelmed, planning on spots where you can take a breather and reload. Press a button at the right time during it, and you do so faster—a key to making the likes of Wraithshot into the unstoppable machines they are.
Two other new weapons are disappointing. The Phantom Triad is an autofire version of the Night Quartet, but it deals so little damage in comparison and recoils to such a degree, at least visually, that it feels entirely superfluous to all other systems. The Silver Defiler fires a shot that quickly arcs downwards but splashes poison on hit. A highly unreliable option that deals barely more damage than the Night Quartet, and less than the shotgun Double-Barreled Fury or the aforementioned incredibly powerful Wraithshot.
The aspect I really enjoyed about Soulslinger is how unconventional the combat locations are. Lots of steep hills, short walls, small bumps, bridges, and leaps. This initially made enemy pathfinding a significant issue, back then resolved by having most of them teleport which spiraled into a bigger readability problem, but in the full release it has been significantly improved, though is still far from perfect.
Yet the uneven terrain began to be a bigger problem when more enemies were involved, when the framedrops became more prominent, and when enemies stopped being designed around the uneven terrain. For example, the final boss has an attack that spreads out from a point but simply does not take into account any obstacles, phasing through the ground. It hits hard too, demolishing several of my hard difficulty attempts by partly hiding underground or catching me at a spot where dodging was not an option.
Structurally, Soulslinger never figured itself out. The problem of having the choice of a path be split between upgrade materials for upgrading and unlocking weapons and abilities back at the hub and upgrades that matter for succeeding in a run was never re-examined. You will still have to purposefully underpower yourself every run just to get a few extra blueprints that you are always low on. You want to try out those new weapons and get that +4% damage, do you not? I suppose it is a way of slowing down the power curve, as otherwise you get overly powerful too quickly, but the fact remains that the pathmaking choices just do not feel satisfying.
Story-wise it went to a few interesting places, though they were often cut short. D.C. Douglas voicing the protagonist still carries the experience with his charisma, adding an intense weight to the few twists along the way, but without that performance, I think I would walk away from Soulslinger feeling very little. That initial interest in enemy designs and potential ramifications fades after a few runs, and though it brought me back at one point, before it could explore its newly introduced ideas, I had already rolled credits.
At its best, there is beauty to be found. Though at first you may need to remove the camera dirt in the options, when the lighting hits just right, Soulslinger’s sights are a sight to behold. When you lose yourself in the song of the gunfire’s unique pace you can enter a zone where anything else slips into the back of your mind, yet the fact that its quieter moments become almost preferable to the action is a testament to the many stumbles along the way.
For all the good its chaos and unique approaches do, it feels like in the end Soulslinger severely lacks balance. It feels like at no point was anything reigned in, and though the power fantasy aspect is its strongest selling point, the more you play, the more its issues begin to push every run toward monotony and occasional annoyance as you try to navigate the quirks of fighting through its hordes and special effects. My final run ended with a quiet admittal—unfortunately, Soulslinger: Envoy of Death still has not reached its potential.
Mateusz played Soulslinger: Envoy of Death on PC with a provided review copy.
