Slashy Souls now available on iOS and Android, fans of Dark Souls needn't apply

Slashy Souls is an endless runner that’s based loosely on Dark Souls. Namco Bandai, publisher for both games announced that the game will be made available on Android and iOS on February 29th. How does Slashy Souls fare against something as seminal as Dark Souls? Talk to anyone who’s played Dark Souls and they’ll unhesitatingly tell you that it’s the toughest game they’ve ever played. They’ll tell you that they suffered a 1000 deaths, they’ll curse the AI, curse the bosses ( Ornstein and Smough, anyone?) and rave and rant about the poor console port on PC. They will, however, also tell you that it’s a game they couldn’t put down and that it’s the most challenging and rewarding game that they’ve played in a long time. Dark Souls succeeded in doing that because it was a game with tight, responsive controls, gameplay that rewarded observant players and a story that was as shallow or as deep as you wanted it to be. The game was hard as a consequence of the design, not, as many believe, it’s raison d’être. You wouldn’t called Super Mario hard, would you? It’s still a very challenging game to get right, but you learn as you play along. That’s Dark Souls’ core mechanic in a nutshell. With the mobile version of the game, Namco Bandai themselves seem to have missed this point completely. Slashy Souls is definitely inspired by Dark Souls and seems like an attempt to cash in on the hype surrounding Dark Souls III. You start as a knight at a bonfire, immediately get up and start wading through monsters at a breakneck pace. The monster’s in question will be familiar to any Dark Souls fan. You encounter Nito (very early on, within 10 seconds even), enemies that look like hollows, dragons, etc. Slashy Souls is fun enough by itself; a quick, 10-second rampage through a Dark Soul-esque world (longer once you acquire enough skill). The game just throws you into the fray with no warning and no tutorial. Learn fast and die fast. That’s the only way you’ll survive. As a stand-alone experience, the game is fun. As a Dark Souls fan, I’m disappointed. Even if I were to forgive the fact that it’s an endless runner and not a sprawling RPG like Dark Souls, it’s got a myriad of other issues. For one thing, the controls aren’t very responsive, once you figure them out, which is another, albeit minor, problem. Dark Souls had a tutorial, one that taught you the basics of movement and combat. What you had to learn was how best to use your skills. Whatever the case, Dark Souls’ controls never let you down. Slashy Souls’ controls do. Give the game a try, it’s not half bad. Unless you’re a Souls fan.