OverBorder Studio presents Thymesia, a new Souls that comes to PC and new generation consoles, with clear references to Bloodborne; without this being a bad thing either.
Thymesia It is available for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
The ambition of the Kingdom of Hermes
In Thymesia We put ourselves in the shoes of Corvus, a man who has lost his memories and must cross the land of Hermes. A kingdom that at one time was the cradle of research through alchemy, but the more these potions were used, it ended up creating chaos among his people. Madness and strange creatures destroyed what was left.
We will have to recover our memory in order to stop this infection that is destroying the nation. For that we have Aisemy, a spiritual girl who serves as a guide in this world of dreams and nightmares.
The story, like other Souls, unfolds throughout each scenario, but unfortunately it is not as attractive as it can be in this type of genre. We know a little more about this world and Corvus from cuts and some dialogues (without voices) but at least they didn’t catch me. This cryptic way of telling a story ends up giving alternative endings.
Between skill, luck and farming
Thymesia It is a game for patients. Sure, all souls are. We start the game and they confront us with an impossible enemy to defeat, we lose and start the adventure. Just like in Sekiro or Elden Ring.
The game features four zones to explore, from the Tree of the Sea of Fools to the Fortress of Hermes. In the first instance I tried to advance among the enemies but I always ran into someone who, with an ax or sword blow, eliminated me with a single blow. Dodging, parrying was impossible until I realized that it was better to farm over and over and over and over an area before I got to where I always got killed. This way Corvus had more chances. Why?.
Corvus has a series of fast swords but at the same time a infected claw that does all the work. Thanks to this claw we can not only eliminate our enemies but also steal some weapons such as hammers, spears, daggers; etc. These secondary weapons can be acquired forever when we reach a save point; although its use is limited.
The more enemies we finish, we collect talent points, fragments of memories, elements to make health potions; etc. We level up either to have more strength, more life or greater attack from our infected claw. We also have a feather attack to stop the impact of an enemy. Once we are in conditions, we will face everything that comes across without problems, until we find another powerful enemy and we farm again; etc. The process can be tedious at times and satisfying at others.
If we are experts in this kind of game, performing a parry or diversion to accumulate strength, while attacking with a variety of weapons will be a piece of cake. Many enemies repeat the attack patterns and have some weak point in their strategy.
Once we defeat the final boss of an area, we return to Philosopher’s Hill, a place that works as our base and where we can access new memories or return to past places but with certain changes, secondary missions and some hidden bosses. This adds a bit of replayability to the title.
I got a Miyazaki in my eye
There is no doubt that From Software served as a reference to create a new genre. These Souls Like not only affect the gameplay but also its visual tone. Gloomy environments and dark corners are repeated throughout Thymesia. His designs are not bad, but he would have preferred something more original and not so common in this type of game. Even the design of various enemies is repetitive, except for the final bosses that shine in their uniqueness.
Due to the lack of voices in the dialogues, OverBorder Studio did a delicate job in its sound setting: footsteps, screams, and chain noises provide enough setting to plunge us fully into some scenes that even make our hair stand on end.
The Gothic and Gregorian music is also very good, off when we’re walking but on when the fighting starts and gives that epic feeling at the moment.
System Requirements
MINIMUM: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system – OS: Windows 10 (64 Bit) – Processor: Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 – Memory: 8 GB RAM – Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 or Radeon HD 7970 – DirectX: Version 12 – Storage: 16 GB of available space
RECOMMENDED: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system – OS: Windows 10 (64 Bit)
Processor: Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 7 – Memory: 16 GB RAM – Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 580 – DirectX: Version 12 – Storage: 16 GB available space