The French studio 1P2P makes its debut with Young Souls, a game that combines the best of Beat ’em up, a fighting style between cover and attack, heir to the Souls, but also so many RPG elements that I can’t even describe them in a paragraph.
Young Souls is now available for PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch
Rebel twins between two worlds
In Young Souls Not everything is pineapples and kicks, the game took very seriously to tell the story of the two protagonists; twins Jenn and Tristan. These orphaned red-haired brothers were always marginalized by society and therefore took a hostile attitude to anyone who decides to run into their path.
Things change a bit when a scientist adopts them and invites them to live in his house. One day the man disappears and the brothers find a portal in the basement to a dimension ruled by goblins. Not only does their adventure begin there, but they will also discover the mystery that links the town with this secret fantasy city.
Young Souls It has two protagonists supported by their rebellious and punk spirit; something that they surely inherit from older brothers like street of rage either Final Fight. The dialogues are always without fear of consequences; clear indication of Jenn and Tristan’s age. And there are quite a few in the game, both in cutscenes and in gameplay.
For those who can’t stand it and want to jump into the action, the 1P2P studio decided that instead of skipping the narrative sequences they can keep a bunch and watch them as if they were in FF fast version of a VHS tape.
Shape those muscles and sharpen that blade
my first impression with Young Souls It was good… how many things this game offers; thinking that the one that covers a lot little squeezes. But the opposite turned out and its various mechanics fit together without problems.
The first thing to consider is that the title can be played cooperatively (where each one controls a brother) or solo where with a button we change characters. If one of the two falls in battle we can revive it with the other a couple of times.
There are four difficulty modes, a level of damage you deal and take from the enemy; as well as the speed of the game to make quick games or take your time. Quite a few options depending on the player.
From the beginning, the first dungeon or dungeon tells us how to play Young Souls. There is not much science but learning the technique is the most fun. We have a simple attack, if we keep it up it does a heavy attack, a ranged attack, a special one, grab and slash. But what we first have to learn, as its term “souls” indicates, is to use the shield to parry at the right time.
As we advance from stage to stage we are battling with various enemies of greater strength, speed, more quantity; etc. The ideal is to learn to counter each attack. Or throw boxes to lower his strength and not sacrifice either of the two brothers.
If the Beat ’em up falls short, Young Souls squeezes another genre that is the RPG. In each dungeon we will find a lot of swords, axes, armor, helmets; etc. Everything is essential to dress our protagonists and overcome the greatest challenges. And not everything is clothing, we will also have to train our body and rest until the next day.
The brothers have a level of experience that is growing and when we return to the normal world; we go to the city where we will find several activities to do. The most common is to go to the gym to mark those abs. This series of repetitions and skills improve endurance, stamina and strength.
Another common thing in RPGs are shops and there are in both worlds; both in fantasy and in reality. To do this we have to discover several chests and coin boxes.
The Nouvelle Punk Vague
Young Souls It has a visual style closer to comics and very “cartoon” especially in the cinematics and expressions of the characters. It is not super remarkable but it does have enough identity and imprint within the narrative of the game.
Some scenarios can be a bit repetitive (especially their backgrounds) but with a gameplay that invites you to progress and advance in the story; I don’t see it as annoying.
System Requirements
MINIMUM: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system – OS: Windows 7 – Processor: Intel Core i3-2100 or AMD Phenom II X4 965 – Memory: 8 GB RAM – Graphics: GeForce GTX 650 Ti, 2 GB or AMD Radeon R7 360, 2 GB – DirectX: Version 9.0 – Storage: 6 GB available space
RECOMMENDED: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system – OS: Windows 10 – Processor: Intel Core i5-4570 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200 – Memory: 8 GB RAM – Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760, 2 GB or AMD Radeon HD 7950, 3 GB – DirectX: Version 9.0 – Storage: 6 GB available space