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Although the game has amazing combat, our Lost Souls Aside review explains why it falls short as an adventure game on the whole.
Lost Soul Aside is a feast for action fans, dazzling with stylish combat and versatile puzzles. But beneath its high-octane exterior, familiar flaws hold the adventure back. If there’s one thing this journey taught me, it’s that technical mastery can electrify, yet immersion needs the game to have a soul. At the end of the day, some battles cannot be won with adrenaline alone.
- Developer: UltiZero Games
- Publisher: Sony Publishing LLM
- Release Date: August 29, 2025
- Platforms: PC, PS5
- Reviewed On: PC
Lost Soul Aside had created quite the hype, and I was really excited to review it right off the bat. When I started playing, I had a positive outlook since the trailers showed an amazing rendition of what seemed like a “Final Fantasy meets Devil May Cry” title. Being an adrenaline-junkie, this seemed like an easy game to adjust to for me. As I kept delving more, it became evident that I would need to convince myself to see it till the end.
Don’t get me wrong, Lost Soul Aside is not a bad game by any means. Yang Bing’s solo project that fell under the purview of Sony’s PlayStation China Hero Project seems to have done a good job, but it was hardly enough. For a title that was revealed in 2016 and released in 2025, there’s only one giant elephant in the room: Is Lost Soul Aside worth it?
For the price tag and the hype, I would have expected more from Lost Soul Aside. A lot more, in fact. Weighing the pros and cons of this game is going to be an unfair task since the scale will heavily tip towards one side, and it’s not the ideal one. And in this Lost Soul Aside review, I will explain exactly how I reached this conclusion.
Lost Soul Aside Offers Impressive Combat Mechanics, But Falls Short In Key Areas
Thankfully, Lost Soul Aside does not have a mandatory PSN link requirement. Once you get past the initial calibrations, you are thrown into the heat of battle, playing as a severely overpowered human-monster hybrid. In a way, this serves as your tutorial fight, although it’s more like a ‘press-anything-to-win’ scenario.
You get a glimpse of the world in conflict, which is cut short by Louisa waking up. You meet the main character, Kaser, soon afterwards, who is a good Samaritan, liked by the oppressed locals, and is a rebel fighting for a cause. Oh, he is also Louisa’s older brother. Does this all seem cliched? To me, it did.
Story: Cliched, Predictable, and Linear
Lost Soul Aside tries to have a branching story where there are various factions. You start off as a member of GLIMMER, the anti-empire resistance group. In the prologue missions, you see a third entity, Voidrax, which threatens all of humanity. Now, this sounds like a compelling plot, yes? I did find it exciting, only to realize that I had set myself up for a major disappointment.
The more I played, Lost Soul Aside’s story felt more like a shounen anime with your typical popular male protagonist. Instead of watching it, you’re living it instead. A talented but powerless Kaser gets caught up in a supernatural conflict and fuses with one of the most powerful beings (Arena) out of sheer luck. And then, Louisa’s soul gets stolen, and Kaser, being the doting big brother, must recover it. Out of pure coincidence, to get his sister’s soul back, Kaser must also solve this supernatural conflict that threatens humanity.
I can almost guarantee that after the first chapter, you will be able to predict what happens in the next part. And you will be correct, for the most part as well. Characters that you think are evil – bam, they are! Characters who you think can become your allies – yeah, they are.
And that’s about it. Lost Soul Aside could easily pass off as an interactive anime, something akin to Netflix’s Black Mirror. In between, there are some decent “the plot thickens” moments, that is very loosely tied up. On the positive side, the story does have a good ending. It might even put a smile on your face, in a very “the real treasure was the friends we made along the way-” style.
Gameplay: Where The Game Truly Shines
Lost Soul Aside has one of the best combat mechanics I have seen in recent times. There are a variety of weapons, each with its own skill tree and innate abilities. Each weapon offers something unique that is not available with the others, be it in combat or while solving others. The best part – you can use all of them in tandem to find your own style. It’s fluid and extremely satisfactory. The skills are equally entertaining, and there are sufficient options to cater to every type of player. Long-ranged auto turrets and earth-shattering structures that pierce the enemies – no stone has been left unturned. And the customization options – a great addition in a well-implemented system.
On the other hand, when it comes to the gameplay loop, it’s somewhat boring. Each area has the same cycle overall – go from point A to point B, fight mobs and bosses along the way, and then find the Alternate Dimension. Inside this special dimension that ties closely to the story, you essentially complete this same loop. You can accurately predict every area where a fight will take place simply by looking at its surroundings. An empty arena with lots of free space and no NPCs or enemies? It’s either a boss fight or a multi-wave mob fight for sure.
However, I cannot help but applaud how amazingly versatile the puzzles are in Lost Soul Aside. There’s not just one type, but you will find nearly every major puzzle that you love. From levels with “the floor is lava” mechanics to sliding on your Greatsword like Tony Hawk, and even connecting the dots, it does not end. Some puzzles also require you to use multiple weapons, which adds an interesting twist and a precedence factor.
Bosses: Great, But Overextended Fights
In the beginning stages, boss fights were a treat. Each boss had a different style, and I needed to use my skills properly to get them down to their health (or senses). Their design is not otherworldly, but there’s enough variation. Small bosses, big bosses, slow bosses, agile and hyper-aggressive bosses – you’ll find all of these eventually. Some fights also have time-limited mini-puzzles that will often test your reflexes and decision-making skills.
However, as I kept progressing and met more bosses, one thing became clear – the fights are overextended. The bosses are not too difficult by any means, but it is their shields that are the problem. Some bosses can have three or four shields, meaning you will need to get their health down to zero that many times. If each stage had a new mechanic or had the boss change its appearance, like multi-phase fights, I would be elated. Instead, it is the same loop every time you bring its health down. There’s no element of surprise either; you get to see these shield stages the moment you begin the fight.
All that aside, the boss-fight sequences, especially towards the end of the game, are nothing short of spectacles. The surroundings, the color bursts, and the cutscenes managed to get my adrenaline pumping just right. From black holes to cosmic rays and beams that feel like Heimdall opened the Bifrost chamber in Asgard – it’s managed to give me goosebumps more than once.
Characters: It’s A Mess
One of my primary gripes with Lost Soul Aside is how absolutely forgettable the characters are. All the characters seem to be completely devoid of emotion. Neither the voice acting nor the facial expressions does any justice to what the tone of the game is. Kaser, the protagonist, is too stoic. Even when his sister Louisa’s soul was taken away, his expression was just…numb. It’s like watching Keanu Reeves from the John Wick series – cold and impossible to read.
Louisa, whom you meet at the very beginning, feels like an Android. She is all smiles, with no expression once again. Her eyes are always bright and shiny, but that’s about it. For the majority of the part, this is the same for all the characters that you will come across. Their reaction to world-breaking events just feels scripted. If there were a game genre with a specialization on “poker face” variants, Lost Soul Aside takes the top spot easily.
Now, Arena is crucial to the entire story of Lost Soul Aside. Safe to say he is perhaps the most important canon character, an alien entity who’s more than 1000 years old. I’d expect some kind of wisdom from him, or a nature akin to that of Mimir from God of War. What I got instead was a non-stop talking machine who is just childish and boastful. Arena has a really annoying personality, and he has static dialogue that he will keep saying throughout the game. “Over here!’, or “Like this”, and my personal favorite, “Behold Lord Arena’s power.” This being likes to address itself as “Lord” Arena, but his actions are…the opposite of it.
Some of you might enjoy this banter, but not me. Unfortunately, I had to listen through all of it because this banter between Kaser and Lord Arena is how a majority of Lost Soul Aside’s lore is told. All while you are traveling together, not in any cutscene.
Performance: Audio and Visuals
Lost Soul Aside is extremely CPU-intensive. When I first launched the game, the very first cut-scene gave me jitters. I like to think that I have an above-average build with the following specs:
- Ryzen 5 7600X
- RTX 4070 Super
- 32 GB DDR5 RAM (6000 MHz)
Even with these, I had to reduce my View Distance by two stages to get a jitter-free experience. Throughout the game, I did experience several other stutters from time to time, although it was nothing major and did not last for more than a few seconds. That aside, the game does have great graphics. Nothing too otherworldly, but good enough to warrant a few stops here and there for sightseeing.
On the audio perspective, I think Lost Soul Aside nailed it. For the most part, you’ll get progressive music that fits the vibe of the fights completely. Conflict-free areas have soothing music, while the musical overlords will rip out their electric guitars during epic boss fights. If only the voice acting had some more emotion, at least in the English variant, it could have been a 10/10 on the sound aspect.
In Conclusion
Lost Soul Aside is a great showcase of frenetic combat and intriguing puzzles. But beneath its flashy exterior, it falls short of the expectations built by years of hype. The adrenaline rush is real – there’s just something magical about juggling weapons mid-battle and sending shockwaves. Yet, the story leans too heavily on familiar anime tropes, and the cast struggles to make a lasting emotional impression. As the credits rolled, I felt less like “I survived an epic odyssey” and more along the lines of “I watched a pretty decent anime and pressed a lot of buttons along the way”.
On the other hand, the lack of emotions, dialogue looping, and personalities leaning heavily on archetypes with poker-faced responses misses all the spots that this game should have hit. Is Lost Soul Aside worth it? It’s an easy yes if you want a defining combat system and puzzles. For anyone else, I can’t say I recommend the game at its full price. Lost Soul Aside shines as a stylish combat game, but does not quite reach its potential as a full adventure.
Lost Soul Aside excels with its fluid combat mechanics and diverse weapon systems, offering a highly satisfying and customizable gameplay experience. The puzzle variety and visually impressive boss battles add depth and adrenaline to the action, complimented by good music.
However, the game suffers from a cliched, predictable story and emotionally flat characters, making the narrative and dialogue uninspiring. Gameplay loops and boss fights become repetitive over time and feel overextended. This game is ideal for combat-driven gamers, but those seeking emotional or narrative depth might be disappointed.
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