Soul Sacrifice

While Soul Sacrifice draws frequent comparisons to the Monster Hunter franchise for its focus on defeating large monsters with up to three other companions, Soul Sacrifice opts for much faster arcade-like gameplay while simplifying item drops and minimizing grinding. The addictive "just one more" nature of quests keeps the ride refreshing and fun the whole way through.

Every monster defeated in Soul Sacrifice can be disposed of in your way of choosing: saving or sacrificing. More a gameplay choice than moral, players have 100 levels they can split between Life levels or Magic levels with the former boosting defense and recovery while the latter increases damage. This allows for more typical build archetypes commonly seen in MMORPGs such as tanks, supports, and damage dealers, providing an interesting team synergy that is somewhat suppressed in Monster Hunter. Players can also de-level at a minimal cost to experiment with different level ratios, but expect heavy time investment if one wishes to constantly swap between alignments as the lost levels must be regained normally.

One of my issues with the saving and sacrificing dynamic is that it can also determine what quests are locked or unlocked. While it makes sense in the story-based set of quests which are exclusively offline content, this design bleeds into the set of quests used for multiplayer as well, creating an unnecessary annoyance when setting up online games or looking for specific missions to do. While on the topic of quests, the game is quite fun whether solo or playing with others. Some quests featuring two archfiends at the same time can be challenging solo, but those looking for a purely offline experience will not be disappointed as there are no multiplayer exclusive drops or content. Multiplayer is balanced with HP scaling to player count, making it important that every player carry their weight.

Before every battle, players choose up to 6 offerings and set them as actions, similar to an MMO skill bar. Offerings encompass everything from weapons and summons to healing and stasis magic, so there is no shortage of variety in actions. Offerings can be swapped to on the fly, but aside from the elemental stun and burst, there is little synergy between offerings. While expecting a combo system on the level of Devil May Cry may be a bit much, having quick access to 6 different abilities with no combo or chain-like interaction between any of them feels a little disappointing. Offerings have casting limits which can be refilled by sacrifices. Exceeding the limit can break the offering so players must seek a balance between focusing on monsters and replenishing offerings.

The two biggest draws of Monster Hunter games are the monsters and the loot, and Soul Sacrifice has managed to create an impressive cast of monsters while simplifying the loot system to keep the focus on the action. Although lacking the complexity of Capcom's monsters with the absence of dynamic AI patterns and routines, Soul Sacrifice's archfiends make up for it in visual variety and aggressive AI. Visually, they are fantastic twisted re-imaginings of monsters from fiction like the Cerberus and Harpy, each accompanied by well-written pieces of lore. In gameplay, monsters are relentless and will constantly chase down targets. The aggressiveness of monsters, combined with arena-like maps often filled with smaller monsters and explosive mandrakes, demand that players be constantly on alert. Whether attacking, evading, retreating, or managing offering casts, there is little room for pause in action, a stark contrast to Monster Hunter's more tactical but cautious gameplay.

Item grinding in Soul Sacrifice is minimized and, in the case of sigils, entirely optional. Quests have guaranteed offering rewards, so players can quickly amass their desired offerings provided they are capable of completing the quest. Higher rank quests award better spells bypassing the need to farm lower rank offerings for hours just to boost it up to high rank. Monster drops are distilled to 6 drops per monster type, 3 for saving and 3 for sacrificing. These unlock sigils and nothing else, minimizing the RNG factor to a single area of the game, but also limits the feeling of reward from defeating monsters for players not interested in sigils. That drops are not used outside of sigils can also make it difficult for players to stomach farming hundreds of the same monster. For people who do not have hundreds of hours to invest into grinding for the higher tier sigils, it is a decent trade-off as the majority of sigils are purely numerical stat boosts that cannot replace skillful play. However, those expecting rare costumes or weapons to serve as a visual display of their dedication to the grind may need to look elsewhere.

Performance-wise, the game runs well and looks great on the Vita. Lower quality distant ground textures are slightly distracting but do not detract too much from the great player and monster models.The online net code is also stable, although framerate takes a visible hit in 4 player matches with golems, explosions, and projectiles flying every second. The game uses a lobby system, and communication is carried out through free input in lobbies and preset messages in missions. Players looking to use voice chat must use the Vita's party chat application.

Soul Sacrifice is a fun game, and Vita owners looking for something to scratch their action game itch should definitely check it out. The game's bite-sized mission structure makes it great for portable gaming, and the fast-paced action and satisfying gameplay increase the potential to get lost in a session for hours. While the minimization and de-emphasis on loot can cut end game short for some, it makes for a less daunting title where players can feel powerful and useful without significant grinding. Overall, Soul Sacrifice is a refreshing take on monster hunting and I highly recommend it to Vita owners with any interest in the genre.