Given my stance on Vampire Survivors it might surprise folks to find out I actually rather enjoy Soulstone Survivors in its current iteration. I don't feel it necessary to go super deep into it so here are some jumbled thoughts as a comparison to VS:
The addition of attacks outside of bullets and contact damage is fantastic, especially with telegraphed AOEs. Coupled with your dodge there is an actual skill floor here, even if it can be reduced to 'don't stand in red'.
Skills are incredibly diverse and allow for a wide array of builds. That you can swap out your six active skills as desired lessens the possibility of thinking you made a poor choice. Having theoretically infinite passive skills also makes builds more flexible if needed.
Breaking those skills into sub-categories makes it easy to understand how they might interact cohesively. If I get a passive skill that increases the area or damage of my Slam skills, I'm more compelled to get more Slam skills which themselves might synthesise well through their Physical typing or Hemorrhage debuffs.
The focus on getting run times down, rather than just surviving for thirty minutes encourages more offensive-oriented play which is more engaging and wastes less time. With less focus on defence and more attention given to offence and dodging, skilful play is more important than turtling.
Curses (at least below 25) lead to a more dynamic game session that also lets you power up faster in a way that's very fun. Having multiple elites spawn at once makes them delicious XP sources. I've read that curses get out of control at the high end but I haven't yet encountered that.
Getting your run time down lets you continue the run in another level with far greater difficulty and rewards, but also a lowered enemy kill requirement for bosses. I can't say how much this is offset by the increased stats of enemies but it seems to get faster and faster.
The rune system, though laborious to fully unlock, allows you to mix and match different characters' skill sets and generally mix up your playstyle much more than VS ever did or does.
On the whole, Soulstone Survivors is pretty damn good (for a Survivors-like) thus far. I find it kind of similar to doing Nephalem Rifts in Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, particularly as your build snowballs into absurdity. That it circumvents my two biggest gripes with Survivors-likes (time investment and lack of player agency) has me hopeful other developers chasing this trend follow in Soulstone Survivors' steps rather than Vampire Survivors'.
The addition of attacks outside of bullets and contact damage is fantastic, especially with telegraphed AOEs. Coupled with your dodge there is an actual skill floor here, even if it can be reduced to 'don't stand in red'.
Skills are incredibly diverse and allow for a wide array of builds. That you can swap out your six active skills as desired lessens the possibility of thinking you made a poor choice. Having theoretically infinite passive skills also makes builds more flexible if needed.
Breaking those skills into sub-categories makes it easy to understand how they might interact cohesively. If I get a passive skill that increases the area or damage of my Slam skills, I'm more compelled to get more Slam skills which themselves might synthesise well through their Physical typing or Hemorrhage debuffs.
The focus on getting run times down, rather than just surviving for thirty minutes encourages more offensive-oriented play which is more engaging and wastes less time. With less focus on defence and more attention given to offence and dodging, skilful play is more important than turtling.
Curses (at least below 25) lead to a more dynamic game session that also lets you power up faster in a way that's very fun. Having multiple elites spawn at once makes them delicious XP sources. I've read that curses get out of control at the high end but I haven't yet encountered that.
Getting your run time down lets you continue the run in another level with far greater difficulty and rewards, but also a lowered enemy kill requirement for bosses. I can't say how much this is offset by the increased stats of enemies but it seems to get faster and faster.
The rune system, though laborious to fully unlock, allows you to mix and match different characters' skill sets and generally mix up your playstyle much more than VS ever did or does.
On the whole, Soulstone Survivors is pretty damn good (for a Survivors-like) thus far. I find it kind of similar to doing Nephalem Rifts in Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, particularly as your build snowballs into absurdity. That it circumvents my two biggest gripes with Survivors-likes (time investment and lack of player agency) has me hopeful other developers chasing this trend follow in Soulstone Survivors' steps rather than Vampire Survivors'.
Reviewed on Nov 19, 2022
Erato_Heti
1 year ago
I'll definitely give it a shot. Great write up and very to the point. I need to start getting into the habit of bullet point paragraphs to.