Welcome Time Wasters!
I’m switching back to mobile this week to check out Battle Souls. It’s a turn-based RPG that has also a bit of a table-top adventure feel to it. It’s actually been a slow burn for me as I’ve been playing it for about a month now, but it’s finally time to move on.
The gameplay in Battle Souls follows the basics of turn-based combat. The game moves through each character’s turn and they have the option of taking an action before the next turn occurs. The neat thing here is that players can customize a party of four and choose between a variety of skills. Some of these work better on different enemy types, or when used in a certain order. The game calls this tactical combat, but I’m hard-pressed to think of a turn-based RPG that doesn’t offer these kinds of options to players.
Getting character for the player’s party is where a minor issue comes in for me. This is a gacha game through and through, which I’m really just not a fan of. To be fair, this is one of the better options I’ve played. Battle Souls is somewhat generous with its premium currency and that makes it easy enough to get some decent characters starting out.
The biggest problem that Battle Souls has is that it is just so dang grindy. I get that this is a common trait of these games, but it’s one that I can never quite get over. What I enjoy most about an RPG is leveling up and seeing stats increase. When the time required for the next level is so long, I lose more and more interest in the game. Personally, I would much more enjoy a game with loads of characters and quicker leveling. I would get that high off leveling up more frequently and be willing to experiment with different characters. Instead, I just stick to the best units I start with and never care to make any changes. That too plays into the boredom of the grind due to the lack of variety.
Battle Souls has it’s premium currency and buying extra of it will cost real money. However, the game also supports itself with mandatory ads after levels. I’m never a fan of these, but at least there’s a fair amount of gameplay between them, That and the decent amount of premium currency that the game gives makes me feel like it balances out well enough.
The long gameplay between ads comes from how Battle Souls handles its exploring. Players move along one a map set up like a board game. Landing on certain tiles can cause them to run into events. These can be battles, but there are also a few other options. Among these are roleplay choices, such as begging a wandering priest for help, or find the best way to remove a trap from a chest. These break up the combat well enough but start to repeat themselves not too long into the game.
The visuals in Battle Souls are a mixed bad. On the one hand, the game has some great sprite work filled to the brim with details. Then there’s the other hand, which holds clunky animations that lack any kind of fluid motion whatsoever.
As far as the audio goes, it’s really fitting for the visuals. There’s a lot of atmospheric sounds and the music present gives off a bit of a viking adventure feel. I can’t say I’ll remember it a week from now, but I enjoyed it while I was playing.
Overall, Battle Souls is a decent way to kill some time. I’m not a big fan of the gacha game genre, but this one held my attention much longer than I was expecting. Go ahead and give it a look if you enjoy that kind of thing.
Battle Souls earns 3 GiN Gems out of 5!