Kristala Play NYC Preview - Soulslike With Cats

Souslike games tend to attract gamers seeking difficult challenges. Titles such as The Surge, Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption, Remnant: From the Ashes, and many more have taken inspiration from FromSoftware's games to create their own adventures. The indie developers of Astral Clocktower Studios seek to tell a new story using those same systems, and you get to play as a feline warrior.

Kirstala has players in the role of a sapient, anthropomorphic feline warrior seeking to master 6 specialized magic classes of the ancient Sacred Kristal and become the framed warrior Raksaka. That may sound whimsical the title is actually a dark fantasy tale, where a curse has turned the populist into mutated creatures and the people in glittering statues. 

The title more or less plays like a Soulslike game. Your character isn't limited by melee or magic and can use both. With the player about to swap between weapons and a wand easily. A stamina meter conveys how much you can swing your blade, sprint, and dodge, and a mana meter is presented for magical abilities. You can replenish this using orbs that are found in the environment or on the bodies of fallen enemies.

The enemies are well-designed with large spiders, statues of the populist that sometimes attack, and other nasty creatures. Managing the field is essential to success and the game encourages exploration by providing lore documents around.

Controls are simple but the game does not pause the action when you check your inventory which adds to the tension. Combat is responsive but dodging takes little stamina and crosses more distance than sprinting, making dodging quicker and more efficient than running. Also, there are some annoying invisible barriers in paths you should be able to fall from for quicker traveling. But these are things that will get addressed and balanced as the game's development continues.

The demo provided a short look, with only 1 of the 6 warrior clans available. Each clan has unique special abilities to encourage replayability. The area was a large forest, 1 boss fight against an aggressive teleporting foe, and heading into a cave. It was brief but highlighted what the project is about. 

This was an early build and a lot of work is still needed. But what was provided shows that progress is being made and Kristala has the potential to be something great. A demo is currently set for 2022 for PC and plans for a Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox release. No full release date was provided.
 

Adam Siddiqui,
Managing Editor, NoobFeed
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