Rebellion GODSOUL: Awakening Review

Rebellion GODSOUL: Awakening is one of those indie games that doesn't really say what it is; it just blasts open the door and yells, "Cyberpunk waifus and card battles!" The game was developed by the Chinese independent studio U-Secret Studio and went into Early Access on Steam on May 1, 2025. 

They have already tried combining anime style with complex gameplay in a previous project, which was a hybrid visual novel. Rebellion GODSOUL: Awakening, on the other hand, is clearly their most ambitious project to date. It combines card-based combat, RPG elements, dungeon crawling, story choices, and more than 40 beautifully illustrated girls.

Your mind might be telling you, "This sounds like a fever dream." Indeed, you would be right. But fans of Arknights, Honkai: Star Rail, and Goddess of Victory: Nikke might be happy to keep dreaming about it.

The story takes place in a cyberpunk future version of Dream City, where people's dreams are stolen by powerful corporations and AI that have been turned into weapons. You play as a "Rebel," someone who is trying to fight back against this regime that drains people's souls with the help of "Linkers," girls who were born when the world's mysterious GodSoul fragments met.

Each Linker has her past, emotional baggage, and chapters that can be unlocked. With multiple endings and branching stories, the story structure lets you pick your path and get closer to the characters. There are even some philosophical thoughts about identity, freedom, and the human mind. Just enough to make you stop in the middle of a fight and ask yourself, "Did that waifu just drop a metaphysical truth bomb?"

To sum up, Rebellion GODSOUL: Awakening is a game that is mostly about the characters. Fighting against injustice is just as important as getting to know these girls and the terrible things they've been through. There are a lot of different ways to play this game, but they all work together somehow. 

Some of the things you do are turn-based card battles, deck-building, dungeon crawling, interacting with characters through visual novel segments, and managing your party. You make a team with three Linkers (which are like frontline units) and three GodSouls (which are like support units). Each of them brings their own set of cards to the table.

In this type of game, you usually go through dungeons and choose from different "nodes," which can be shops, story events, battles, or rest stops. When you're not fighting, you play a visual novel-style story where you make choices that affect your relationship with the Linkers and sometimes change how the story ends. 

As you talk, fight, and interact with your squad more, you'll unlock more content, some of which may be more dramatic or personal story moments. There's also a system called "Tactical Plan," which lets you plan out your team's setup and deck before you even go into a dungeon. This lets you try a lot of different things, but at first, you might feel limited by the cards you have.

Card synergy and strategic timing are at the heart of the battle. Battles are turn-based, and the number of cards you can play each round is controlled by your energy. Each card has a skill that depends on who is on your team, whether it's a basic attack, a buff, a debuff, a heal, or an ultimate ability.

Since cards are drawn from the pool of all three active Linkers and GodSouls, it's important to make sure your team is well-balanced. Some cards can "chain," which means they give you extra benefits if you play them in the right order. One card might, for example, deal damage that another card can then use to do extra damage.

When certain Linkers are paired together, the game also has "Bond Activations" and "Chain Reactions." These small changes to how the game works give each battle more depth and make it fun to play again and again.

However, early encounters feel a bit repetitive because you only have a few cards. Until your team levels up and gets more abilities, you may find yourself using the same few attacks over and over again. Luckily, the game gets a lot harder in battle once you've spent time building your squad and unlocking new cards.

Rebellion GODSOUL: Awakening's combat is very well done, and there are many things to like about it. The basic rules of cards are easy to understand, but they offer strategic depth through positioning and synergy. You aren't just throwing cards around at random; you're planning ahead several turns and keeping an eye on cooldowns, buffs, and how well the team works together.

In spite of that, there are some mistakes. First, the animations during battle aren't always very good. You were hoping for a flashy combo, but all you get is a simple attack with a weird pause. Also, there are still some balance issues, as some Linkers are much stronger than others at the start.

The fighting gets better as you play, but the first few hours might make you think otherwise. There is some thought behind it, but it's not as strategic as Hearthstone either. Thanks to the ability to build decks and work together, you have a lot of freedom to choose how you want to play.

You get XP when you level up as a Linker and when you reach a certain "Rebel" level. You get XP when you win fights, finish story missions, and unlock character arcs. Linkers get new skills, better stats, and more card options as they level up. You can get special abilities and CGs when you unlock their "Awakened" forms by making progress in the story.

In a card battler, grinding isn't as boring as you might think. The story events, roguelite dungeon runs, and card unlocks are set up in a way that keeps you moving forward. Progress also gives you a good sense of reward; getting a new card that changes how a character plays is more satisfying than just seeing a number go up.

For those who like theory-crafting and strong loadouts, the XP and grind loop will be fun. You can still enjoy the game with auto-combat and some quality-of-life features if that's not the case.

Rebellion GODSOUL: Awakening is really beautiful. Some of the best animation in the Live2D style can be found here. Each Linker is fully animated, with facial expressions that show emotion, smooth transitions, and fancy costumes that are just the right amount of edgy and classy.

The backgrounds of the cyberpunk cityscape and the dungeons are stylized with neon lights, dark areas, and glowing glyphs. It's the kind of place where you want to stop and look at every detail, from the floating monoliths to the paths soaked in rain.

The CG cutscenes deserve extra praise. These aren't used very often, but when they do, they really hit. Beautiful pictures with bright colors and strong contrast help make emotional or plot-heavy scenes come to life in a way that feels like a movie.

The sound design is good, but sometimes it doesn't work right. The music changes between slow cyberpunk synth and fast boss fight music, which keeps the pace interesting. Some songs, though, loop too quickly or have too little energy for the dramatic events they go with.

At the moment, voice acting is only available in Chinese. In a future update, Japanese will also be added. Even if you don't understand the language, the performances are very moving. Some players have said that sound effects sometimes fail to work or play at the wrong time during battle, but it's not a big deal. The soundscape does its job as a whole—it's moody and has a theme—but later patches could add more polish and variety.

Rebellion GODSOUL: Awakening tries to be a mix of different types of games and anime stories. Even though it's not perfect, the game is brave, stylish, and fun to play again and again. It's surprisingly well done how well deck-building and story arcs work together. Once the game gets going, you'll be planning battles, reading character routes, and jumping into another dungeon to get that one special CG.

The sound and the speed of early battles could use some work, but for a game that's still in Early Access, it's a long way ahead of the curve. This is definitely one to keep an eye on, as future updates promise voice options and more story content.