Many forget that Code Vein was quietly a pretty massive seller for Bandai Namco, so it’s a surprise we haven’t seen more anime-style adaptations of the Souls genre. Unending Dawn – announced as part of Sony’s incubation programme China Hero Project earlier this week – fits the bill, with a methodical combat system and a cel-shaded graphics style.
This first direct-feed gameplay, as captured by Gematsu from Sony’s huge ChinaJoy 2024 booth in Shanghai this weekend, proves there’s plenty of potential here – but clearly the experience is still extremely early. The gameplay looks like it’s running in slow motion, as the engine struggles to keep up with the demands being thrown at it. The animations also look unrefined and unfinished.
But to be fair, there’s no release date attached to this game just yet, so it clearly has many months of development ahead of it – perhaps even years. There’s promise in the combat system, which utilises parries and counter-attacks, and we’re quite fond of the vibrant art style, which provides a welcome change from the dark fantasy of FromSoftware et al.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 18
ChinaJoy showed a lot of interesting stuff. This in particular is something I feel is worth keeping an eye on. Protag has an interesting design.
None of these soulslikes do anything to stand out. They all look, play and feel the same. Same typical game-y open environments. Nothing resembling any real world architecture. It's as if you're going through a Mario game.
I'm playing PS3 games lately and the amount of detail in gameplay, environments, movement, animations, physics it's stunning.
They're all unique.
This is like "hEy LoOk we got Dark Souls, but in animeee! So like, totally awesome riiight!?"
It has potential. Let's see if that can capitalize on that. I'd love more animesouls games!
I'm also quite surprised it isn't a more prevalent subgenre of the souls genre.
More weebsouls please!
Did we see anything new from ChinaJoy that wasn’t a Soulslike?
Are Souls like and Gacha games all Chinese developers can do?
Based on the gameplay this seems to be much more Sekiro then anything Souls-like. It's extremely parry heavy, as in you seem to be expected to parry every hit of every attack from the bosses. So that'll be fun for some folks.
Also, you know, no "souls" equivalent, prefab characters, etc. I'm wondering if you don't even build a character. I'm guessing you're just swapping between those premade characters and that's your "build" variety.
It really just seems like an action game with heavy Sekiro-style parrying.
@UltimateOtaku91 Also famous for their hacking games.
@UltimateOtaku91 You make what sells and makes profit. With all the restrictions that china has on gaming, you can’t generally just throw ideas at the wall and hope they stick. They need a guarantee return on development. That generally why all the Chinese publishers have spent so much money on western studios. It leads to more verified games releasing in china, and publishers don’t have to worry about their studios going belly up if china announces more restrictions.
Code Vein, awesome action rpg. Lots to explore, 3 endings, secrets. Great game.
@UltimateOtaku91 Check Anno: Mutationem, F.I.S.T, Hardcore Mecha, and Phantom Blade Zero.
@Tevor I'm surprised yours is the only comment mentioning Sekiro. The stagger meter on the enemies looks identical to Sekiro, and it even sounds like that game with the constant parry noises.
Beyond that though, we really don't see enough to suggest that this is a soulslike. It looks like a character action game with Sekiro-inspired combat. It's such a shame labeling all these games soulslikes, because it instantly drives away a portion of its potential audience.
@Sequel Well worth a play and it has the added benefit of being pretty easy if you are a souls vet so should be a fast clear.
@PuppetMaster Phantom Blade Zero look like just another soul like…And the game director even state that they took inspiration from Fromsoftware game for their game, so mentioning that game doesn’t exactly help your case.
@GilgaMax96 It most likely is since it also releasing on mobile.
@AverageGamer The only thing that PBZ director said he's inspired by From Soft games before Elden Ring is interconnected world.
Outside that, PBZ looks nothing like Souls series / Elden Ring especially the combat is very close to DMC or Ninja Gaiden, which you should understand if you ever played DMC or Ninja Gaiden.
But what about the other games that i mention? Clearly those aren't gacha or Soulslike games. So why you only mention PBZ?
@PuppetMaster There will be other souls like elements. It not just the world… also just cause you change the combat, that doesn’t stop the fact that everything else surrounding it isn’t soul like.
Why would I mention the other games? My comment was to just correct you about PBZ.
@AverageGamer - The characters / setting / atmosphere clearly doesn't look Soulslike
So what are these "everything else surounding it are Soulslike" that you're talking about?
@PuppetMaster “ The characters / setting / atmosphere clearly doesn't look Soulslike”
You don’t need this to be soul like… Tell that to 100s of soul like we’ve gotten over the last decade.
“ There's no stamina bar”
There is a stamina bar… have you not actually watched game play?
But the 3 “estus flask” health thing js very souls like.
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