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Soul Axiom is a first-person sci-fi adventure game developed by Wales Interactive that promises to take players on a journey through the deepest, darkest recesses of their soul. Honestly that sounds a lot like every other sci-fi title out there so it’s time to find out if Soul Axiom in particular has something different to offer.
The thing about the game is that it doesn’t want you to figure out anything at first and offers this sort of eerie mysterious environment for players to explore, and this actually works in making the game much more interesting. You start the game by falling, for a good 20 seconds, in nothingness and when you do land, it’s on a flying boat.
You also remarkably escape the fall unharmed, no injuries, no bones broken so it’s a bit suspicious and points to the fact that something is amiss. And the game does not explain this to players, or anything else really. There are no instructions as well but just consulting the key bindings should be enough to learn your way around.
Once you’ve learned the controls, you can start exploring the game which does not give you any objectives and doesn’t even point you in any particular direction. So all you can do at this point is explore the static environment and figure things out on your own, which is probably how the developers wanted it to be in the first place.
This isn't a horror title but it sure is creepy
The whole ambience of the game is very eerie, coupled with the fact that you don’t really know what’s going on makes the game a tad bit scary at first. What’s worse is that a huge monster decides to attack your ship in the midst of all of this. So even if the game has not been advertised as a horror genre, it still can creep you out.
After the attack, you’ll be surrounded by pieces of your burning ship and again with no idea of what on earth is going on. An issue with this game is that some parts of the level seem a little too dark, even after changing the settings, so it makes it difficult to manoeuvre. But the areas that have been illuminated are quite beautiful to look at, especially for an indie game.
The next place you will visit is a location called “The Last Chance” and it’s not just the name that makes this place creepy. You will be completely marooned here, no one else around and again no real objective.
So it may take you sometime to figure out what you’re supposed to be doing here (and even more time trying not to freak out about something getting you from the back) after which you will be teleported to a completely environment.
A new ability and many more puzzles
This is where things get more interesting and less creepy. There will be a glowing hand statue located right in front of the place where you just teleported which you will need to touch.
Doing this will make your right hand completely transparent and you get the ability to phase in and out of objects from existence. This ability allows to you solve some puzzles which makes the game far more entertaining and not as eerie.
After teleporting to another location and a few more puzzles to solve, you will reach a new place, A tram station!. But everything beyond this point will be a spoiler so this is where our preview of Soul Axiom stops.
So from the preview alone, Soul Axiom seems to a be a pretty promising (tad bit creepy) unique title that really does not fit the mold of your typical sci-fi adventure. There is no real objective or instructions but this is probably how the developers wanted it and adds to the mystery of the world of Soul Axiom.
The game will probably be more polished once it’s done but even so, it is definitely worth trying out. The game is currently available to play through on early access.
