Like all good gaming blogs, we try and plan content at least a week in advance. After hearing that Bandai-Namco launched the free Dark Souls inspired Slashy Souls on iOS and Android on Monday, we made a mental note to review it before this week is out.
Turns out the fact that it isn’t even available on either the App Store or Google Play in the UK is the least of our problems. As US gamers have discovered first-hand, Slashy Souls is little more than a promotion tool. And a rather brazen one at that.
Created in partnership with US retailer GameStop, it’s a simple 16-bit style endless scroller intended to fuel Dark Souls III pre-orders at said store.
Series developer From Software wasn’t involved, and aside some familiar enemies and a sense of dread and despair, it doesn’t really have much to do with Dark Souls at all.
Both iterations currently stand with a 2.5/5 user rating with crash bugs, clunky controls and a general lack of polish being the most frequent complaints. In the game’s defence however, fans have found the visual style to be rather appealing.
Destructoid is one of the few gaming sites to give it the review treatment, resulting in an embarrassing 1/10. “There are almost no redeeming qualities to Slashy Souls outside of the fact that it technically works†they said. “The “You Died” spread popping up after failure is a sweet release†they then quipped.
We guess this means Dark Souls II is no longer the worst entry in the series.