Beginning life as the passion project of Yang Bing in 2014, Lost Soul Aside has blossomed from indie jewel to promising AA title thanks to the deep pockets of Sony’s Chinese investment initiative. It was the slickness of a 2016 concept trailer which caught Sony’s eye and, coinciding with Sony Interactive Entertainment’s just-launched China Hero Project, a studio was funded by the Japanese giants and the game’s ideas began fleshing out to their fullest. That studio, UltiZero Games, is headquartered in Shanghai, and its forty-plus-strong team are gearing up to finally unleash Lost Soul Aside after more than a decade of development.
The game will soon be joining China Hero Project alumni Evotinction, and F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch when it releases August 29th. Anticipation muted following Lost Soul Aside’s delay earlier in the year, but the crescendo is rising again. This one has potential to be amongst the PlayStation 5’s biggest games of 2025.
Visual diversity and an emotionally compelling story underline Lost Soul Aside’s promise, but its gameplay first-and-foremost which might earn UltiZero Games’ debut effort its place amongst PS5’s top-tier efforts come the end of the year. Rapid-fire fighting, frictionless momentum, and a heap of flashy effects and camera dynamism present eyecatching style, whilst a suite of customisable abilities for combat and traversal provide depth beyond visual pizazz.
At its core, Lost Soul Aside’s combat is designed to flow with fluidity; balletic yet unforgiving when out of rhythm. Kaser bounces across the battlefield chaining sword strike magic blast combos without missing a beat. He can launch enemies airward whilst swapping weapons mid-attack, juggling both his skills and his foes with near-perfect precision. Many are his attacking options that players can create custom sequences on the fly, giving tangible satisfaction beyond endorphin-stimulating visuals.
From the outset, this is not a combat system demanding mastery of technique. Sure, there’re light and heavy attacks, parrying, and blocking systems at play, plus a requirement to be mindful of positioning and space given the speed at which certain enemies attack but, on the whole, rigid input combinations or complex button sequences are eschewed in favour of the aforesaid suite of augmentable skills which can be layered modularly to compliment whatever style or strategy players have in mind.
For example, there’re abilities encompassing elemental ranged attacks, upgrades to Kaser’s teleport-like dodge ability or his capability to mount a defensive counter. Weapon customisation in the shape of discoverable fragments extends the possibilities further, with transformations to a blade’s appearance, its capability for damage, and its potential to heal amongst others providing more options with which to experiment.
Overnumerous are the possibilities. Lost Soul Aside’s combat appears to place its greatest emphasis on creating smart synergies over finger dexterity, meaning that despite its blistering pace the combat here should be rewarding for even the most novice action game players.
Perfect timing does yield extra benefits though. Described by UltiZero Games as ‘Pursuit’ mechanics, precision in attack and defense grants opportunity for players to intensify Kaser’s strength with devastating results. Judging by gameplay videos released thus far, it seems as though executing different manoeuvres with perfection presents specific buffs: well-timed parries present opportunities for powerful counters; expert dodges gift chance to teleport immediately back into the fold with a blow; precise attacking bursts will stagger enemies leaving them exposed to stylish finishers.
More still, accompanying Kaser throughout is dragon-like Arena which can bond with the swordsmith granting access to a range of special damage boosting attacks: hulking, clawed fists, bone-crushing hammers and maces, skin-ripping whips, and more. Furthermore, Arena harbours power to strengthen defence via protective shields, and can even bolster health regeneration. Blending Arena’s powers into Kaser’s skillset isn’t a golden ticket to survival though.
No, what’s apparent is certain enemies are more susceptible to Arena’s prowess more than others, so players will have to assess moment-to-moment which combination of abilities, weapon augmentations, and Arena skills will prove most effective in any given situation. How their relative powers interact, the duration of their cooldown, their risk versus reward. If Lost Soul Aside seems to prefer style over substance, at least at surface level, its smorgasbord of combat options we’ve described throughout this feature demonstrates a mechanical depth which fans existing at the cross-section of Final Fantasy, maybe even Ninja Gaiden will enjoy sinking their teeth into.
Flexibility and freedom extends beyond the battlefield to traversal in the outer world. What’s interesting here is that UltiZero Games appears to have placed great emphasis on smooth, uninterrupted traversal similar in delivery to Insomniac’s efforts with their Spider-Man games. Freeflowing and frictionless, even stone walls pose zero interruption given Kaser can slice through stone with his blade like a hot knife through butter. Further, Kaser carves through the landscape with effortless kineticism, skating, dashing, gliding, flying, double-jumping, and wall-running. There’s evidently no object insurmountable; Kaser’s ability to freewheel is exhilarating entertainment.
We also see glimpses of seamless gameplay-to-cutscene back to gameplay. One such passage shared by Pure PS on their social feed showcases Kaser transitioning from skating to backflipping over explosions before leaping, platform jumping, ceiling hanging, and wall-running, wall slicing, and hovering in one gloriously brief moment where control appears taken away from the player. Arena gets in on the action too with a slingshot motion rocketing Kaser skyward before he sprouts wings to careen back to ground with a burst of speed. Did we mention this was exhilarating?
Visually and mechanically then, Lost Soul Aside appears on point. But the lingering question really is how will this actually feel when the game is in your hands. The PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers are of course supported. Screen shake extending to on-screen hud information provides a deeper feeling of chaos, especially when Kaser is surrounded by enemies and destruction. Spatial 3D audio will accompany the on-screen action too. The title is also enhanced for PS5 Pro which includes potential support for ray tracing, higher resolutions, and more stable framerates.
That last point is one concern to the game’s feel that’s been raised since footage recorded on the base PS5 was shared across YouTube. Of the two graphic options, performance and quality, neither looks to be perfectly implemented. At least, at this stage just a month before release, performance mode’s targeted 60fps doesn’t appear consistent, and there’s evidence of blurriness in the background. The latter is especially problematic given the franticness in which the game’s camera shifts perspective to follow the action. Quality mode sharpens the visuals but drops the framerate down to 30fps which, for a game of this speed, might prove sub-optimal.
There’s an expectation given the sheer length of development that the game should release to absolute perfection. Whilst, yes, this of course should be a given, lets not lose sight of the fact Lost Soul Aside was the brainchild of a single person. Despite the financial backing of the mighty Sony Corp, Lost Soul Aside can’t betray its indie roots entirely. There’s a strong foundation here though; one which positions the game as one to watch.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
