Deathbound - Review After 100%

[@alfenwylm]

It's honestly so respectable that you were able to 100% the game and create a 19 minute video of a game you "didn't care" and "couldn't recommend." It's extremely hard for me to play a game once I've lost interest or drive to "see what it has." You're very cool.

[@garythebard]

Seriously man.. That's what makes Mortim special.

[@eriiicj.1558]

It lets his reviews carry a lot of weight as well. Who better to review a game than a person who did everything it had to offer?

[@KeithKillingly]

I mean, it’s his job basically. If you pay me I’ll push through a shitty game too lol

[@garythebard]

@@KeithKillingly I hear that man! Playing a game you don't like? There are worse ways to make a living!

[@blasta444]

well it's a job

[@sapphicmystery2734]

Getting a "do not recommend (under basically any circumstance)" is an extremely rare circumstance. I think in the past 4 years I've only really heard him say it once besides today.

[@MortismalGaming]

There's been a couple, but you could count them on your hands for sure

[@Sandboxcode]

@@MortismalGaming That's what I like bout you. I feel like some folks are a bit "too critical" of games. But you at least try to see the good I guess is how I want to word it.

[@MistaFiOth]

The thoughts here echo my own. Got a code to review a few days ago, I simply didn't feel like putting the time in. That being said, Mort was very respectful of the work done here, as it is clear that the devs put a lot of Love into their creation. The ideas were just not very good in some cases. The disparity in writing and character development was a huge letdown for me. They simply feel too out of touch with the gameworld to suspend disbelief. Good work man, keep doing what you are doing.

[@BigBADSTUFF69]

to be fair though, what souls games have good writing? From avoids an actual plot completely and never even tries to develop characters beyond aesthetic choices.

[@StrangerInAStrangeLand1999]

The whole game seems like a brainstorming session that never got to the refining phase.

[@yavorvlaskov5404]

Really happy to see that you are reviewing this one, as unlike Entrophia (which I did not care for at all), this one was a 50/50 for me and a "wait for a review of the full thing" after playing the demo. When you manage to pull something off it felt good, but the mechanics of pulling it off itself felt a lot like needing to button spam like in an action game, which neither my carpal tunnel syndrome, nor my general mentality appreciated, a somewhat more methodical approach to combat with a certain reactive taste to it is what Soulslikes in general should be like in my opinion. I enjoyed the art of this one and that it actually tries something else, but it seems like I wouldn't have enjoyed actually playing through it enough for that to actually complement to experience. P.S. Expected him to also mention how bad Heat feels. Are they trying to attract some of the diehard Souls fans by punishing magic users or something? You can barely do anything with a magic class without doing significant damage to yourself and consequently being able to do even less. If you just want to punish people for choosing to use magic in your game, don't put magic in the game in the first place

[@MortismalGaming]

Talking about heat kinda felt like beating a dead horse tbh

[@yavorvlaskov5404]

@@MortismalGaming Fair. Thanks for the great review!

[@nathanvictor7654]

I’m just getting into the soulslike games now (playing Demon Souls, my first) and I was hoping for this one to be good. It’s from a brazilian studio and I would love to see companies from here succeeding. Played the demo and it felt weird and clumky.

[@charliem5604]

Demon's souls is still one of my favorites of the souls games. It may be lacking in some areas that were improved upon in later games, but it still feels very unique compared to the others. I'm not really a fan of the remake though.

[@tinminator8905]

I thought this game was great. It seems from reviews that it is really hit or miss for people, so I suggest trying the demo to find out whether the combat clicks for you.

[@SuperCMO79]

Was just browsing youtube videos after looking at DEATHBOUND in the steam store . Planned to search later then came on your upload and couldn't be happier. Thank you Mort!

[@MortismalGaming]

I have a steam curator page, same as the channel page, if you'd like to see my reviews directly on steam

[@pockystyx4087]

I was like “Party-based Soulslike? So like, Code Vein, or Stranger of Paradise?”, But it’s not really a party based game it’s more like a job swapping either extra steps. Also looks fairly bog standard; outside of the ideas of character swapping.

[@imALazyPanda]

Agree, party-based soulslike seems like a misnomer. I was expecting something like a dragon age inquisition, action combat that you can swap to party members mid fight for manual control, but all characters are involved in combat the whole time. This is just jobs swapping or having multiple weapons equipped you can switch between but the weapons have skill trees, sorta like nioh but with more weapons equipped at a time. I feel like party based brings the assumption of multiple combatants.

[@DannyboyO1]

The demo felt most like stance-switching to me. The demo also made simple movement feel slightly wrong, quite likely due to the 4 characters having a synergy penalty to movement speed... like, the demo should, like, *feel* good. And not being able to choose if you have that specific penalty does not feel good. The world had my attention tho. Opening comic-book-ish cinematic was on-point. This pristine, shiny army with this knight doing a prayer that winds up being to a god of death... then looking to a rather secular fellow on a horse for the go-ahead to lead the charge (okay, politics + death cult) and then the opposing side... peasants with inadequate fortifications and, oh, what's that city behind them? Tall rectangular buildings with windows? And all the not-quite english signs... very good post-apoc feel. I figure I'll wait a bit, as they're responding to the negative reviews professionally and there's a lot of ways to fix the major flaws. Fiddling with i-frames and recovery options... upgrading healing. But they probably can't fix the plot not quite gelling.

[@randomanswer4359]

what I heard was it's a soulslike with what sounds like a painful downward spiral as you get injured...and that sounds painful.

[@tinminator8905]

It is quite the opposite. It just forces you to switch characters very frequently to keep life stealing. But switching itself is already something that benefits your dps, so you want to do that anyway. Needing to heal like regular Souls games is much more punishing IMO, as it Forces you to give up attack opportunities and risk getting hit, which gives the boss more opportunities to hit you since the fight lasts longer.

[@jorgeporras9262]

When they released one of the first demos I and many other players told these guys that the healing was gonna bite them in the ass and they replied to everyone with "Thank you for taking interest in our game". No "your feedback is valuable" or "we'll experiment with it for further demos" like other devs willing to take feedback to heart do. Why release demos if they were never gonna listen to feedback? They only have themselves to blame.

[@tinminator8905]

You heal by attacking. It actively discourages you to use the healing item after getting further into the game to teach you this. The only reason it exists to make the game feel like a regular souls like at the beginning when you only have one essence to ease new players into the combat.

[@stevenrogers5912]

Really appreciate you being upfront with your thoughts on this. I've been on the edge and this review helped me decide which way I wanted to go. Thanks!

[@blankomega6487]

Been waiting for this. Thanks man

[@OrichalcumHammer]

5:20 Something akin to Gun based Souls-like 'Remnant from Ashes' except not only without the guns but also incohesive.

[@villhonsbrazil7097]

Mad props for not softballing your opinion on the game even though they gave you an early copy. I know people say it don’t affect there opinion but you can tell it dose for most people. 👍🏽

[@kaidorade1317]

So what Mort is saying is that Deathbound bored him to…DEATH

[@TorqueBow]

Great review here. I’ve been half and half on this game since it was announced, but this was very thorough. Appreciate you always, Mort. God Bless.

[@chrisgoods]

I enjoyed my time with the demo.. and plan on geting the full game. Was good to hear your thoughts as you have a reasonable voice. I still look forward to giving this a full crack.

[@honeybadger781]

With an update to the combat this game could be really good in future.

[@laskeeze]

I was curious about this one, helpful to know it's not great. Thanks for the great content as always 😎

[@StevenForditude]

This game feels really weird with the juxtaposition of the Templar Knight-style character walking around a generic sewer-laboratory environment. I think I understand what they were trying to do with this, but I think it would have been more effective if your main character fit better into the setting, and the Fancy Talking Knight Dude was just one of your secondary characters. I think that could have introduced some interesting dialogue and storylines.

[@tinminator8905]

There is no main character in the game. You can switch the first guy out halfway through the game and never see from him again.

[@DaedricKing]

Very grateful for you and your reviews. Thank you.

[@drfrankendoodle]

I can understand your points. I played the demo and enjoyed it for what it was and plan on picking it up. I think its just hitting at a good time where im really looking for something to play. I recently played another one of these AA soulslikes and while it was very Jank and sub par by almost every metric, I found that I was able to enjoy it for waht it was and try to find the cool or unique aspects of it that I hope the dev can expand upon in future titles. I feel similarly here in that maybe they didnt quite hit the mark here but that it shows promise for future titles. I hope they get the opportunity to make them.

[@CarnerioTostado]

Tbf, this isn't even a AA Soulslike it's an indie one. The team is like 5 people.

[@drfrankendoodle]

@@CarnerioTostado I’ve actually been quite impressed by the full game. I don’t mind the healing mechanics, movement and combat feels good and I’m enjoying the story beats and characters so far. Really impressive what they’ve put together. I can see why some wouldn’t like it but I think if you go in with managed expectations it’s pretty cool.

[@CarnerioTostado]

@@drfrankendoodle glad you're enjoying it. It didn't really click for me, but I can see how others like it.

[@CountElectric]

This conceptually reminds of Shadows Awakening except it's a souls like. Shadows Awakening isn't a terrible game, but it isn't a AAA title. Mostly a fairly easy game that let's you instantly change between different souls you've consumed. However, 2 of the souls are locked in each playthrough. The voice acting was surprisingly good and the story was decent.

[@coconutologist]

Thanks for the video. This and other soulslikes hit at something that I've been struggling to discuss on your channel, and that is the disconnect between actions and effects in game (ludological disconnect if you want to be pretentious). You defeat enemies by poking them... slightly. There's no critical strike, nor do you strike at something critical; the "damage" you administer doesn't really seem to accumulate either: It simply seems to follow the process of (poke-poke-dead). This doesn't meant the games are bad, or they can't be enjoyed, but it just seems that there should be greater interaction between what we do in-game, and how the game responds. Onward to 400k. All glory to the algorithm.

[@yr4hcaZ]

This is a big reason why Sekiro is still my favorite soulslike. There's something viscerally satisfying about relentlessly attacking/parrying an enemy to wear them down until you can do a flashy killing blow to execute them. The usual combat loop of poke-dodge-poke til they die of blood loss in most other souslikes doesn't quite hit the mark by comparison

[@Wafelkowiec]

Thanks for the early summary, saved me some money.

[@glennojard230]

Thank you for the insight!

[@stryf3360]

oh man! i really liked the idea behind this one hopefully they heard you and will patch it better. on a side note weren't you using intel 13th gen chip hope it don't give you issues🤞

[@MortismalGaming]

Ive had my 13900k for a long time with zero problems but yes I have been following the recent news just in case.

[@neosho3953]

Comment for the algorithm god

[@adarmus4768]

The game has been on my wishlist and I intended to buy it day one. After viewing your review though I have no intention of purchasing, at least not until it receives a deep discount. That healing system sounds truly awful. Furthermore who thought stamina being linked to your health was a wise game design choice?

[@tinminator8905]

The healing system is you heal by attacking and constantly switching characters and it works perfectly fine IMO. Elden Ring is my favourite game of all time, but playing deathbound made me realise that the healing system of deathbound makes for much more active combat, forces engagement with the main mechanics and I honestly preferred it over the standard Fromsoft formula.

[@xs10shul]

Thanks for this. In the demo, I found that combat felt floaty and unresponsive, and it wasn't pleasant. I can forgive quite a bit of jank and poor writing so long as the game feels fun to play.

[@Blinker485]

I wish I'd of deep dived more into this game before buying it. I can't agree enough with the negatives. How stupid of a decision it was to tie stamina to health. I get they want you to switch to the other characters, to get the most of the stamina. But, I'd rather play as 1 class, and have full stamina with low health. To avoid dying multiple times because I can't dodge. Also the input lagging is so extreme. I've died more to pushing dodge, and there being no response. The trap locations are just dumb. Like oh let's put a fire trap on the wall behind the stairs you have to walk down. Which you don't even know it's there until you're dead. I made it all the way to the beginning of the 5th area. Just to have the rest locked behind a gate. While trying to figure out how to get to it ended up in a boss fight with no health to even try to win. Putting me all the way back, and I keep dying. I'm about to throw in the towel, because I'm just not having any fun.

[@danwelsh6706]

Bummer I hope they add some proper health potions you can buy or it's not for me.

[@blesstyou]

Hello WHERE ARE YOU?!!

[@RetroBackslash]

China

[@xRazorWirex]

Great review as always Mort👍 By the way have you played Bleak Faith? I love my souls games but that was just NOT fun to play, I gave up after 2 hours).

[@MortismalGaming]

I played it a little when it first launched

[@jeremiahdomer4657]

Great video.

[@cavetendobiggles1841]

Main gripe for me is the interface bit - lots of key information to the left of you. And then lots of information within it. Could be me - but nope. Brian couldn't cope.

[@sikevillain]

Thanks for the honest review Mort.. they definitely had a vision but the execution was pretty bad.. have a great rest of your week 🙂

[@thomashooper2451]

Unfortunately, this lines up with my feelings after playing the demo. It has a neat character/build-swapping gimmick and an anachronistic world that should, in theory, allows the player to get a lot of variety in area designs. But it's all held back by some clunky combat and the bizarre decision to tie health to stamina. Sounds like a swing and a miss. Too bad. I always root for indie developers.

[@BomayeIsBack]

Aww. I was looking forward to this one but I played the demo last month & it did feel a little off to me. Good to know it wasn't just my poor RPG skills.

[@vincentmokujin8117]

Sorry, I migh have missed this, but did you say how long it took you to finish the game?

[@MortismalGaming]

15ish hours

[@andrehaseo]

@Mortismal hi there arent you going to play now the bleak faith forsaken that now is "finished" ?

[@MortismalGaming]

Maybe at some point, but given that game releases are about to pick back up with what is essentially the busy season for game reviews it'll be a while

[@phillipperryman6701]

I beat the game yesterday. Overall for 35 dollars I would say I had a decent time with the game. Some of the end game bosses were kinda horsecrap but I was happy with my purchase. Thinking about getting bleak faith but I have read and listened to a bunch of bad reviews so I am not quite sold on getting it yet. This game also got a bunch of bad reviews so there you go. To each is own.

[@JulesNekro]

...I kinda hate, for example, that the spear moveset is not just a simple "poke poke" but with a twirl and going near the enemy etc. The combat animations LOOK good but they seem kinda...floaty in a way

[@JulesNekro]

will keep an eye on this game, I like the presentation

[@R3GARnator]

It's a blessing to have these fair reviews, in a world of bought ass kissers.

[@linkblade91]

I had some concerns about the game after the demo, and to learn "nope, those are on purpose" is disappointing. I will be passing on this; thanks for the review!

[@MelodicMethod]

thx, mortym

[@Cruxis1712]

from watching this l, it kinda reminds me of like a slightly more advanced mortal shell, with a mix of hell point

[@Wombats555]

KZbin jazz diddly doobip bazow

[@MercyBlack137]

Would love to play anime style games like code vein

[@Asankeket]

I was unaware of this game but the world and the ideas put into it look interesting. Too bad that the combat and the writing don't hold up. And in any case, there are too many soulslikes on the market and I don't care for it, since I find them mostly stressful to play rather than fun, and I only play them if they're extremely good at worldbuilding, story, themes, writing, ie at things unrelated to the typical soulslike game mechanics. So this one being only middling at those, Deathbound would've gotten a pass from me anyway.

[@Kaynos]

100% before game launch. Wow.

[@CrucibleOfHate]

"This one in particular happens to be a party-based soulslike, they call it..." Ooh! I'm interested!" "...which essentially means we'll be picking up up to seven different characters we'll be able to morph between..." Wow nevermind that sounds awful why would they do that.

[@roycrowley2674]

I'm sure that if you get a review, copy the devs and watch it and hopefully patch way they can. Like lords of the fallen devs did. Like the vids keep up the good work.

[@patrikhejnar9495]

They really must like Demon´s Souls to use the same hp bar and font

[@ScowlieMeerkat]

Dark Somas.

[@Zero_Zone.]

Great review, even if you don't recommend the game.

[@Raganui]

The combat and mechanics as you've described them are horrible. Reducing Stamina based on health and removing health from your other 'forms' to heal yourself, both are big failure loops. You fail to dodge or something and get hit, it's now harder for you to dodge in the future. You heal yourself, your other forms now have less health and stamina if you need to use them, thus making it more likely you'll get hurt more on them.

[@InMaTeofDeath]

I always feel like a UI that looks very mobile is an instant red flag.

[@iTried-cr4to]

I really wanted to like this game. Tried playing the demo a second time and it just didnt do it for me. Too much goin on with swapping characters.

[@rubycandy92]

Reminds me of elden ring that game was very hard for me

[@gijom007]

No First comments

[@TheGronkus]

Gronk!

[@ws3457]

I like the idea of the 4 souls, but playing the demo and the whole shared souls thing turned me off.

[@WarriorCicada]

The health system sounds like the wrost possible idea to put in a Soulslike, WTF?

[@Jasperyeahhh]

MAXIMUM CHUNGUS

[@tomalexander4327]

This one was a DNR (Do Not Recommend) on arrival. Ouch

[@clifcorcoran9917]

Not recommended KZbin Jazz 🎶

[@KhaosElement]

Wild to me that a "party based" souls-like has no multiplayer at all.

[@KeithKillingly]

This reminds me I kinda want to give lords of the fallen a shot

[@trosse]

Algorithm comment - thanks!

[@Jeustful]

A frustrating Souls-like, do tell...

[@NotXsoXoptic]

Yeah wanted to give it a day to simmer-it’s sad that the first souls-esq game that is meshing fantasy and real world modern day architecture kinda stinks. Is sad, I wanna get there and fix things, but I write not program

[@Fade2GrayOG]

I was liking everything right up until he got to the part about how health and healing works. Yikes. That sounds like a pass for me.

[@onatgz]

free comment.

[@mmiller4896]

Another day another souls-like.

[@swordguy1243]

I like the aesthetics and world of the game . But that "party based" system is not appealing at all to me . Sadly I will pass on it because of that

[@bennifer94]

A lot of interesting ideas, but sounds like some really fundamental game design flaws.

[@mertgulgun6830]

I've played the demo and I think the janky nature of the game is akin to Piranha Byte games then soulslikes...

[@rubycandy92]

Not for me

[@Level30Commoner]

Wow, this was the most negative intro I've ever heard from you. The game must have been terrible for you. And to be honest: The core gameplay sounds really bad.

[@ThisIsNotJP]

Played the demo and lost interest instantly

[@Hanging_Brain]

Did this company fly you out to disneyland for the review too? Or just ubisoft

[@MortismalGaming]

If they or Ubisoft had done something like that I would have to disclose it or face up to 40k+ in fines from the FTC or the loss of my channel, so no. Might want to understand the basics of the things you're talking about before making claims like that.

[@-Monad-]

😂😂😂 I'm pretty sure he just gets review codes every now and then lol

[@Hanging_Brain]

@@MortismalGaming ubisoft did fly people to disney to try the game. Maybe you werent one of those people. But to insinuate ubisoft and other AAA studios dont do this is dishonest.

[@MortismalGaming]

I never said they don't, they absolutely do. What I did say is that those trips have to be disclosed. I dont accept those things because I know how it looks for a review channel to do so. While it certainly does not look good for those creators to take those trips, it is not actually a problem unless they fail to disclose it via FTC guidelines. That's their problem though, I worry about myself, and I make every disclosure and refuse events like that.

[@Hanging_Brain]

@@MortismalGaming Glad to hear you have integrity. Thank you for the videos.

[@B_Clemethy]

Thank you, sir. Very informative review. 🫡

[@Robertoalrz]

I won't ever play this, but i watched it all to respect the 100% 🫡