
WE ARE YOUNG SOULS FREE
Some of these areas are optional, though, such as ones where you can fight bosses again in new areas for some overpowered loot.Īside from the Goblin underworld, you also have free reign of the Professor’s house. You just go in these and kill everything you come across until you make it to the mini-boss or what have you at the end, which then usually leads to another level chunk or boss battle. The first three sections are dungeon areas that lead to mini sections mostly gated off by keys. The Goblin underworld is divided into four sections, although the last of these is purely linear. The game also has a solid amount of content and can take 8-10 hours to get through, depending on difficulty level and how much side stuff you do. Environments are 3D, making Young Souls one of the best-looking 2.5D games I’ve ever seen.

Characters are all comprised of beautifully animated 2D art that is just brimming with life. The game’s visuals are even more impressive. Still, the cast’s personalities shine through, including Dwarvengobben’s band of Goblin commanders. Young Souls has plenty of story sequences, although none of them are voiced. The twins themselves are a high point, as their pissed-off bravado and brusque tongues make them endearing. The dialogue is well written and can be fairly funny. It’s their job to track down runes and deliver them to their town’s mayor in order to delve deeper in and rescue their adoptive father. Undaunted, the twins make contact with a Goblin of an opposing faction and use a gate to go into the Goblin realm. One day, the Goblin king, called Dwarvengobben, abducts the Professor in order to force him to help with an invasion of the surface. Tristan and Jenn are twin teenage delinquents who have been taken in by the Professor, an old scientist living in a mansion. Young Souls is not the sterling example of the modern beat ’em up that it could have been with better balance. It’s worth checking out, but there are some serious caveats on display. But it’s also horribly let down by an insanely inconsistent difficulty curve and some of the most unfair boss battles I’ve seen in the genre.

Young Souls is a positively gorgeous game, with snappy, satisfying combat and an enjoyable loop. In recent years, they’ve become more complicated, showcasing classic 2D gameplay alongside RPG elements and gear.
