Deathbound Review – Gamecritics.com (2025)

A Crowded House

HIGH An excellent concept that brings new flavor to soulslikes.

LOW Some cheap-shot ambushes. A few of the bosses are rough going.

WTF So ultimately, professional sports are to blame?

While its success was far from guaranteed when the genre launched, there’s no question that soulslikes are here to stay.

This style of play built around third-person combat, stamina management, environmental exploration and generally ‘difficult’ combat was a breath of fresh air when Demon’s Souls burst onto the scene, and it’s now a force in the industry. However, not only is it a tough formula to nail, there are too many who follow in FromSoft’s footsteps without bringing much to the table besides mimicry. While it’s generally a bad idea to try and out-Souls the Souls people, there’s plenty of room in the genre for others to experiment, expand and grow.

For me, the most successful entries have been those that struck out in a new direction. For example, Nioh added a bit of loot drop and complexity to its weapon systems, and Hollow Knight moved things to the 2D plane. While it’s a bit rough around the edges, I’d say Deathbound from Trialforge Studio is another one who’s carved out a space for themselves.

Deathbound starts by putting the player in the shoes of Therone Guillaumen, a sword-and-shield officer in the Church of Death — and surprisingly, he is one of the bad guys.

The opening cinematic shows Therone and his troops laying waste to a city populated by refugees, senior citizens and children — and no one is spared. It’s a shocking start. Another surprise is that despite vague medieval vibes, Deathbound takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting. Every area the player journeys through is based on the ruins of modern-day sports stadiums, parking garages, city streets and more. The mysterious ”first men” are gone, and we’re fighting through what’s survived in their wake.

These elements are already a strong start, but things only get better when the main mechanic of Deathbound is revealed — Therone won’t be the only person living in his body, nor the only person that the player will control.

After pressing on through the ruins, it’s not long before Therone encounters a dead body that stands out from the rest, this one harboring a glow. Upon getting closer, the glow integrates itself into him and transplants a new consciousness, now taking residence inside his skull.

After this second personality (an assassin named Anna) is on board, the player is free to switch between the two at will, and with the push of a button, Therone’s entire body transforms into Anna’s slender, shadowy shape. However, this isn’t just a simple stat and weapon change — no, the two have wildly different movesets. Where one can parry and strike tactically, the other walks silently and can backstab for great damage. Anna’s also equipped with a crossbow to shoot enemies at a distance, but Therone can block and tank hits — something fragile Anna must avoid at all costs.

It takes very little time to realize how different the characters are, and it only gets more diverse from there. As the campaign goes on, the player will accumulate a total of seven characters to learn and experiment with, each one offering something unique. I don’t want to spoil the surprise so I won’t list them all here, but players can look forward to things like casting spells from a great distance, using a spear to get the upper hand on close-up fighters, and more.

Each new tenant in Therone’s head has their own history, background, thoughts and feelings. Each is introduced with a brief cutscene explaining the story of their life, and as Deathbound goes on, it becomes clear that many of the characters knew each other in one way or another. So, when all of these entities end up sharing space in one skull, they bicker and fight or agree and support according to who they were in life.

Apart from being narratively interesting, there are mechanical implications and how they’re arranged in the UI matters. If two who hate each other are placed adjacent in the menu, they’ll have a ‘conflict’ which can either debuff, or give a hate-fueled buff. If two who support each other are side by side, it’s often a strong buff. Adding even more strategy, it quickly becomes a matter of which character works best in each level, and of those potential choices, which characters complement the other ones currently active, both in terms of team composition and amicability.

The end result is that the player will frequently switch between characters, moment-to-moment, as each situation demands. Keeping a shield up and creeping through and unexplored hallway is always a good strategy, and when a nearby guard is seen to have his back to the player, to get the drop on him is a great feeling. When combat breaks out, it’s easy to select one of the other characters and leverage their individual strengths.

It’s also worth noting that attacking while switching between characters in a key aspect in Deathbound, and one that’s not emphasized it as much as it should be. Many games have tried something similar — a player might start an attack with weapon A and then switch to weapon B for bonus damage or to continue a combo, but I rarely find it worth the hassle of doing. However, it’s crucial here as the act of switching gives players brief invincibility and the attack following a switch is supercharged, so not only will the player avoid hits, they’ll also be doing more damage than usual. Many bosses are practically unbeatable without leveraging this trick, so the devs certainly lean into the system they’ve created.

Another aspect where Deathbound breaks away from the soulslike formula is in storytelling. Not only are there multiple characters within (and without) Therone’s head, the script is unrolled in a straightforward, clear manner. Puzzling together bits from item descriptions or watching Vaati’s latest lore video are not necessary to understand what’s going on here — motivations are clear, the story is not a half-told conundrum, and there’s no problem following the dialogue, all of which I found to be quite welcome. Perhaps some people feel like obfuscated storytelling is core to a soulslike, but I sure don’t.

I’ve spent much time talking about the virtues of Deathbound so far, and it’s certainly one of the games I’ve enjoyed most this year, but it’s not a perfect experience. A common criticism is that it’s a bit weak, visually, with simple character models and a lo-fi world. There are also rough edges elsewhere, such as a few places where it’s not clear how to advance forward, and there are a handful of enemy encounters and ambushes that could stand some ironing out. And, as was said earlier, a few bosses are basically impossible until the player realizes character switching is key. The experience can come across as unusually rough for 2024, but I’m the kind of person who prioritizes interesting concepts and heart above polish, so none of these things dampened my enjoyment much.

While I’m definitely a soulslike fan, I don’t need every game in the genre to follow the formula that FromSoft has laid out, and I’m glad that there are studios like Trialforge who are willing to do something different. The foundations are familiar enough to appeal to anyone who enjoys these kinds of experiences, but those looking for a little different will be pleasantly surprised. I appreciate what Deathbound brought to the table, and I look forward to whatever Trialforge does next.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Trialforge Studios and published by Tate Multimedia. It is currently available on PC/XB/PS5. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS5. Approximately12 hours of play were devotedto the single-player mode, and the game was completed.There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M and contains Blood, Strong Language, and Violence.The combat here is pretty standard soulslike fare — swords, spears and such. However, there are a few scenes of people being tortured and put to death, and there are bodies who seem to have undergone some ‘difficult times’ before death sprinkled throughout. I don’t recall any particular instances of language but I’m sure it was in there.

Colorblind Modes: There no colorblind modes available in the options.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: All dialogue is accompanied by subtitles that cannot be resized or altered. As with many soulslikes, there are some audio cues which reveal the presence of hidden enemies or incoming attacks, and these cues do not have visual components. As such, the player will almost certainly receive some surprise strikes or be ambushed occasionally. Therefore, it is not fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable but there are several presets to choose from.