With Lost Soul Aside, a new JRPG is now available for Steam and PS5. The development story is remarkable. The hopes of genre fans were high. But the release version disappoints.
What do I need to know about Lost Soul Aside? When the first gameplay trailer for Lost Soul Aside went live just over eight years ago, there was only one developer behind the RPG project: Bing Yang. The game designer had already been working solo on his game for two years.
That Lost Soul Aside was a solo project was not apparent from the trailer. The scenes strongly reminded one of Final Fantasy 15 (in terms of visuals) and Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden (in terms of fast-paced gameplay) – thus resembling AAA productions with large teams and budgets behind them.
No wonder that not only genre fans took notice of the project, but also the leaders at Sony. The Japanese quickly offered to support the project as a publisher, investing a significant amount of money to build a large team around Bing Yang.
One of the latest trailers for Lost Soul Aside:
“Strange mix of ambition and limitations”
How did the release go? Lost Soul Aside was released on August 29, 2025, for PC and PS5 and has received mixed ratings so far.
- On Steam, the 747 user reviews currently average a “Mixed”, with 57 percent positive ratings.
- On launch day, the JRPG had 3,070 concurrent players on Steam. The peak in the last 24 hours was 1,882 concurrent players (source: steamdb.info).
- On Metacritic, the user score is 6.3, with documented reviews scoring 80 (from Gamersky) and 40 (Eurogamer) out of 100.
What do players criticize, and what do they praise? The Steam reviews mainly praise the fast-paced gameplay, where you can perform cool choreographed combos with just two or three buttons. The level design, well-balanced difficulty, graphics, and puzzles also receive acclaim.
On the other hand, the unfinished state of the RPG is criticized, particularly regarding clunky animations, synchronization, use of cutscenes, the near-absence of hit feedback, or sound effects.
Lixx sums all that up in his review on Steam: “Lost Soul Aside is a strange mix of ambition and limitations, and you can feel its AA roots throughout. While the graphics and style promise a standout fantasy action game, the execution often struggles to keep up.”
The good news: Interested parties don’t have to buy a pig in a poke! Both on Steam and for PS5, there is a free demo available that you can use to get your first impression of the game. If you are disappointed by this but still looking for a JRPG-esque experience, be sure to check out this gem: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 in review – The most emotional RPG of the year, but you have to earn the story
