A new game, Soulmask, has been released on Steam, which apparently wants to follow in the footsteps of Conan Exiles, Valheim, and RUST. To convince players, it offers 40 hours of playable content before purchase. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus tried it out and now knows why the developers are so generous.
Actually, Soulmask wasn’t really on my list for this year. We are already getting tons of new survival games in 2024, which I already know will be fantastic.
Then, Soulmask simply released a 40-hour demo on Steam, without really preparing anyone for it. That’s when I first heard about the game and was amazed at what they want to achieve:
- A large sandbox world – Okay, that has become standard for modern survival games.
- Large servers for dozens of players, even a true MMO according to the Steam page.
- Own tribe, essentially slaves like in Conan Exiles but much more complex, with tasks and roles.
- An almost souls-like combat system with 8 weapons and 58 (!) combat skills.
- Plus the namesake mask, which comes with some mystical abilities.
All in all, very ambitious, maybe a bit too much. But I was too intrigued and had to try it out. After the first few hours, I am still not sure if Soulmask can deliver what it promises.
A huge world for your own tribe!
First of all, Soulmask actually brings the foundation on which everything kind of builds: a gigantic map. I spent a quarter or half an hour just searching for something and was still deep in the jungle. Luckily, there are customizable map markers, otherwise I would have been lost even with a good sense of direction.
However, the start is… slow. Soulmask is still a survival game, like pretty much every other one in the last 5 years. I start almost naked, have some tasks that guide me through the features and spend the first 2 hours just gathering sticks, stones, and grass.
But then it gets exciting. The mask that is attached to the character during creation has magical powers. With it, I can improve my combat and gathering skills and even persuade the local people… uh… to join my tribe.
The first base quickly becomes too small because the production chains become quite long rapidly. Just to craft a level two weapon, I need leather, which has to go through three different crafting stations. Additionally, I discovered a few interesting features:
- Animal husbandry and riding.
- Extensive cooking with buffs like in Valheim, for which I even need to be able to use pots – No bowl, no soup!
- Various rarities in crafting for better gear.
- Boss fights and exploration of ruins and dungeons to unlock new skills.
However, here is where the first, perhaps only, but really big problem with Soulmask becomes apparent. Everything is incredibly vast…
A huge world? For your own tribe?
For the mentioned weapon alone, I need a workbench that I first have to craft. Without considering the hunt for leather, I had to invest about 10 minutes just to produce the materials and the workbench itself. About half of that again for crafting the weapon.
I could only shorten the time in 3 ways:
- I use my tribe members to manage the crafting stations.
- I delegate tasks to other players when I play in a clan.
- Or I raid other players who have already produced what I need.
The last option was off the table for me. On one hand, I’m playing solo, and on the other, I was on a PvE server. Teasing other players was thus not possible. Full loot is available, meaning: I lose EVERYTHING if I die to NPCs, and anyone can then grab the loot.
The other two options also didn’t work. The tribe members have decent AI and store produced items independently. But giving them a task takes about as long as just doing it myself. They are mainly useful as guards or for continuous tasks, otherwise only conditionally.
I had no teammates, even though the world was full of people. But that’s another problem because wherever I wanted to build, someone was already there, blocking the spot for my campfires. I need those for protection and crafting. It might be due to the demo, but even in the farthest corner of the map, someone has built a damn villa out of grass.
It’s clear that the game is definitely designed for multiplayer. Tasks should be distributed, and territories of the map should be defended with your own tribe. Alone it’s slow; with a private server that may come later, it could be quite cool.
The demo has technical issues – But warns about them too
The “ugly” sides of the demo were bugs and especially connection problems. Actually, the combat system is pretty cool and even more refined than that of Conan Exiles with interesting weapons and play styles.
However, the fights only work if you can hit and parry when the opponent reacts. I moved somewhat jerkily at times, enemies teleported, and I only succeeded in performing a parry by chance, which then led to a (pretty cool) finisher.
Soulmask has an Asian touch, and this shows in both good and bad ways. For example, the female proportions are clearly exaggerated and not subject to physics as they should be.
The positive side: The world is incredibly beautiful. When the sun rays fall through the canopy and bathe the forest in a warm orange, the jelly-like upper body is quickly forgotten.
Soulmask is currently planned to be released only for PC. You can find the game here on Steam.
40 hours of demo are not really enough
All in all, I feel that with the 40 hours, I won’t get very far. The experience is also limited to level 30, which is… generous. It will take a while until I get there. Probably around 15 to 20 hours.
But just looking at how long the production chains for bone weapons are, I don’t want to know how long I’ll have to work on a pair of iron swords. That will probably take a whole evening if I still have to farm the ore beforehand.
Soulmask has a lot to offer. Maybe too much. The game is fun, taking many features that have already worked well. But I’m not sure if it might have been smarter to elaborate more on the main feature of the mask and skip the Factorio-like crafting.
Still, I think that Soulmask is a solid game. It’s not significantly better, but definitely not worse than the mainstream hits like Conan Exiles and Valheim. Just different. Those looking for some variety will definitely not go wrong here. The only issue could be the current competition: Palworld is making a big splash, and even a new survival game from Germany is really strong.
