Soulmask is one of the games on Steam that at first glance may not seem particularly special but does everything differently than its genre colleagues at second glance. This is also what the over 44,000 players thought at launch on Steam, who had hoped for more.
What kind of game is this? In Soulmask, you get a colorful mix of genres including Sandbox, Survival, and Crafting combined with RPG and Colony Building Simulation. You take on the role of a character who builds their own tribe in a prehistoric world.
What’s special is the namesake Mask System. Through mystical masks, you can take on the role of any recruited NPC and thus also gain their stats, talents, and abilities.
In Soulmask, everything revolves around the goal of building your own tribe. To do this, you need to gather the right followers, who, thanks to AI, independently contribute to the task. NPCs can farm, craft, or help defend your base.
Here you can watch the trailer for the full version:
Version 1.0 becomes a problem
How was the release? The new survival game was already in Early Access for 21 months before it launched into Version 1.0 on April 11, 2026. Many were looking forward to this moment as the developers had announced an improved AI system and a free DLC with an Egyptian theme (Source: Steam).
The DLC was released, but it brought many problems that frustrated fans. There were login issues, a bug that prevented PvP raids, and performance problems. This was very annoying for many fans because they expected that Early Access was exactly for fixing such problems (via Steam).
As a result, the ratings on Steam dropped from 79% to only 64% amidst about 1,200 recent ratings, landing at “Mixed,” despite the release attracting over 44,000 players (Source: SteamDB).
How was the new DLC? The entry into Soulmask is considered by many on Steam to be the biggest weak point. With the new DLC, there was the option to start directly in the desert and without much help. However, anyone doing this without prior knowledge is sure to fail.
This is mainly because the survival aspect in the desert is much more difficult than in the normal starting area. The developers themselves explain this in a statement.
Basically, you can choose between three different game modes on each map: Economy (Tribe), Survival, and Combat, but especially the Tribe mode is not explained well enough yet. The developers themselves explain this in a statement.
The onboarding for the Tribe mode needs to be completely overhauled, and that is what we are currently working on. We are specifically focusing on the first 30 minutes – the time when most new players tell us they lost track. […] The first impression counts. We have not succeeded in this regard, and we are working to change that.
Developers of Soulmask on Steam
As a solution to this, they want “fewer dialog boxes, more contextual help, and a first hour that feels more like an invitation than a torture.” The developers also want to tweak many other aspects.
Both the developers and the players are equally disappointed with the release of the title. While the high interest shows that Soulmask sounds cool and the features appeal to players, technical issues, bugs, and annoying processes make the title worse than it is. At least, those who buy the game now will receive the DLC for free: One of the best survival games on Steam is giving away its biggest DLC so far, but you don’t have much time
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