| Game Title: | Lost Soul Aside |
| Developer: | UltiZero Games |
| Publisher: | Sony Interactive Entertainment / PlayStation Publishing LLC |
| Release Date: | 29th August 2025 |
| Platforms: | PlayStation 5 / PC |
Lost Soul Aside was first announced back in 2016 as part of China Hero Project Phase 1, and was in development for almost 10 years. The game was finally released on 29th August 2025. People remember this game as an action game “inspired” by Final Fantasy XV because the main character resembles Noctis.
Story
You start the game as Kaser, a member of a resistance group called GLIMMER. GLIMMER is trying to free the people of Celestria from the reign of the Empire, which is led by Emperor HighCastle, who has lived for over a millennium, establishing the Empire of Celestria.
Louisa, Kaser’s sister
One day, during the mission to fight the emperor, suddenly there was a Meteor Swarm raining, and together with it, monsters called Voidrax appeared and started killing the people of the town.
In the chaos, Kaser got separated from her sister, Louisa, and somehow ended up in a secret underground lab of the Empire. There, he heard a voice calling him, which appeared to be an enigmatic dragon-like entity called Arena. Arena shares its power, which is called “Voidrax Energy”, changing Kaser into a “Gifted One” to help him find Louisa.
Kaser meeting Arena for the first time
After finding Louisa, Kaser was forced to fight a Voidrax and, unfortunately, was left unconscious after that. At that moment, a member of the Holy Order was using Louisa as bait to escape, resulting in Louisa’s Soul being drained by Voidrax.
Louisa’s soul is being drained
Soon after, with the help of Arena, Kaser finds out that he needs to collect what’s called Soul Crystal Shards to be able to reach where Louisa’s soul is being kept, and along the way, finds out that an entity called Aramon is the one behind all of this Voidrax awakening. And only Kaser, who’s currently merged with the Voidrax Dragon, Arena, will be strong enough to save the world from Aramon.
Thus, Kaser’s journey to take back her sister’s soul and save the world starts.
This is basically the premise of the story. It’s very simple and straightforward, and unfortunately forgettable.
You will go through a total of 5 chapters of Kaser’s Journey to collect Soul Crystal Shards from all the different maps and dimensions.
Lost Soul Aside is a linear game where you will go from one map to another until you reach the last boss. While sometimes you will be able to access the Imperial Capital to speak with some of the NPCs and buy items. There’s nothing else that you can do, not even a Sub-Quest or anything. It’s just straight Main Quest from the beginning until the end. Kind of reminds me of those games back in the PS2 era, where it’s just a linear, straightforward game like the God of War series.
I’m not saying that being linear is bad; it’s the opposite for me. A linear game is quite refreshing after getting all those open-world games where you have to spend 80-100 hours to check all the landmarks and icons. Being a linear game means you need to have a gripping story; unfortunately, it’s not something that Lost Soul Aside has. And having a big Imperial Capital city that you can explore from time to time, and not providing any Sub-Quests, it feels like a lost opportunity.
Honestly, we feel like the game premise is kind of like a compilation of different types of sources. One that comes to mind is the plot of Saint Seiya, especially when you push your way through the Mount of Salvation, and learn about the existence of Seleria (Arena’s former vessel), and her generals. Not to mention that they wear armor that’s kind of similar to that in Saint Seiya. And also, in this game, you will get to access some “other dimension” which is quite similar to the dimension in Astral Chain.
Other than that, we also feel like a lot of NPCs’ potential is not being utilized very well. During Kaser’s Journey to save her sister, you will also sometimes have several “party members” joining you for a limited time or only in a specific fight. Those with power in this game are called “Gifted Ones”, and some of them will help Kaser in his journey.
Unfortunately, none of them are playable, and we feel like it’s a missed potential.
Zana the Gifted One
I think it’d be interesting if you could play some portion of the game using other characters, seeing that there are 2-3 key characters who is a Gifted Ones and have the power to help Kaser fight the Voidrax. While you will be able to travel along these characters and learn a little about their background, it’s not deep enough to the point that you will care about the characters.
We believe that the story & plot for this game are the weakest parts of the game. There are a lot of things that can be done to improve the experience in that area; unfortunately, it is what it is.
Gameplay
Battle
While the story & plot are the weakest parts of the game, the flashy action part is where the game shines best. It’s more on the level of Platinum Games action rather than something similar to the Devil May Cry Series.
As mentioned in the story part as well, you will only have the chance to play as Kaser and Kaser alone. Fortunately, the game gives you several choices on how you want to play as Kaser. You will have a total of 4 choices of Weapon, each with its own Skill Tree that you can use to expand Kaser’s ability. It’s nothing too complicated as well, just a simple branching and a different type of skill that you can equip for the weapon as well. One thing that we kinda don’t like about this skill tree is that Kaser’s basic attributes, like HP or STR, or maybe some equipment slots, are dispersed within all 4 weapons skill trees.
You will have to unlock the skill tree to a certain point to be able to reach those stat upgrades. It would be much better if Kaser had his own skill tree outside the Weapons.
Check out the skill tree for Scythe
The 4 Types of Weapons are as follows:
Sword, Great Sword, Poleblade, & Scythe
While having all 4 different types of weapons, there’s really no reason for you to keep changing the weapon that you want to use.
You can just focus on 1 weapon and maxing the skill tree, and it will be enough for you to clear the game. So it really depends on your playstyle and what kind of weapon you like. I personally like to use the Scythe.
If you want something simple, just go with the Sword.
If you want something with an “oomph”, you can go with the Great Sword.
If you want to focus on using quick combos, you can use the Poleblade.
And if you like doing area damage, then Scythe is the best choice.
Being able to activate a combo or a skill in this game feels very satisfying. All of the moves are very flashy with all of the particles.
All of these flashy particles
You will also get access to a special attack called “Arena Power”, which you have to unlock by finding the item needed to unlock the specific Arena Power before you can use it. It’s sometimes within a treasure chest or by clearing the Dispersed Dimension Challenge.
Arena Power list
You can again adjust your playstyle by choosing a different type of Arena Power that you want to bring into the battle.
Also, I need to mention that the game also has Just Dodge & Parry. By dodging at the right moment, you will be able to do a counterattack, and by parrying at the right time, you will break the enemy defense faster.
Platforming & Gimmick.
Lost Soul Aside also has platforming as part of the gameplay. It’s not about just killing monsters; it’s about your precision of jumping and dashing as well. Sometimes you just have to run as fast as possible before you run out of time. And sometimes it’s quite punishing to a point where it’s frustrating.
Try to jump on those platforms to get that secret chest
Also, sometimes there are gimmicks during a boss fight where you have to hit the switch before the time runs out, so you can put up a barrier to hold the Boss’s Ultimate Attack. If you failed to do so, basically, you will have to fight the boss from the 1st Phase again, as it’s an instant game over. You don’t have checkpoints in between the Boss phases.
Items & Crafting
Throughout the game, you will find lots of items and materials that you can use for crafting.
Unfortunately, the item system in this game…just doesn’t work. Basically, you don’t really need to use any other items other than the original Healing Potions. Restore Stamina? It’s auto-regen. Remove Status Ailments? It doesn’t last too long & you can still handle it with Healing Potions. There are lots of different items, but none of them really matter. Same with the material, you get lots of materials, but there’s a limited number of items that you can create, and as I said, you don’t really need to use them as well.
So this whole Item & Material system feels very pointless.
Trinkets & Weapon Accessory
Trinket is something that’s very important in this game. It’s an accessory that Kaser can use, and depending on what you are using, you will gain a significant amount of stats that can help you win a battle.
You can adjust it to match your playstyle. For example, if you are using a Lightning Element weapon, you might want to use Trinkets that can help you increase Electrified Damage, etc.
The next thing that I want to talk about is the Weapon Accessory.
As you can see from the picture above, you can equip up to 6 Weapon Accessories for each weapon. And the accessory will actually appear in your weapon, as you can see in the middle of the Scythe in the picture above. Each accessory has certain attributes that can help in a battle, but it’s not necessarily helpful. And by stacking 6 Weapon Accessories in 1 Weapon, you will see how bad it looks, like the picture above. All the stacking is weird and making it look bad by design.
Dispersed Dimension
Dispersed Dimension is basically the “Sub-Quests” of this game. You will face a lot of different trials, all with different conditions, and clearing the Mission with all of its extra conditions will give you rewards.
This is by far the hardest content of this game. You will need to understand all of the mechanics of the game to get all of the bonus Rewards.
The other one is the Boss Rush mode, which will only unlock after you finish the game once.
In this mode, you will be able to fight bosses in a row. Basically, this is not that hard, especially when you have already cleared the game once. It’s good when you just want to go back and fight that specific boss without going through the Stage Selection.
Graphics & Performances
We got the chance to test this game on 3 PlayStation Devices.
・PlayStation 5
・PlayStation 5 Pro
・PlayStation Portal
And we had a great experience with all of it.
On a normal PlayStation 5, you will have 2 options called “Quality Mode” & “Performance Mode”.
Quality Mode prioritizes visual fidelity, offering a sharper image at 30 frames per second (FPS), while Performance Mode prioritizes a smoother experience by targeting 60 FPS, albeit with a more dynamic and sometimes lower resolution.
But on a PlayStation 5 Pro, those 2 modes will change into “Quality Mode Pro” & “Performance Mode Pro”, and are much better and smoother than the PlayStation 5 mode.
You can check out the comparison video down below by ElAnalistaDeBits
We heard there were a lot of performance issues with the game, but we have almost no issues with the game. (The latest version that we played was v1.011, and I guess they already fixed a lot of issues previously reported.)
But then again, playing this game on Quality Mode is really not the way to play this game. It’s a fast action game, and playing it on 30fps is just…wrong on so many levels. If you are going to play this game, then Performance Mode is the only way, and playing it on PlayStation 5 Pro is probably the best way to play this game.
Also, regarding the character models, I feel like the hair strands look very rough. But hey, we got all these cute ladies as NPCs, and I’m not complaining.
The other thing that I need to mention is that the game actually has a very good landscape environment.
Check out the screenshots below and see how beautiful the view is. While I know that they are using Unreal Engine 4 while every other companies are racing to use UE5, the game still looks beautiful.
Sounds
As for the Sounds, one thing that is worth mentioning is that the Main Theme,「 Luminous」is composed by the infamous Yoko Shimamura (known best for her works in FFXV).
Most of the OSTs are awesome, especially those in the boss fights.
You can check the whole playlist of the OST here by Forll.
On another note, the game has a very good Japanese voiceover in comparison to the English one. Do yourself a favor and play the game in Japanese for a much better experience. Kaito Ishikawa did such a great job voicing Kaser.
The Verdict
Lost Soul Aside is a very good action game, and very refreshing as it’s a linear game among games that focus on the open world section. But of course, it’s not without its flaws.
Lost Soul Aside feels like it’s trying to be a lot of different things. Starting from the character model that looks like Noctis from Final Fantasy XV (Not mentioning how Kaser is able to pull out his weapon from thin air as well), the Story has weird pacing as well, with a very simple and specific goal from the beginning, to save Louisa, a plot that feels like you have seen that before somewhere.
But one thing that we are sure of is that the Action part is the good part, and it’s quite addictive. Especially when you have 4 Weapons in your arsenal, and you can change them anytime on will whenever you want, even during the battle. Each boss fight feels very fun and satisfying, especially when you are able to perfectly dodge or parry the boss, and then do a continuous combo and see how fast you can deplete the Boss’s HP when their barrier’s gone.
If you’ve had enough of Soulslike games and are looking for a simpler linear game where you don’t have to think too much, I think this is the game for you, but don’t expect to get a game with a deep & heart-moving plot. The action is flashy and good enough to keep you on your toes, but the platforming might be annoying for people who are not used to it.
Erhanz finished the game in 32 hours, completing the game in Normal Difficulty, while finishing all contents in Dispersed Dimension and getting all of the bonus rewards.
