I am a massive fan of the Legacy of Kain series, as I have made clear in my previous reviews. As such, I was intrigued by Deadhaus Sonata, a new spiritual sequel to the series from Dennis Dyack, who was behind the first game in the series, Blood Omen. Deadhaus Sonata has now been released into Early Access, but have Dyack and Apocalypse Studios managed to recapture the magic?
Well to be perfectly honest, Deadhaus Sonata definitely feels like a work in progress, which is appropriate for Early Access, but what I mean is that the game has some truly fascinating ideas and concepts, but they are not fully realized just yet. This is not to say that Deadhaus Sonata is a mess of a game, just that it is a game that has a ways to go but there is a clear basis to work with and a lot of potential. Is it Legacy of Kain? Well, not really, but it is something that definitely has me hooked.
Deadhaus Sonata has a number of flaws I should mention before going into what I like. This includes the fact that controls need a bit of refinement, with sensitivity being a major issue for now. There are also not any cutscenes or NPCs implemented yet, which is a bit of a letdown, but also the fact that the game’s tutorial does not do enough to explain things at first, and a lot more was needed, though I managed to figure some things out after a while. Lastly, the boss battles just do not live up to their potential in their current state.
Okay, that is the negatives out of the way and now to mention what is good about Deadhaus Sonata. Deadhaus Sonata has a fantastic amount of Lore that is deep and extensive and feels worthy of the lore in Legacy of Kain. It really does a good job of setting up the world and there are various ways to learn everything. This includes how the quests work, or rather feats as the game calls them.
Feats will involve both combat and puzzle solving and will reward you with more information and loot. The loot comes in the form of inscriptions you earn that can be inserted into weapons and armour to give you upgrades that will be determined by your playstyle. What I mean by that, by the way,is that how you choose to play the game is what will affect what sort of Inscription you get as well as what stats it will give you, making the loot system not random but dependent on you entirely.
Deadhaus Sonata also makes use of Taro Cards to give you different skills, and while some are determined by your playstyle choices like Inscriptions, there are some that are not. There are two types of cards here, with Major Arcana giving you active skills, while Minor Arcana enables you to upgrade the skill attributes from the Major Arcana cards. Some of these cards are hidden in the world, and you will need to go off the beaten path to find them.
That is another thing Deadhaus Sonata does well, it encourages exploration and finding hidden secrets in the world along with puzzles. This also ties into the Celestial Clock system, a system that will confuse you at first until you reach a point in the game where one puzzle makes it fully clear what it is and how it works, so you can get the hang of it. The Celestial Clock is deeply connected to the game’s world and affects it in various ways. For instance, you will get different buffs or debuffs depending on the month, season, planetary alignment, and so on, while weather will be determined by the season and also affects how you interact with the world.
Deadhaus Sonata is an action RPG with a class system, but it is not fully fleshed out yet. What we have available lets you do some incredible things in combat, and the combat is very satisfying in its own right. There is also a co-op mode for several players to team together, but I have not checked that out yet. I will say, I am very excited for when more classes are introduced and the systems further fleshed out, as it will lead to some great gameplay, both in single player, and co-op mode.
Deadhaus Sonata is just starting out in Early Access, and if this is just the early bare bones version, I am very excited for what is in store. What we already have is a very unique experience that definitely shakes things up, and with more refinement, building on the foundations, addressing the issues that currently are in the game, and adjustments to visuals and optimization, Deadhaus Sonata could very well be a game that will blow everyone away. If things continue as they are now, Deadhaus Sonata may even step out of Legacy of Kain’s shadow and surpass it.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided