6Souls Switch Review – A Castle Romp That’s All Bark and No Bite

6Souls is an indie platformer mixing a pixel art style with a tough-as-nails combat/platforming system. Created by BUG-Studio, the same team behind FoxyLand and One Escape, one would imagine that this would follow suit and be a decent experience worth the $5 asking price.

So is this adventure following Jack and his dog Butch to find a mysterious castle worth the price of admission? Pull that dog out of your backpack and let’s find out!

The story of 6Souls is one that tries to set up some intrigue. Jack and his faithful canine companion Butch are traveling through the forgotten forest to find a mysterious Clifford Mansion (Which they seem to find only a few hours into their adventure) to uncover the reasoning behind the disappearance of the Clifford family. 

The way the story unfolds is after a few platforming levels and a boss fight, and then some of the histories of the castle is revealed. Unfortunately, these story bits are never really that interesting and just serve as an excuse to give you extra power in the form of these souls gems.

Unfortunately, the story is forgettable, and because you never really get any emotional attachment to the characters or their journey, the climax just kind of falls flat.

The platforming in 6Souls is actually quite good. Over the course of the game, you have to learn how to mix the powers you gain after each boss fight, like double jumping and dashing for greater platforming and battling. While not overly complicated, you can only take a few hits to your shield and only a couple hits on the chin before you die. Your health and your shield health get refreshed each time you move to a new level. 

The real issue with the combat system is that it doesn’t really have any weight to it. The swings feel and sound empty with part of that being sound design. When you hit something, there is no real connecting sound, so every swing sounds the same.

Even when you do connect with an enemy, they are able to phase through your swings to hit you. It’s unfortunate that the combat is a hindrance in 6Souls, because the platforming does a decent job of evolving over each new stage while teaching you new tricks.

The biggest issue with 6Souls is its sound design and soundtrack. It just feels uninspired, and none of the tracks stand out. Not only is the soundtrack bland, but each sound effect feels out of sync. Each footstep, man and dog alike, comes half a second after the animation, and almost instantly it became an annoyance for me. When it comes to platformers, the sound design is incredibly important to get the timing down for near-miss jumps, especially when a missed jump in 6Souls about ninety-five percent of the time leads to instant death. It just misses the mark so badly.

Overall, I would say if you want to find a way to enjoy 6Souls, it would be with the volume turned down and skipping the story sections of the game. Unfortunately, that’s not the way I enjoy games. While it doesn’t do anything to add to the platforming genre, there is a fun game tucked away in here. It’s just unfortunate that it’s under a boatload of weird and bad design choices. I wouldn’t suggest 6Souls even to the most hardcore of platforming fans. It’s best to just leave this duo in the dungeon.

6Souls Review provided by Nintendo Link
Review also found on OpenCritic
Publisher: Ratalaika Games S.L.
Developer: BUG-Studio
Release Date: December 3rd, 2021
Price: $7.99, £7.99
Game Size: 75 MB