Lost Soul Aside Review (PS5): Action that Misses its Soul

Lost Soul Aside is PlayStation’s China Hero Project that has finally seen the light after years of being announced. Long in development, which started as just a one-man project, has finally seen the light on the PlayStation 5 and PC (Steam) platforms.

Lost Soul Aside was released on August 29, 2025, worldwide and published by PlayStation. Ultizero Games’ debut project had fans across the world stoked as the hype kept on gaining with the quality trailers, but it’s time for the final judgement as we dive into our review of the game here at Gameffine.

Lord Arena the Fish

The game starts with what looks like a lively setting of a bustling town, which obviously suffered partiality from the elite, while the poor barely scraped by. And wherever partiality exists, rebels soon follow suit. This is where your group of glimmers banded together to form a group whose only purpose was to drive the statement that people can stand for their rights and overthrow the unjust ruler, Aramon.

But as you may already predict, things go south almost immediately, and our protagonist, Kaser, is separated from his sister, Louise. After falling into the unknown depths of the city, Kaser only wanted to get back to the ground as the voidrax had invaded the city, and everyone’s life was in imminent danger. Kaser soon found out that he may have been too late to escape from the depths, but a voice came as final light when all hope was lost. Kaser soon finds out that an ancient dragon named Arena was the one calling him out and gave him the offer to join hands. Kaser, desperate to reach his sister, agreed, and together they stepped out to the ground.

Our protagonist, now infused with the power of a dragon, completely changed the way of combat and was stronger than ever. Voidrax or elite, anyone had an incredibly hard time coming in contact with Kaser as he had insane abilities to counter, dodge, and put back devastating damage. Unfortunately, the power was not yet tapped to the fullest of its capabilities, and Louise was stripped of her soul.  Louise seemed to have passed away, but Arena the dragon let the Kaser and his friends know that only her soul was lost, and there may be a way to bring her back.

And this is where the journey of Kaser and Arena begins, travelling faraway lands and unseen dimensions, with the hope of saving Kaser’s Sister and all of humanity while at it.

Bury the Light

Imagine Final Fantasy’s art and Devil May Cry 5’s combat had a baby. There you go, you now have Lost Soul Aside’s combat system, which single-handedly carries the game. While the graphics also contribute a lot, combat is the only aspect that kept me going beyond the first three hours.

You start with a basic sword, hunting real human guards, but as soon as you tap into the dragon’s power, the entire game changes. You are now able to dodge and parry at the same time, which makes the game quite easier and definitely separates itself as an ARPG from a soulslike. So if you’re having a hard time being the ‘Parry-Potter’, then dash away through the enemies. Do it right, and you can immediately stack a ton of damage. The powers also give you – Ability-based attacks, combo attacks and and Ultimate. Abilities are unlocked with boss fights, but you can only use one until the third hour of the game.

Abilities are upgraded as well, making them insanely powerful to use. Combo attacks are an absolute joy to execute in the game, especially with character progressions that allow you to unlock even deeper combos and attacks. Holding down Triangle with a double charge and a follow-up makes you faster than lightning and immediately makes you feel like Vergil from DMC, while the heavy sword has a very nostalgic feeling for JRPG fans.

The enemy health system is also designed to hold more than one health bar as you progress more in the game, but it will also come with a stamina bar. Which means you can break their stance and leave them stunned, which prevents them from interrupting your attacks. This space also allows you to land finishers, putting out a devastating amount of damage.

The drawback of this, as you may have already figured out, is that after a while, fighting feels more like a chore than fun. Stacking 20-30 hits on a basic enemy, making him eat an entire combo mid air, only for him to flip out and come right back at me, seems unnecessary. Kaser only felt powerful because of his animations and move list; his damage barely did anything. This made sense as fights are the only thing that is happening in the game, and thus making players spend more time is essential, but a deeper level of move list or even more higher quantity of enemies makes more sense than making your enemies like a tank, while keeping the damage more or less the same.

The game also wants the player to keep going, as after you die a couple of times in a row, you’re awarded with an amulet that basically decreases the difficulty of the game. You get a higher rarity of the same amulet in case you die even more and have a hard time progressing through the game at a particular stage.

Lost Soul Aside’s combat is only fun in boss fights where multiple health bar makes sense. Each boss is uniquely designed with a good variety of attacks and battle progression, making everything almost health as the enemy’s health reaches its end. But everything in between two boss fights slowly becomes a sufferable chore.

Aura Farming? I have Dragon for that

Wearing a leather long coat while travelling across dimensions and having a dragon aura farm for you is the hardest protagonist setting I’ve seen in a while. Unfortunately, the hype stops at that, because there is nothing more flashy happening apart from this. The platforming is even more basic than what Prince of Persia did with its trilogy. The only time your dragon gives you wings and or items to help you parkour or traverse is in cutscenes. Which makes me only wonder why I am manually walking across the map when I am literally infused with a dragon.

The graphics themselves are done beautifully, but for a linear progression, it doesn’t do something absolutely out of the park. It has its moments, especially in the cutscenes, but everything else does not make sense. The voice acting, facial animations, writing, narrative, setting, and everything else that adds immersion to a video game are, unfortunately, not up to the mark. The screams of both characters when Kaser falls into the pit still haunt me to this day.

I absolutely adore the color pallets, design, and models of all characters, maps, and enemies. But the level design itself is so awful that I feel like I’m playing an entry-level platformer game. I don’t even have to wait and plan my next step because the paths are so obvious and empty. There is no life in the entire map, and barely any interesting NPCs or character bonding moments, which would help me know more about the game and its setting.

The only chatter is my nonchalant protagonist and Pookie Dragon, who seems pretty chill when talking to anyone but the protagonist. And to be fair, the writing makes him sound like another supporting character to the protagonist.

As for the music and OSTs, it didn’t leave as much of an impact as it should have. Unfortunately, the stitching and building cutscenes themselves are so bland during the opening scenes that the immersion is already lost.

Final Word

Lost Soul Aside offers a very flashy and fast combat, with super fun boss fights. But if you’re looking for anything more than that, then you are looking at it the wrong way. The combat and graphics carry the game, but for you to remember the names of characters becomes a task with almost non-existent world-building and character stories. A lackluster and predictable storyline makes it even harder to play more of this game, with better options available on the table at the same or lesser pricing.