After finishingElden Ring57 times, it’s only natural forSoulsbornefans to seek more of the same or similar cocktails of “stress-free” gaming experiences. Like moths to a flame, they’re drawn to otherSouls-liketitles. The latest flame in this genre isDolmen.It’s a sci-fiSouls-likethat has something a little different to offer to fans.
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Like a lot ofSouls-likegames,Dolmenwas made by a small indie team. So it’s only natural for the game to lack the same quality control present in big-budget titles, especially ones made by FromSoftware. Still, fans of the genre might have to take heed here asDolmencan be a rough experience. Some of its issues are detailed below; so fans can see if it can scratch their post-Elden Ringitch or make it worse.
8Enemy Placements
Most of the enemies players will be fighting inDolmenare familiar enough as per sci-fi conventions. Some of them are more troublesome than others not because they’re tough but because they’re either too small or they’re too close to walls. The little spider alien enemies are nasty offenders here. Certain small melee weapon attacks don’t hit them.
Their placement also could have been done better as a lot of them are in odd areas that make the camera go berserk if players are locked on in melee range. Beyond that, the difficulty spikes are questionable as the game clumps together easy enemies with their kind and the same goes for thehard ones.
7Floaty Combat
Part of the reason whyDolmencan be tough to chew and absorb is due to its rather barebones combat. The animations are responsive enough. Even those coming fromElden Ringmight find the controls and movement snappier. However, combat tells a different and more frustrating story. Most of the attacks don’t feel powerful or weighty enough.
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Moreover, weapon hitboxes can be wonky at times with small weapons (such as the hand axe). They often fail to hit either because of their swing animation or because their swing speed isn’t that much faster compared to heavier weapons. The saving grace in combat is that blocking is a precise life-saver but everything else falls apart at the seams.
6Tedious Multiplayer
There is co-op or multiplayer inDolmen, butit’s hardly accessible or innovative. InSoulstitles, players are given initially limited tokens for multiplayer. These later turn into re-usable ones. InDolmen, multiplayer tokens are finite. This makes the act of co-op or even enjoying the game with your friends a chore since these multiplayer tokens don’t get refunded (for now).
Players can farm these multiplayer tokens from enemies as they’re on the drop table. But these tokens don’t drop often enough to alleviate tedium. At best, multiplayer access through these finite tokens is unreliable so those who bought the game with friends and co-op in mind will be disappointed. That is until the developers change the multiplayer system.
5Empty Rooms & Areas
Dolmenis an RPG, but it suffers from having environments and levels that are too linear. There’s little to no incentive for exploration here; players are mostly railroaded from boss fight to boss fight. It’s certainly a far cry from the most recent open-world innovations introduced in theSouls-likegenre.
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To make matters worse, there are plenty of questionable level designs inDolmen.These come in the form of empty rooms or open spaces that hold no value apart from artistic expression. And even then, the game’s graphics aren’t up to par with today’s standards. It incorporates anti-aliasing, but even that’s not enough to add value to the empty areas.
4Clunky User Interface
Speaking of outdated graphics,Dolmen’s case is worsened by its painfully plain user interface. If anything, its user interface makes the game appear as though it’s still in its early access phase. The UI is bare, uninspiring, and unhelpful. While giantslikeElden Ringdon’t exactly have the most helpful or accessible UI, at least that one resonates with its unique personality tailored for the game.
Dolmen’s UI, from the font to the button prompts, looks cheap, to put it bluntly. It also doesn’t fit the game’s aesthetics. When it comes to the menu, the game also hinders players considerably. Even changing something as mundane as the display configuration is clunky thanks to the sub-menu partitioning. It’s easy to get turned off as early as the game’s main menu screen.
3Energy & Battery Mechanics
WhereDolmensets itself apart fromotherSouls-like(beyond its sci-fi setting) is in its healing system. Instead of potions or health pickups,Dolmenutilizes an energy system where the blue bar can be used to heal HP. This blue energy bar doesn’t regenerate and has other uses apart from healing, so it compels players to micromanage resources in the heat of combat.
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Energy can be replenished with the use of batteries and these are practically mana potions. The problem here is that using a battery stops the character’s movement in its tracks. Players can’t rely on it during combat, making fights less dynamic. Moreover, such a system doesn’t feel necessary outside of being unique for uniqueness' sake. This mechanic doesn’t add or do anything for its genre.
2Stamina Problems
Stamina is a huge part of anySouls-likegame’s combat andDolmenis no exception. This in-game mechanic is usually what makes or breaks the game in terms of difficulty. Even subtle changes to the default speed of recovery can change the game’s feel.Dolmensomewhat missed in this aspect of gameplay.
The stamina recovers too slowly, and it makes the combat feel a lot slower despite the responsive and quick actions. Heck, the fast animations and actions can even betray the player’s mindset; they can fool themselves into thinking they can commit several fast actions at once only for the stamina bar to stop them dead.
1Early Bugs & Glitches
No game didn’t suffer from this during their release. It’s just that some games are buggier or glitchier than others. This makes it easy for players to decide when to pick them up. ForDolmen, the consensus is to sadly wait for a bargain sale as the game can be almost unplayable in its current state.
One frustrating and common bug is that the player character will go invisible after cutscenes or sometime during boss fights. Such a predicament makes it difficult for players to know when their character is dodging or is about to be hit. Of course, coupled with the crashes, performance issues, and progression-halting bugs (such as weapons getting replaced with weaker variants), it might be awhile beforeDolmenbecomes playable in a way originally intended by its developers.
Dolmenis out now and is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Microsoft Windows.
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