Sometimes I catch myself looking at a game and expecting it to be better than what is advertised. It isn’t really a fault of the marketing department, sometimes I just see a concept and expect it to be really great, when it might only be mediocre at best. 6Souls is a great example of my mind wanting a game to be better than it actually is. While it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, after going back and looking at the marketing materials I’m not actually sure why I expected it to be different.

6Souls puts you in the role of Jack and his dog Butch, who are searching for treasure and the fabled Clifford Castle. After finding themselves trapped in the castle, they must free the souls of the Clifford Family, who have been trapped by a hooded figure. 6Souls is an action-platformer that requires you to play as both Jack and his dog Butch in order to progress through over 80 levels.

The levels are relatively simple in terms of platforming and progression. Jack can push and pull blocks, attack with a sword, jump, climb, and wall jump. Butch cannot fight, but he can double jump and fit through small spaces. In each level, Jack can collect coins while Butch can collect bacon strips as collectibles.

The platforming parts are smooth and well thought out, it’s when combat gets involved that there are issues. Jack gets 3 health, that’s it. During boss fights, if you lose all your health you start the fight over completely. What’s worse is that there are times where damage is practically unavoidable. The boss fights are interesting enough I suppose in terms of design, but the lack of personal upgrades to health or damage makes them just a war of attrition really.

That’s the biggest issue with 6Souls in a nutshell. The platforming and puzzle elements are great but interspersed are combat sections that just aren’t enjoyable. Had they taken a bit more time to make the game a full action-platformer, or just removed combat entirely, I think the game would be better off. In fact, I’ve seen Puzzle-Platformers without combat that had “boss fights” purely from puzzles, and they could have gone that route here.

Overall, 6Souls isn’t terrible. The puzzle platforming is fairly solid, though the controls are a little slippery. The dialogue is cute, though there are some minor errors here and there. I can appreciate what the developers were going for, but it just feels a little half-baked. If you’re looking for a fun platformer to try and don’t mind the combat being difficult, give this one a good look, you might like it.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of 6Souls was provided by Ratalaika Games for this review.

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6Souls

$4.99 USD

6

Score

6.0/10

Pros

• Cute Dialogue
• Solid Puzzles
• Interesting Concept

Cons

• Slippery Controls
• Half-Baked Combat Mechanics
• No Progression for Health