Soul Nomad & the World Eaters

From the creators of the Disgaea series comes a 2D turn-based RPG with a penchant for on-the-cusp humor and lucrative characters: Soul Nomad and the World Eaters. Straying from its roots but keeping some form of grid-movement combat, the developers of this game took inspiration from the likes of the Fire Emblem series to offer a genre, usually relegated to close-knit battles, a much grander scale. The battles in Soul Nomad are marked by massive landscapes and scenic vistas—giving every encounter a sense of vastness in an equally vast, lore-filled, universe.

Awaken the World-Eaters

With a story that wastes no time getting started, Soul Nomad begins by combining the soul of the protagonist with that of Gig, the Master of Death, whose titan world-eaters, 200 years after a bitter defeat, are once again poised to return and well, eat the world.

It feels in a lot of ways like the beginning of God of War 3. That said, the only one with the power to stop the world-eaters is Gig, who has now fused with you, the protagonist—and the only problem, Gig doesn’t have as much interest in saving the world as you do.

With that set-up, the story sets itself up for some emotionally powerful moments intermingled with a lot of humor usually surrounding Gig who, as a trapped demigod, really doesn’t like being ordered around by ordinary citizens of the world.

Build Your Armies

While the gameplay of Soul Nomad is extremely plot-driven, it also lends itself to a larger scale. As something like Final Fantasy II might offer larger and larger creatures, this game will offer larger and larger armies. As the game progresses through the grid, rooms of squads and soldiers are often led by some archetypal hero, and function as such in battle. In that way, each room that serves to lend strength to your battles also lends to the complexity of them—making the whole thing feel much more similar to large-scale troop assignments in something like Total War. That being said, the succeeds at always feeling personal through the use of Gig and the protagonist—even as the battles continue to grow in size and epic-scale as your army does.

Cover Your Bases

Soul Nomad doesn’t necessarily reinvent the wheel when it comes to grid-based combat, and the implementation of AI to make decisions that the player might otherwise feel limited—but the sheer scale and growth the game has over the course of it’s something like fifty campaign levels feel worth the time spent. As you grow, rewards and replayability do as well. Each new hero and group they represent change up the tactics for battle—and in so doing the strategy you, both, start fights and end them with.

Story First, Battle Second

The truth of the matter is that Soul Nomad’s brand of humor that toes the line for modern audiences isn’t for everyone. While some will laugh along with the somewhat demented demigod Gig, by the end of the game everyone will understand him, at least a little. The story drives the combat, and the plot is ripe with twists and turns.

Pros:

• Exciting, branching story
• Large scale battles, growing armies
• Love of hate, Gig is an interesting character

Cons:

• AI in combat can be head-scratching
• Weak overall presentation
• Some definitely over the line humor

Welcome to Soul Nomad and the World Eaters, no this isn’t a Danish thrash metal band, it’s a video game. Jump into the Continent of Prodesto, this game will have players embark on a journey of the ages, battling some incredible monsters, meeting soma amazing people, and perhaps learning some terrible truths. Anyone looking to indulge in some nostalgia and play a classic retro game should be jazzed as all hell. Originally released in 2007, this title is finally making its way to PC on 31.08.2021, so anyone wanting to take a crack at this OG game should keep an eye on the space.

Gameplay

Here, in Soul Nomad, customization is king. Different to the Disgaea series of which Nippon Ichi also created, this title focuses largely on strategy and giving the player as many options to choose from while progressing thorough the story as possible. Something I found to be incredibly interesting, is that this game tempts the player with power right from the start. As the player, you will wield a sword that is infused with the power of a being of Death.

You are actually able to become strong enough to defeat the main villain immediately but this requires a reckless abandon and relying on Gig, the death god thing in your sword, and that pretty much primes the world for being destroyed anyway.

I must confess, I have never seen a game do this with characters before and I found it to be incredible. What the game actually wants you to do is take it slow, build up an army and defeat enemy’s the good old-fashioned way. The player is given the ability to create “rooms”, small areas that hold a squad of characters. Rooms can give bonuses and effects to the squad within it.

Combat is very similar to La Pucelle: Tactics. Yours and the enemy’s squads will attack each other which brings you into a separate screen. There you can take a much more hands on approach to winning each small battle. This all builds up with everything you learn and all the characters you’ve created, into designing an army that is near impossible to beat. It rewards creativity in a fantastic way.

Story

This game has the uncanny ability to draw you into a spectacular world filled with amazing characters, and gives you a real feel for the history of the place. You play a young and unsuspecting person who has greatness thrust upon them by a former hero who asks that you be ready to defeat evil at the drop of a hat. It does feel a little like the hero was tricked into the task but at the end of the day, what are we going to do? Not have a video game with a story? No, thank you. I’ll take the story please.

Music

This game has some brilliant tunes accompanying it. It leans in well to the rock and roll sound which helps keep your head in the combat. Outside of combat, it handles the general ambiance of whatever situation the player is in quite well.

Pros:

• Deep and thought-out combat
• Great story

Cons:

• Graphics have aged