Asterigos: Curse of the Stars is done and dusted. This is a pretty honest Soulsborne experience, albeit a lot more colorful, with a lot more dialogue and a full story, and generally easier gameplay overall. In other words, Souls vets will enjoy it, but people new to the genre will also find it to be very approachable.

Combat is quite fluid, with a fair amount of special moves and such. The areas can definitely be confusing and there is are no maps to consult, so you’ll be going off of memory, which is fine once you unlock fast travel. Until then, you’ll probably feel lost and wander for a bit. The game does reward exploration. There is a bonfire system in the form of teleporters, and there is a central hub where you can upgrade gear, buy stuff, advance quests, get new missions, and so on. Actual leveling can be done anywhere, and includes an ability node system centered around your weapons.

Speaking of weapons, you basically summon them from a magic bracer you wear, and although you can upgrade them in various ways, you get all the weapons in the tutorial section. What you can find or craft/buy are trinkets (buffs), materials and consumables. You also don’t leave “souls” on the ground when you die, although you do pay a souls penalty when you are resurrected.

Anyway, I didn’t do all the side quests and it took me about 24 hours to do what side quests I did finish plus the main story. There are a lot of optional bosses as well. All in all, there is quite a bit of game here, and I expect you could easily add another 10-20 hours if you’re planning to do all the content. You will also have to play twice to get all the cheevos, and my recommendation would be to use a guide for your second run as the eight (out of ten possible) conditions you need to meet to get one of the endings are very specific and easy to mess up.

Btw, I played this exclusively on the Steamdeck. It was a fantastic game for the system. Which reminds me: the graphics were stellar and the voice acting, of which there is a lot, was also very well done. The protagonist, although not voiced by Ashly Burch, sounds a lot like her, and if you’ve played either Horizon game, you could be forgiven for thinking of Aloy as you listen to the dialogue lol.

Highly recommended