Arcane Soul is a side-scrolling combat Windows 10 role-playing game where you battle a host of monsters that include goblins, blobs and more. Available for Windows 10 PC and Mobile, the action-packed game has plenty of weapons, armor and other gear to collect and upgrade. Plus, you have a group of non-player characters that accompanies you in the adventure and increases your odds at victory.
The RPG features include several skill sets that your characters can learn and improve upon, and Arcane Soul includes three difficulty levels to maintain the challenge of combat.
The free gaming title is also available for Windows 8.1 devices that include low-memory phones. Arcane Soul has a slight arcade, dare I say retro, feel to gameplay and overall it isn't a bad gaming option to choose when you have a little down time to burn.
When you first launch Arcane Soul, the first order of business is to choose your gaming character. At launch, you have two characters to choose from, Luke or Elisa, with more characters becoming available as you progress through the game. Once a character is selected, Arcane Soul carries you through an extensive tutorial on gameplay that covers character movements and menu actions (upgrades, training, etc.).
Once the tutorial is exhausted, gameplay launches from the main menu that has options to view your gaming map, the character list, the skill upgrade menu, the character's inventory, the gaming store and an in-app purchase store. Your gaming experience level and a gold count are displayed across the top of this display with access to the game's settings, help section and gamer log-in screen scattered across the bottom of the display.
Settings cover options for the system (sound, music, graphics levels), gameplay (rapid-fire, control layout, etc.) and options for a Bluetooth pad and Haptic feedback. You can also view the User Agreement, re-play the Tutorial and send the developer a question.
Gameplay with Arcane Soul is level based and mapped out on the Map View screen. You can revisit points on the map to improve your scores and a description of each map point fills the right side of the Map screen. Here you can see any treasures available for the level and set the difficulty level for gameplay.
The gaming screen for Arcane Soul has your character's health and magic levels displayed in the upper left corner and movement/battle controls running across the bottom of the screen. Controls include a directional pad, icons for any potions that are available and four attack buttons.
Arcane Soul is a side-scrolling adventure with each level containing multiple stages to conquer. In a nutshell, you move across the screen and slash your way through any monster that appears. As you near the completion of each level, a boss monster appears that is considerably tougher to defeat than the minions you face. When defeated, both the minions and boss monsters have a tendency to drop gold, weapons and other items that can be collected by your hero. Gold can be used to unlock or train characters, as well as buy and upgrade gear.
Speaking of gaming characters, there are levels of gameplay when your main character is joined by a non-player character. The NPC is a handy partner to have in slaying the monsters and surviving that level.
Gaming controls were simply laid out and responsive. I did prefer the touchscreen controls over the keyboard controls with the PC version of Arcane Soul. The keyboard controls felt more spread out, making the gameplay more enjoyable from a touchscreen tablet or phone.
Arcane Soul's graphics are colorful with plenty of animation and the gameplay plenty challenging. Just keep in mind that you have to slay all of the monsters in a level to advance to the next. The goblins, blobs and other creatures will attempt to surround your character and attack them from both sides. This can be difficult to defend and using a jump move or special attack helps you get out of this trap.
Arcane Soul is available as a free download for Windows 10 PC and Mobile, as well as Windows 8.1 PC and Phones. There is a slight old-school feel with Arcane Soul that reminds me of the console games you would find at the local arcade. It is an entertaining game and a fun way to kill a little time.
Download Arcane Soul for Windows 10 PC and Mobile
