The Last Worlds: Crossed Souls Preview: A First Look!

Coming soon to PC, developed and published by Lupio Studios, charges The Last Worlds: Crossed Souls. A third-person fantasy action-adventure game that takes inspiration from Dragon’s Quest and The Legend of Zelda. Set on the alien world of Ness-444, you must save it from impending disaster with the help of your fluffy friend Lupio. Craft weapons, fight monsters, and solve puzzles as you try to save the day.

This preview of The Last Worlds: Crossed Souls uses a rather early alpha build of the game. And whilst there is much to enjoy with the core of the gameplay, the version I played is still rather rough around the edges. This is probably the earliest build I’ve played of a game in quite a while. Well, the earliest of those that actually didn’t get abandoned, but that is a different story. The current build offers a lot of promise, and it will be interesting to see how it develops in the future. With that said, let’s get to the preview.

A demo is currently available on Steam, where the title can also be wishlisted and a demo can be downloaded.

Story – Tutorial Trials

As is common with many previews that I do, I have to say that there is no story in the build that I played of The Last Worlds: Crossed Souls. This is to say that there are no cutscenes, blurbs, summaries, splashscreens or anything of that like to give you context for what the grand goal is.

I’ll be blunt, this isn’t a major problem for me, given where this game is in its development. And all this does is tell me that the developers seem more focused on developing the gameplay and trying to make that as compelling as possible. Which is perfectly fine by me, and I’ll be talking about that just shortly. Yes, I would have liked at least something for context or to tell me “This is the goal of this demo”. But that isn’t what we get here.

The tutorial text is clear and informative.

In situations like this, I tend to look at the UI, the Menus, and in-game texts. You know, the important moment-to-moment text that can make or break a player’s ability to play the game in the first place. And it is all fine for the most part. It is clear and easy to read. But I will admit that I feel that the in-game menus are hard to navigate. At least if you are using a controller as it can be hard to see which tab you have highlighted. But this is a minor issue that can easily be patched out in time.

And you can always switch to using a mouse for those moments. The tutorial text is easy to read, though I do wish that it were paced out better. As you can easily get tutorials for things you’ve already learnt well before you find the text telling you how to do it. 

Gameplay – Hack n’ Slash

As said at the head of the preview, The Last Worlds: Crossed Souls is a third-person fantasy action-adventure game. I will admit that I’m not that familiar with the Dragon’s Quest games that partly inspired it. But, as has been obvious from my past articles, I am very familiar with the Legend of Zelda series. And I have to say that, given the current construction of the game, it feels closer to the Breath Of The Wild/Tears Of The Kingdom era.

Crafting and gathering resources are a major element of the current build. All be it that here it echoes closer to more of a typical crafting game; build tools, gain resources, craft things, get new resources, build new tools, repeat.

The combat in The Last Worlds Crossed Souls is rather satisfying.

The controls are decent, even for such an early look into the development of the game. And the combat is fun enough. Yes, it still needs work to give it more flair, and some elements don’t feel needed; I don’t see the point of having quick attacks and heavy attacks. Whilst this can build up to some impressive-looking combos, the combo system itself doesn’t really feel needed. It makes for great visuals. But smashing the slow attack and dodging is just as effective.

I’m sure that as the game develops and the combat system is refined, the need for them will become more apparent. Even with that said, the combat is fun. Though it needs to be supported with less floaty animations and better enemy targeting for me.

Crafty So-and-So

One of the core planks to the preview build of The Last Worlds: Crossed Souls is crafting. Now, I don’t think at this point I really need to explain what crafting is, now do I, dear reader? It is now such a part of the gaming landscape that it feels like just about every game around has it now. Especially those that are open world, as The Last Worlds: Crossed Souls seeks to be. And the system that this game uses is stress-free and simple.

Though I will be blunt; I don’t think that the game really needs it. Oh, sure, in its current build, without it, there wouldn’t be much else to do. But with it, it just adds busy work to the game. Which, honestly, isn’t as fun as the combat or exploration.

Time to grind!

This is yet another title where I need to wander around to click away at finite resources to build an outfit or repair a tool, to take down more resources to build more outfits and do more repairs. For me, it is just a slightly more engaging form of grinding for XP. And given the game has a levelling up system, well, that grants even more time to sink into it.

Now, I’ll grant you, it is very, very early days with this one. I’m sure that as the game evolves, this system might become more engaging. I know it might seem like I’m getting the developers to cut stuff I don’t like. I’m not, I’m just saying that there are some elements that, whilst they might be fun, they need a little extra polish. Which I’m sure will come with time.

A Mon-Star in the Making?

Don’t get me wrong. These issues aren’t a sign that I think that The Last Worlds: Crossed Souls is going to be a wash-out, and that the preview has left me cold. This is an early build; there is much that can be done. And I’m willing to concede that this might be a ‘different strokes’ kind of thing. Aside from that, the game still holds promise, even at this stage in its development. The game world is large, and whilst things will be altered with time, it is a fine show of the scale of the adventure coming down the line. And I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy what I’ve played in the preview thus far.

I hit him so hard it created a super nova!

The combat is satisfying. And the crafting system is easy to understand. And the game world is huge! Whilst it still needs development, it is amazing just how much there is to see in this preview build. There are even a few neat puzzles thrown in for good measure. And this is all despite the fact that the game is so early into its development. The Last Worlds: Crossed Souls has a world of potential. And I’m looking forward to seeing what comes in later updates as it draws closer to release.

Graphics & Audio – Bold New World

For a game that is so early into its development, I have to credit the developers for creating such an interesting and vibrant world. Yes, the edges of the preview build are still rough, and some animations still look floaty, but The Last Worlds: Cross Souls still looks fantastic. The environment is bold and colourful, and features a vast sprawling landscape for you to explore. Even though large sections are blocked off by semi-transparent walls, the playing space you get is massive and filled with monsters and a couple of puzzles here and there for you to deal with.

Some environmental elements are missing; water doesn’t exist, and any area where there should be water is empty. But that is understandable given how early into things this game is. The soundtrack is fine. It adds a sense of adventure and fades between a more fantasy-sounding feel to an action one quite well. Honestly, it is hard to talk about the graphics and audio of The Last Worlds: Crossed Souls as so much about it is so early into its development that by the time the final game is released. But what I’ve seen thus far offers promise.

The Last Worlds: Crossed Souls was previewed on PC.