RESTLESS SOUL Review: Try Not To Die From Laughter (PC)

In the modern world where graphics technology and screens can provide us with a visual experience that we could have only dreamed of years ago RESTLESS SOUL is a monochromatic oddity. When I first watched the trailer this title, developed by a solo dev known as Fuz Games and published by Graffiti Games, I was taken by the style and the silly jokes.

Before you take one look at it and write it off as a half-baked attempt at an indie title that the devs weren’t even bothered to color in properly, let me encourage you to read on. You will discover that RESTLESS SOUL is more than meets the eye. 

Restless Soul is available on Steam and Nintendo Switch for your regional pricing. I played this game on my MacBook almost exclusively, despite a warning from Steam that told me it probably wouldn’t run. 

Story

Overall, the story is very simple. You are dead, and you want to go back – but not to the Future, rather to your old life. The game doesn’t tell us why, in fact the main character outright says that would be a spoiler. 

The 4th wall is nonexistent in this game, with the characters often interacting directly with the player. Your mileage may vary with this, I can imagine it getting a little much for some players, but the quips and gags had me grinning consistently. Perhaps you’ll want to digest RESTLESS SOUL in bite-sized chunks for this reason.

Thanks to the unashamedly generic premise, I imagine it won’t be difficult to pick up again between games, even if you get sucked into one for a while. There’s nothing worse than trying to get back into a game, and suddenly a character you don’t remember is talking to you about something you forgot happened. 

Didn’t they have a name?

Restless Soul is delightfully self-aware. It’s not trying to reinvent the wheel or tell an epic story. It just wants you to laugh. In my case, I would say great success! Some of the jokes might have you rolling your eyes, but I love the offbeat and in some cases dry sense of humor.

Characters – All the Afterlife’s a Stage

There are a few characters in this game. You’re not going to see any grand character development, buy you certainly will meet some goofy personas. Everyone is a comedian in the afterlife, apparently. Even the Grim Reaper himself.

The main antagonist in the game is called Dr. Krull. Yes, his head is a skull – how did you guess? Much like other characters in the game, he fits an archetype. He’s playing a role, and he knows it – everyone does. It’s weird, and also silly but entertaining.

I did start feeling bad for the protagonist not long into the game. Not even the narrator is nice to him – he is essentially there to be the butt of just about every joke. It’s funny for the most part, but I found this a wearing after a while. Playing the game in short bursts helps with this.

Choices That Don’t Matter

The game will sometimes present you with choices. Usually there is only one right answer, but thankfully it’s usually the silliest and you can guarantee that each option will give you some or other joke.

This is fine with me. Not every game has to have multiple endings driven by an intricately weaved web of statistics and dialogue choices. For the most part, the dialogue was entertaining to read so I typically exhaust every option where I had them.

Once again, it’s all about the jokes – it’s a bit like playing a visual novel comprising entirely of those short 4 panel comic strips you find in the Sunday paper. Hundreds – no, thousands of them. I think this is great so long as you take the game as seriously as it takes itself.

Popping Off

I love a good pop culture reference, and there are a few to look forward to in RESTLESS SOUL. I didn’t notice any that were too esoteric, and since this is spoiler territory I don’t want to say much. What I can say is that you can expect some quirky and often surprising allusions to classic games and movies.

I’m sure he really would love to hear if you have any problems

Mercifully RESTLESS SOUL doesn’t lean too hard on its pop culture references to drive its jokes. There is a subtly careful nature to the way it handles these references, avoiding them at first (or perhaps I just didn’t notice them) and keeps them classy.

Gameplay – Easy Does It

As you might have gathered, Restless Soul is not a very complex game. As a result, there isn’t a lot to learn here – there are some RPG elements, but these are mostly limited to the character and story. The gameplay is a combination of dungeon crawling elements becoming a twin-stick shooter once you enter battle.

This might not sound very exciting but if you are after something simple and entertaining, Restless Soul might interest you. The overworld isn’t exactly exciting to explore, but the joy comes in when interacting with all the characters you will encounter in the afterlife.

The twin-stick shooter styled combat is well executed. The 2D sprites float around in 3D, firing projectiles at you. Simple at first, but as you progress bosses and enemies will have different attack patterns and conditions, becoming steadily more challenging.

Taking on the Gym Leader.. er.. Boss.. rewards you with a key

Don’t Forget to Dodge

You are able to Dash, enabling you to avoid enemy attacks. This also helps when you want to get around town a little faster.  Using your second stick, or WSAD keys if you’re using a keyboard, will fire projectiles of your own allowing you to damage enemies. You can only do this in battle if you were hoping for some GTA-style action in the afterlife.

That’s it. Nothing complicated here – just simple effective gameplay. There is a pleasing variety of enemies, and each encounter is usually preceded and followed by a gag of sorts – either from the narrator, enemies or the main unnamed character.

Boss battles can be quite tricky to overcome, but not overwhelmingly so. I think one boss took more than half a dozen attempts, and that was because I was rushing the fight. They usually involve avoiding attacks while trying to get your own bullets to make contact.

I want more jokes!

RESTLESS PUZZLE SOULVER

You might find the puzzle elements familiar – especially if you’ve played any of the early Pokémon RPGs. You know, the ones in the ice caves that involved sliding rocks around into specific places? Right.

A good puzzle truly is like a gift these days

I always enjoyed these kinds of puzzles and often thought I would have enjoyed more of them in the Pokémon games. There isn’t an excessive amount of them, and they are stimulating enough that you actually do have to think a little sometimes – but not too much.

If you like collectibles, there are a few of these going around – in each town, there are letters you can collect. There is also an octopus-like fellow that has lost his brothers, and naturally as the protagonist it’s up to you to reunite them. Or not.

Thankfully RESTLESS SOUL is respectful of your time. While it might poke fun at you here and there, it’s fully aware that you have other games you want to play so there isn’t an excessive amount of these. You also won’t be traversing huge, empty distances between towns – maybe a few minutes when traveling between each, usually with some dialogue along the way.

I felt like I was part of the game

Graphics and Audio – What It Says on the Tin

The visual style of Restless Soul bears a resemblance to early Game Boy Pokémon games, right down to the sprite design and even the overworld. It is rendered in 3D, with the characters and objects resembling paper cutouts a-la Paper Mario. 

The minimalist style might not appeal to everyone, but it’s a bold stroke that fits the game well and hints at the fact that Restless Soul is mostly driven by its characters and narrative. I like it when indie developers play to their strengths, and in this case Fuz made a good choice going with a very simple visual style.

The sound design appropriately employs a chip tune aesthetic. I wouldn’t have it any other way – much like the visuals, simple melodies and sound effects accompany your gameplay. Probably the soundtrack will be lost among countless similarly styled ones, but much like the visuals it all fits nicely in context. 

Other than that, there isn’t much to say about RESTLESS SOUL regarding the graphics and audio. Simple stuff here – and there is nothing wrong with that. In fact I would argue that this is one of RESTLESS SOUL‘s greatest strengths – there might not be anything fancy here, but it’s all solid and more enjoyable for it. Excellent work.

I played RESTLESS SOUL on PC. The review key was provided by Graffiti Games.