Vambrace: Cold Soul

What a beautiful game. To those who are on the fence. Buy it. Enjoy the story, enjoy the torture of making choices you can't save scum. Enjoy it for what it is. If you're looking for a battle sim, look elsewhere. Otherwise, enjoy getting all her outfits!

I HATE THE AUTOSAVE! I HATE THE LONG INTRO BEFORE YOU CAN PLAY THE GAME! I am now trying to 100% the achievements, sadly, you can not save the game before making a choice. You have to stay with whatever choice you make. Once you finish the game once, you can restart the game (deal with the long intro AGAIN) and select a chapter. The story is good, the gameplay is kinda fun, RPG-like. I like the alternative outfits I have gotten so far.

There's a exploit where you load the last level and obtain almost all achievements by beating it.

Likes
- Incredible artwork.
- Decent story, though nothing great.
Neutral
- Music is okay but nothing memorable.
- The game is too easy. Once I understood the camping mechanics, I finished the rest of the game without any wipes or retreat on Cold Soul difficulty, starting from Chapter 2. This is primarily due to the oversimplification of battle stats into a single Combat stat.
Dislikes
- No keybinds.
- UI is clunky at times. No tooltip for enemy status effects. After a major conversation, Evelia kept getting auto-swapped to the front row.
Conclusion
Overall, the game feels more like an RPG than a Roguelite, which I don't really mind. I would still recommend getting it when it's on sale. It might not be the best game out there, but I think it does deserve to have better rating than Mixed reviews.

This is one of those games that's not amazing but does the job well enough to be worth the time, especially considering the deep discount when it's on sale.
The gameplay is a position-based turn-based RPG with a story that you progress by talking to NPCs and beating stages. The lore is pretty cool, the artwork is fantastic, and the overall aesthetic is very good. There's 3 endings influenced by the choices you make at a few key points. There's a selection of characters with different abilities for each class so you can customize your team to your liking.
Most of the negatives are QOL things. Some complain about character balance but i would argue that every character being interchangeable would just be boring. Min-maxing is boring. I play the Hedge Mage and had no problem beating the game. The QOL things for me were just not knowing what the status effects are actually doing, how to cure them, and figuring out what each character's abilities actually do without going to their character sheet all the time.
Positives are most definitely the artwork. It's absolutely beautiful. I also love the overall aesthetic, the lore, and the main story. I find it very interesting and there's a lot to read in the in-game codex.
The combat is a bit mid for me; not bad but also not great. My biggest problem with the combat is there just isn't a lot of variety to each battle. It can be a bit frustrating at times when you get too many debuffs on your team or keep getting critical fails. But it's good enough overall.
The absolute biggest disappointment with this game is that they didn't make a proper sequel. There's a new game in the same universe but it's a completely different genre of game. This game deserves a true sequel since there's tons of player feedback for them.
The TLDR is maybe a 6/10, just above average and carried by the artwork.

A short, exploration-focused dungeon crawler with turnbased combat. The story was deeper than expected, and there's many interesting mechanics that may come as a surprise. The worst thing you can do is go in thinking this plays exactly like a different game just because of how it looks. Accept it for what it is and you will find the mechanics are very streamlined and forgiving, with no minmaxing or number crunching, and combat is extremely simple and fast. Many side quests with decisions that determine your ending. Most importantly - changes to the protagonists outfit are reflected in their dialogue CG as well as during gameplay, and you can unlock a lingerie outfit after the first dungeon. Many other tasteful character & armour designs to be found too :^)

Vambrace: Cold Soul, developed by Devespresso Games and published by Headup, is a gothic roguelike RPG that weaves together narrative-driven exploration, punishing combat, and strategic party management in a world blanketed by perpetual frost. Set in the haunted city of Icenaire, the game introduces players to Evelia Lyric, a mysterious outsider who possesses a magical artifact known as the Vambrace. This relic allows her to enter the cursed city—a place overrun by the undead and sealed off from the outside world. With a narrative foundation steeped in lore and dark fantasy, the game wastes no time immersing players in its bleak yet beautiful world.
The strongest aspect of Vambrace is undoubtedly its visual presentation. The hand-drawn art style is striking and full of personality, offering richly detailed character portraits and haunting environmental backdrops. Every screen evokes the chilling isolation of the setting, from frost-covered ruins to claustrophobic underground tunnels. The color palette leans into icy blues and shadowy blacks, reinforcing the oppressive mood of the narrative. This visual direction is further supported by a haunting soundtrack that manages to blend eerie ambiance with occasional bursts of intensity during key story beats or combat encounters. Altogether, the audiovisual elements provide a strong thematic identity that helps the game stand out in a crowded genre.
Gameplay in Vambrace revolves around two core loops: preparation in the underground city hub of Dalearch, and procedurally generated expeditions into the surface world. In Dalearch, players interact with NPCs, accept missions, manage resources, and assemble a party of adventurers from various classes. Each class brings a unique combination of combat abilities and passive traits, which are essential to surviving the perils of the surface. Once an expedition begins, players guide their party across interconnected zones, making decisions about which paths to take, whether to engage in battles, and how to manage dwindling health and morale. The game’s turn-based combat system emphasizes positioning, synergy between characters, and careful use of limited items and magic abilities.
One of the more challenging aspects of the game is its unforgiving difficulty. Vambrace draws clear inspiration from titles like Darkest Dungeon, and it shares many of the same mechanics, including permadeath for companions, affliction systems, and heavy attrition over time. However, unlike its spiritual predecessors, Vambrace layers on a deep narrative and worldbuilding that help contextualize the struggle. That said, the balance can feel uneven at times, with some encounters proving excessively punishing and random events capable of undoing a well-planned run. The procedural nature of maps, while adding variety, also introduces a sense of repetitiveness and a lack of cohesion in level design after extended play sessions.
Combat, while visually engaging, has its share of pacing issues. Animations are slow, and battles tend to drag out, especially during longer expeditions. Enemy variety is decent, but the core mechanics do not evolve much beyond the first several hours. This contributes to a sense of mechanical stagnation, particularly in a game that expects multiple retries and replays. Additionally, the user interface, while serviceable, can be clunky during inventory management or when navigating menus. These friction points, while not game-breaking, detract from what is otherwise a compelling loop of exploration and survival.
Narratively, Vambrace is surprisingly rich. Dialogue is well-written, and the lore of Icenaire unfolds gradually as players progress through the game’s chapters. The world feels lived-in, with factions, personal rivalries, and tragedies that echo through logs, conversations, and environmental storytelling. Evelia herself is a fully voiced protagonist, and her role in the story goes beyond a simple cipher for the player. The game takes time to explore her motivations and backstory, offering a more personal stake in the unfolding events. This investment in character and narrative is one of the game’s most commendable design choices, setting it apart from more mechanically focused roguelikes.
However, there are design shortcomings that hold the experience back from greatness. Chief among them is the pacing. Whether due to slow animations, repetitive level layouts, or overly punishing expedition mechanics, the game can feel like a grind at times. Progress is hard-won, and the lack of meaningful checkpoints or quick recovery options means failure often results in long stretches of repeated content. For players who relish a slow-burn challenge with high stakes and a heavy emphasis on strategy, this may be a welcome structure. But for those seeking a more fluid or forgiving experience, Vambrace may prove too harsh.
In conclusion, Vambrace: Cold Soul is a bold and aesthetically distinctive entry into the roguelike RPG space. Its commitment to worldbuilding, visual storytelling, and narrative complexity sets it apart from many of its contemporaries. While its punishing mechanics, uneven pacing, and occasional lack of variety may limit its appeal to a niche audience, it remains a worthwhile journey for players who value atmosphere and storytelling as much as challenge. With patience and perseverance, there's a deeply layered world to uncover—one filled with loss, resilience, and the glimmer of hope beneath a frozen curse.
Rating: 6/10