Vambrace: Cold Soul
The King of Shades has cursed the great city of Icenaire. Now cast under a permanent blight of frost fall, its former residents have returned from the dead as mad Wraiths. Survivors take refuge deep underground where they lead a desperate campaign against this unearthly power. Woefully outmatched, they are forced into hiding as the King of Shades amasses an army of the undead above them. One fateful day, a mysterious stranger appears in the city with an enchanted vambrace. She may now be their only hope… You are Evelia Lyric, bearer of the Aetherbrace and the only human capable of entering Icenaire. The survivors now look to you as their best hope against the King of Shades. Only one problem…you’re woefully outmatched, and survival is not guaranteed. Vambrace: Cold Soul is a narrative-driven game filled with memorable characters, brutal challenges, and deep strategy. To succeed, you must choose perceptive party leaders, camp to recuperate, navigate strange encounters, and survive deadly combat. Will you scavenge for supplies to sell or use them to craft new items for your next expedition? The surface of Icenaire is cold and unforgiving. So, prepare your party well before departing…lest you join the cursed city's undead.
Steam User 6
I agonized over whether to recommend Vambrace or not and ended up doing so more as an act of support for the devs than for the game itself.
The pros: the character models and environments look great (except when you're at the top-down overworld maps, which look low-res for no reason), and there is a decent amount of replayability to unlock all the costumes, given that many of them are mutually exclusive on a single run. The music is gorgeous and reminded me a lot of Aquaria at times (which is one of my favorite soundtracks). There are many companion classes to experiment with and find what works for you.
The cons: animations are a bit janky, particularly since "limbs" move independently, so there's always a ragdoll feeling going around as your character moves around. It tries to pack too much lore in a short campaign, so you end up either overwhelmed, lost, or clueless about all the factions and plot twists. Combat never evolves - if you can clear the first dungeon, you can clear the last using the same strategy and tactics. The main character gets a few upgrades throughout the journey, but they are marginal and make little difference in battles or skills. There are a limited number of builds you can achieve with either your character or your companions. Dungeon crawling is pretty monotonous and repetitive and slow. Why the heck can't you run in these hallways? It wouldn't diminish anything in the game if you were able to, besides the idle time you spent wandering around. Buffs and debuffs are hard to understand in battle.
TL;DR -- interesting and very good-looking/good-sounding game with poorly executed mechanics (combat, dungeons, upgrades) and trying to pack too much lore in too little runtime. Give it 70 hours of playtime and the lore would be great, but with 8-12 hours it's just too much
Steam User 5
A very compelling story with great, amazing artwork, beautiful music and fleshed-out world building. I feel this game, while definitely not perfect, deserves more positive reviews. It would benefit from a number of quality of life improvements - especially the interface, but I still thoroughly enjoyed this game.
Steam User 2
I have no clue why this have mixed reviews. My only complaint is that some side quest fails by picking the No option so be careful, other than that, It's Darkest Dungeon in Devespresso's gorgeous aesthetic tho definitely much easier but it's also a choices matter kind of game so it does offer something DD does not.
Steam User 1
Played this on Xbox years ago. Back when save files failed constantly but I still enjoyed it. Years later to now there was an update fixing this problem so I gave the game another shot.
Fun game, I enjoy the artwork, the leveling and combat is a bit... Insufficient in some areas but it is passable and not game breaking. I'd say the story and art style is more the reason to play this game because it is great.
Would play again... Again for the 3rd time
Steam User 1
Another The Darkest Dungeon clone in endless winter fantasy setting.
If you didn't play DD yet, so do it. Because I won't recommend this game to you. It's weaker than genre's father. If you're here after that game for the similar experience, so, you're in the wrong place. Vambrace: Cold Soul not so good as the genre's father. There are many details which didn't let me enjoy this game.
The story is great. Sometimes you have to make a choose which finally will influence on your ending. I am not agreed with mine, but ok. But had vibes of War Craft 3 Frozen throne ADD-ON. This is definitely good memory.
The repetitiveness of the gameplay can bore you. That's true. All dungeons similar from one to another. No tactics in fights. Same scenario in every bonfire. Buy heals, sleep, go next dungeon.
Many interface element still unfamiliar for me. After finishing the game, I don't know the meaning of curse statuses, classes names and I could confuse the buttons.
Graphics can be as a plus for someone as a minus for another. For me that was a positive vibe. Even if the developers used assets from their previous game - Coma (Coma 2). Everything in style of Korean anime.
Music is wonderful. I liked the sound design here. Especially Golden Skies track. Have nothing against it. Added in my Spotify.
So, as a verdict. Sophisticated in genre gamers won't find something for them here. But as a gateway, it is a great opportunity. Not so hard (even on Cold Soul difficulty), short and interesting 2D DD wannabe with a good story.
P.s. You can find all my short reviews here.