The Order of Souls Review
Price: FREE
Version Reviewed: 1.1.4
App Reviewed on: iPhone 4S
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The Order of Souls is a turn-based, free-to-play role playing game set in a fantastical world that melds science fiction and fantasy elements. Throughout the course of the game players can expect a surprising amount of interactive story elements, but most of that requires them to grind through a middling series of combat scenarios that really drag the whole game down.
The one thing that The Order of Souls does get right, however, is the way it chooses to reveal its story. As players progress through battles with rabid dogs, robots, and increasingly more menacing foes, story beats are revealed as their own missions. Most of these unfold with lightly animated illustrations and dialogue choices that do a good job of yielding apparent consequences. Some of these decisions even require some Dungeons & Dragons-esque ability checks. From the very start of the game, players are presented with these choices, and they give a real sense of weight and agency to the player in the moment.
Overall, the imbalance of interesting story content with all of its other mediocre mechanics and systems keeps The Order of Souls from being as interesting and fun as it could be. As a free game, it could be a good casual distraction for someone looking for a new RPG experience. However the game doesn't seem to have a lasting draw, as progress gating systems and increasingly-difficult-but-not-interesting combat eventually turns the experience into a slog.