Same ole, same ole

Astor: Blade of the Monolith is an action RPG from developer C2 Game Studio, the fact that it wasn’t a straight up ‘soulsbourne’ experience had me immediately loving it. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of 2021’s Biomutant; much like the hero in that game; Astor here is looking for his creators. In doing so he finds the titular Blade of the Monolith and becomes the… wait for it…. Chosen One. Because the vocal lines in Astor all sound like squeaks and chirps the game uses a narrator to great effect. If I’m honest, its not as good as the narrator in Biomutant but it does the job.

MSRP: $24.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $19.99

The world in Astor is a semi-open world but much like a lot of other open-world games that have come out recently; the game doesn’t do a lot of original things with it. I am the type of gamer when playing these RPG’s that I will explore every nook and cranny for some goodies. Astor: Blade of the Monolith has lots of areas that just aren’t used for anything, and when I did find something, it was usually just the in-game currency and not really anything that is worthwhile. There are side-quests that players can choose to tackle but none of them are anything to write home about. But the main narrative is just kind of meh as well, its not bad but its not doing anything new and has beats that players have experienced many times before.

What I loved about Astor is the graphics; for an indie game I was in awe of just how much detail and personality each area managed to exude. There are desert areas and of course forest to explore each giving off their own vibe. The environments themselves are all bright and colorful places and these colors extends to the various characters that Astor will meet. There is a dash of metroidvania that gamers will find in Astor; as they progress players will unlock new abilities like double jump which will aid in puzzle solving as well as exploration.

You may have noticed that I haven’t touched on combat yet, which let’s be honest dear reader; for me that’s weird. Well, that’s because the combat in Astor isn’t really that good. I was stoked that the game used the face buttons for combat; that is until I realized that Y is the normal attack. Can’t be switched, so I opted for the tried and true ‘Souls’ controls of using the trigger and bumper. I do not like this, y’all know I don’t like this, but I dealt with it. Sadly, though the combat is Astor just feels heavy and sluggish with any of the many weapons there are to use. The parry mechanic feels slightly off, timing wise and I always felt like I pulled it off by luck and not skill. And let’s talk about the slo-mo kills for every. single. enemy. It was just overkill and frankly overshadowed some of the cool ‘runic finishers’ that Astor can perform.

I came into Astor: Blade of the Monolith with all the hope and promise simply because it was NOT a souls game. I still love it for that, but as much as I enjoyed the bright and colorful vistas, the vivid and detailed graphics and the cute characters; I just can’t get past the clunky feeling of the combat. Late game weapons and abilities make things feel better but never perfect. Despite the combat and the forgettable story, I did have some fun in Astor: Blade of the Monolith at the end of the day; the cuteness of the characters won the day.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.