“One question: what are your favorite games?” I asked Andrew Gleeson, a member of the three-man development team behind indie title Titan Souls, which was on display in a silver Airstream trailer in the parking lot across the street from E3.
“Shadow of the Colossus, Dark Souls, and Zelda,” he answered at once.
I asked the others, one by one, and “Shadow of the Colossus” was uttered one more time, and then once more. I noticed this one obvious trend — just one reason Titan Souls, published by Devolver Digital, is shaping up to be one gem of a game.
Titan Souls was initially developed for the Ludum Dare game jam with a theme of “you only get one.” Accordingly, the player only has one hit point. He carries but one arrow. And he must fell numerous giant foes, each with only one weak point — and one hit point — of their own.
Like Shadow of the Colossus, there’s very little in between these exciting battles. Each titan awakens when provoked, and a dance of death begins. While these are Goliath-sized foes to my David-sized hero, each fight feels like the epic duel between Achilles and Hector, perhaps more so than it channels the very game that was its greatest inspiration. Because each combatant can be destroyed at any moment, tension is as high as can be, and the fleeting moments are spent deftly dodging, strategizing, aligning, measuring, and aiming before picking the perfect, pivotal instant to let the fatal arrow fly.
If only it were that easy, though. The margin for error can be very small in Titan Souls, leaving plenty of room for failure before finally succeeding, many trials later. If the arrow misses, it falls to the floor. The player can then draw it back to the tiny hero’s hand by holding down a button, or he can run up to it and re-arm himself before taking aim yet again.
While there were only four titans in the area that I played at E3, the final game will include closer to 20, and they will be even more difficult than the first four, which had been crushing journalists’ dreams all week. I was personally only able to defeat three before my time had ended, but the massive door leading to the next area left me curiously anticipating what’s to come when Titan Souls arrives on PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in 2015.
