‘BattleSouls’ offers hectic fast-paced team-based gameplay for free

Free-to-play games have gained a lot of ground over the last decade of gaming. Right now you can open Steam and see a slew of planned free-to-play releases under the “Coming Soon” tab. Unfortunately, a lot of these free releases aren’t truly free, and you’ll have to shell out some money to continue playing or unlock certain features. This wouldn’t be such an issue if a lot of these titles didn’t feel like hastily-developed money pits. It can be rather hard for solid free-to-play contenders to rise to the top in this type of genre, considering the associated stigma. Still, from time to time, a truly free title will shine out among the horde of mediocrity. Take for example, BattleSouls: a new indie release from developer Pixeleap.

BattleSouls is best described as a team-based third-person shooter, although it also contains the destruction of enemy structures, similar to DOTA 2 or League of Legends. Each map contains two enemy bases, each equipped with a large magical crystal. These crystals are the key to victory, and each team must eliminate the opposing team’s crystal five times to end the battle. This task is made more difficult by the addition of a secondary objective located near the middle of the map. This control point must be held and attuned to your team’s specific color before you are allowed to damage the enemy crystal. This helps to add length and depth to each match, as you’ll need to focus on both the primary and secondary objective simultaneously.

What makes the gameplay for BattleSouls so unique is the on-the-fly character switching system that allows you to swap classes within seconds and during skirmishes. You’re allowed to craft a roster of three heroes, and will have the ability to simply swap them whenever you wish. What’s better is that each class comes equipped with a passive ability that will trigger the moment you switch. This adds a nice layer of strategy to the gameplay, giving you an opportunity to identify problem situations and adjust to them accordingly. Each class has its own specific set of skills, as well as an appropriate health pool.

There are currently five classes to choose from in BattleSouls. The Knight is a pretty straightforward melee class. He sports a long sword and a shield that can be used to block damage for a short period of time. The Druid is a ranged potion-slinger that can heal teammates, do damage, and blast enemies off point. The Pirate comes equipped with a massive cannon that does heavy ranged damage and can also damage groups with a powerful AoE attack. Shadow Stalker is a sneaky class that uses teleports to flank enemies and help break defenses. Last but not least is the Mage, who comes equipped with fire and ice attacks that can freeze or burn enemies. Each match will allow you to take three of these heroes with you, allowing you to craft a team that suits your specific play style.

BattleSouls features a rather cartoony visual aesthetic, but developers did a great job in crafting characters and animations that are as enjoyable to look at as they are to play. All of the maps and environments look great, although there are only a few in the game’s current state. Solid sound effects and a simple soundtrack help to round out the artistry and give it a nice polish. All of this aside, the most impressive aspect to BattleSouls may be that it’s entirely free-to-play. You won’t have to worry about forking over cash to unlock specific characters, and there is no pay-to-win structure anywhere to be found. What developers do offer are purely cosmetic items. Things like pets, kill effects, and player portraits can be purchased via the in-game shop. Hopefully, the developers will offer a lot more unique cosmetic items in the futures. It would be nice to see things like skins and emotes.

BattleSouls brings a lot to the table in its current form. It’s a rather enjoyable experience, especially if you like fast-paced and hectic gameplay. It will be interesting to see where developers go in the future, as a lack of maps, characters, and varying game modes could cause this release to become stale rather quickly. Pixeleap is planning on releasing some new heroes and maps, so hopefully the group can continue to build off of their proposed future releases. BattleSouls possesses a lot of potential, and is already one of the more enjoyable free-to-play titles available on Steam.

If you’re interested in getting more information regarding BattleSouls, be sure to check out the dedicated website here. You can also keep up with Pixeleap by following them on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and Youtube.