Launching a Souls-Like in general opens you up to scrutiny. Launching one just months after Elden Ring seems a big gamble.

Being real for a moment, Elden Ring is probably going to win Game of the Year Awards. Lots of them. And rightfully so with its polish, presentation, and pace of progression.

Which is why it’s so difficult to come into Thymesia, a game that takes itself as seriously and draws such heavy inspiration from it and its predecessors while trying to carve out its own niche.

It’s not Thymesia’s fault, it’s a perfectly fine Souls-Like that, if it had launched a few years ago, would have been up there with the very best like Mortal Shell and Nioh. But Elden Ring has risen my expectations so exponentially that coming into Thymesia now leaves me feeling a bit flat.

There’s good movement to movement gameplay, and the short, sharp combos, followed up by a claw attack can make combat flow feel quite satisfying, The environments are suitably gaudy, and the circus tie in makes for an entertaining twist on the conventional formula.

Thymesia even throws regular lore at you, detailing a more intricate backstory than you might be used to with Souls games, enriching it with a well composed score.

And, let’s also state the obvious, OverBorder don’t have the budget of FROM or Bandai Namco. And maybe Bloodbourne as opposed to Elden Ring is the more natural comparison. All fair points, indeed.

The pieces are all there for Thymesia and it does a decent job with all of them, yet it still feels like something is missing. The balancing of the game feels out of proportion and difficult to really sink your teeth into or get comfortable with.

Narratively, while I found the concept of a spreading plague fascinating, I never really felt I was connecting to any of its themes on any sort of level. It also felt like a lot of the time I was just stumbling into bosses and ended up getting chased out of an area or beaten to a pulp.

Thymesia’s problem is also that it leans so heavily into what’s made Souls games as good as they are over the years but never does any of it better than its predecessors. From the aesthetical cues to the cryptic messaging, the game often plays it quite safe outside of its combat.

This is the one area where Thymesia shines. The talent tree really opens up your options, enabling you to change your abilities completely should you want to. This moves away from the idea of classes which have been so prevalent in these games before and instead allows you to blend them or change your priorities on the fly.

Another unique element is enemies essentially having two health bars. By combo’ing a light attack, you can chip away at an enemy’s white bar which degrades into green. You can then use a heavy, claw attack when an energy bar is green and take off all that health in one hit. If you don’t however, it’ll recharge back to what it was.

Of course you can also block and some enemies require a precisely timed parry which can stun them, making them susceptible to a counter, which is a familiar tactic for any Souls game. But it’s all this combined that really brings out the best of Thymesia.

And that alone can make playing enjoyable as you journey through, but I don’t feel it’s quite enough to carry the entire game and make it the lasting and memorable experience it desperately wants to be.

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Summary

Thymesia has some well developed, in-depth combat mechanics that are well implemented and executed. And for the most part, it is an entertaining Souls-Like, though it’s been really overshadowed by Elden Ring and others in the genre that bring all these elements together in a more cohesive and enjoyable way. 

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Pros

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Thymesia is out now on all major formats

Played on XSX

Code Kindly Provided by Team 17