AI Limit
Review
Sinoboo Souls
by Samuel Corey
reviewed on PC
Code Vein Redux
It's a crowded market for Dark Souls imitators. In the last decade and a half, I've lost count of how many dying worlds I've traversed, how many insane Gods I've had to slay, and how many stupid mini-bosses took me 20-30 tries to beat. At this point, the formula has become so endemic that a new Soulslike game has to really break the mold in order to stand out from the rest of the crowd.
Indeed, I initially figured AI Limit would be a hard sell as there is already a perfectly serviceable Waifu Souls out there in the form of Code Vein, and while AI Limit's protagonist Arissa is quite bodacious, she can't possibly compete with the full-on waifu generator of the earlier title.
That said, it's not like AI Limit doesn't have some unique traits all its own. Of particular note is its combat system which swaps out a stamina meter for a Sync meter. It's a simple, and effective system. Land blows on enemies and your sync meter goes up, get hit and it goes down. You can use the power in your sync meter to cast spells, use special attacks (each weapon has one), block, and parry. If you don't want to do any of that, and just dodge roll and R1 spam your way to victory, have no fear, the higher your sync meter the more of a bonus to attacks you get. The system works well because regardless of your play style you don't really have to think about it. Moreover, it's incentivizing things that you already want to do, namely hit enemies and avoid being hit yourself. The only wrinkle comes when your sync meter is reduced to zero, when this happens your character is crippled for a little while, meaning you can't move or attack.
Artificial Gods
Like your standard Soulslike, AI Limit is set in a dying world that is on the cusp of being snuffed out altogether. Though, at least it's somewhat original in how this miserable state of affairs came to pass. AI Limit takes place in the far future where three rogue AIs have exterminated the bulk of the human population. The machine overlords, now styling themselves as Gods, left a small remnant of humanity alive in the city of Havenswell, their reasons for doing so are not immediately clear but it's safe to assume that they aren't doing this out of the goodness of their hearts.
The AIs aren't on the best of terms with each other either, with the robotic legions of The Father and his human worshipers waging an eternal war against the bestial Necros of Master Nyx. Add in human factions like The Hunters Guild, The Scavengers, and The Fishermen, as well as the robotic minions of a mad scientist bent on toppling the machine Gods at any cost, and you have a rather healthy roster of enemies that vary sensibly from one region to the other.
The world they inhabit is also nicely designed with all the levels having a significant number of hidden paths, secret treasures, and shortcuts. Sure, the post-apocalyptic wasteland of Havenswell and the surrounding environs is not the most original landscape in video games (it even starts with a sewer level) but there is a nice bit of detail that illustrates both the history of the setting and what day-to-day life must be like for the unfortunate people who live there. Moreover, the different environments of AI Limit all have their own identity and color palette, making it easy to tell where you are in the game's huge map. Indeed, some like Cathedral which serves as The Father's base of operations, look downright striking and unique.
Boss fights are a bit uneven with some being instantly forgettable nonentities like the Necro Reaper, and others being stellar battles like Ursula The Hunter Bladers that easily rank among the best in the genre. Though even more forgettable bosses boast a hefty number of attacks, with more than a few having a soft second form where halfway through the fight their appearance, move-set, and behaviors undergo a huge transformation. The first boss, Lore, is probably the best example of this as he tosses aside his weapon and transforms into a frenzied beast straight from Bloodborne.
Bullshit Moments
On the whole AI Limit is rather easy for a Soulslike, with only a couple of bosses that offer a meaty challenge. Standard enemies are not an issue, unless they attack you in large groups, at which point even three or four helpless mooks quickly become a lethal gank squad, as all but the most helpless of enemies have the ability to stun-lock you. Still, it's easy enough to eliminate your enemies one by one, and save for a few rare circumstances, you will never be required to fight a whole mob of enemies simultaneously.
You have options for blocking and parrying, but it is entirely possible to beat the entire game only relying on the standard dodge. You won't even need especially sharp reflexes to make all the dodges either, as you get hit for dodging too soon about ten times for every time you get hit for dodging too late. Indeed, in a world where Souls-likes have embraced faster and faster combat, the slow pace and long wind-ups of AI Limit's combat feel like a deliberate throwback to the original Dark Souls.
However, there are quite a few moments in the game where the difficulty feels unfair. During the Cleansing Knight boss battle, for instance, the Knight always uses a massive AOE attack about halfway through the fight which is a real challenge to avoid. This attack is almost always enough to one-shot you (depending on how many upgrades you've sunk into health), which is a real kick in the teeth considering that even without this move the Cleansing Knight is far and away the toughest boss you've faced so far in the game.
There are also a couple of times when bosses will use a death-throes type attack that requires you to quickly duck behind cover or otherwise evade the attack (simply dodging will get you killed, I-frames be damned). These will always one-shot you, and feel less like a test of your mastery of the combat system and more like a fastball thrown at you with only a warning to "think fast."
Then there are the pits. Several areas in the game are lousy with falls that will kill you outright. The enemies are aware of this and seem to take a perverse pleasure in batting you off the precipice. The worst of these is when you fight the Winged Colossians, who you need to reach by traversing a narrow causeway. The boss has several attacks that will send you flying as you make your way towards it, and any one of these can easily knock you off the edge and effectively one-shot you. I am not sure who killed me more, the game's most challenging bosses, or gravity.
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9.0
fun score
Pros
Highly detailed levels with lots of secrets to discover, Intuitive twist of classic souls combat, Appealing art style, Some great boss fights, Interesting world and lore.
Cons
Some bosses are cheap, Not very original.
