AI Limit Review
Post-apocalyptic, anime-styled Soulslike AI Limit struggles to stand out despite some changes to the formula.
AI Limit. Sense Games / CE-Asia
Sense Games and CE-Asia’s AI Limit takes the systems typically seen in Soulslike games by FromSoft and simplifies elements to streamline the gameplay experience, resulting in a challenging but more accessible product. Unfortunately, the game fails to stand out due to its generic setting, lackluster storytelling, and because it still hews too close to the FromSoft formula.
The world’s ecosystem has collapsed under mysterious circumstances. Disasters and wars followed, destroying all human settlements except for the lone city of Havenswell; the city is beset by demonic monsters spawned from a substance called Mud—somehow both poisonous and nutritious—that has spread everywhere, and the situation is dire. Arrisa, an immortal Blader, is on a mission to repair the scattered Branches that allow her and other Bladers to revive after death. She’ll encounter monsters, enforcers from the mysterious Church, raiders, and more on her journey.
AI Limit. Sense Games / CE-Asia
Arrisa’s emotionless dialogue mainly consists of her blankly repeating phrases said to her during conversations. At that rate, it would have been better to make her a silent protagonist. AI Limit never gave me enough to care about Arrisa’s story or that of her world. I felt no emotional connection to her, and the setting was generic and devoid of mystery, despite the game’s best efforts. None of it is served by the game’s anime-style characters and dreary, generic visual design. It makes for a dull experience.
AI Limit has what you would expect from a Soulslike, sticking closely to the genre as defined by FromSoft. The Branches that Arrisa restores function just like Dark Souls bonfires. Killing enemies rewards players with experience, which is used to increase stats and as currency for shops. Combat is unforgiving, and to succeed, the player must use dodges, parries, and blocks; missteps quickly lead to death. Weapons have normal, heavy, and special strikes. Like in Dark Souls, debuffs build up from exposure and devastatingly kick in when their gauges are full. The similarities don’t stop there.
The game diverges from the formula in a few details. Most noticeably, AI Limit has a Sync Rate gauge instead of Stamina. Sync increases when you strike enemies, but reduces when you take damage or use a special attack or spell. Keeping your Sync Rate up is crucial to dealing damage, as when it's low, your power drops significantly. If Sync is down, you’re never prevented from dodging, running, or striking, which is a refreshing change, but not enough to set the game’s combat apart.
The equipment is streamlined, reducing it to two weapons, a helmet, armor, an accessory, and a spell. Only weapons are given stat-related scaling, and players don’t need to worry about becoming encumbered, because the developers excluded that penalty. Your gear doesn’t define Parry and block abilities; instead, they’re built-in functions of Arrisa’s android body. The irritating downside is that she can only do one or the other instantly, as they’re separate “modes” you must switch between.
AI Limit. Sense Games / CE-Asia
Instead of dropping all currency on death, players permanently lose a percentage of it, which creates a bit of a different risk/reward dynamic. It’s nice not to need to return to where you died, but at the same time, each death comes at a significant cost.
Aside from these changes, AI Limit comes off as an attempt by a small team to make a sci-fi Dark Souls on a limited budget. What they achieved is admirable, but they would have been better served by devoting more attention to making the game’s world an interesting one to inhabit and taking more daring steps away from the FromSoft formula. As it stands, this game will be forgotten in the sea of other similar games.
AI Limit is available now on Steam and PlayStation 5.
Overall Score: 6/10
Played on: PS5
