The action RPG landscape is dominated by Metroidvanias and Souls-likes these days. As the subgenre gets more crowded, developers must find ways to make their games stand out amidst a sea of clones. Aside from The Surge, there haven’t been many sci-fi-oriented Souls-likes, and outside of Code Vein, the anime aesthetic has been sorely underrepresented. Developer Sense Games allowed us to play the upcoming AI LIMIT, an action RPG that blends the sci-fi setting, anime aesthetic, and Souls gameplay to create a unique take on the subgenre.
While the preview was only a 45-minute section of the game, which, per the developers, amounts to about 40% of the first level, it serves as a solid vertical slice. The demo starts in the most Souls fashion: unarmed and underground. Players take control of Arrisa, a technologically advanced humanoid known as a Blader. While her mission is unclear in the demo, procuring a weapon is a priority. Thankfully, a fallen enemy with a sword protruding from their chest solves the first problem.
Players are then free to roam the underground sewer system of a ruined city. Every nook and cranny is filled with humanoid beasts that appear more mechanical than flesh. Yet from their idle poses prior to approach and their wild flailing in combat, it’s clear that the enemies are suffering a strange affliction that makes them violently rage against anything that moves.
For anyone who has played a Souls-like, combat will feel immediately familiar. Light attacks are on R1, with heavy attacks on R2, with the latter being able to be charged. One interesting tidbit is that dodge and dash are on separate buttons. As someone used to holding circle to run around an enemy and then smashing the button to roll just under a deadly attack, it took some getting used to the split. While there is no dedicated jump button like in Elden Ring, holding the dodge button and clicking the left stick results in a jump.
Spells and combat arts are on the L1 button, with L1 and R2 resulting in a railgun beam, while L1 and R1 together produce a special attack based on the weapon currently equipped. Thankfully, every weapon seems to have a unique art, as the two sets of dual blades I found had wildly different arts while having the same general moveset. A katana called Red Deer has a very powerful combo art that lit the blade on fire and allows for fire-infused attacks for a short time.
Combat still largely feels like a Souls game, though the timed parry and counter feel more Bloodborne than Dark Souls. The timing can be tricky, but tapping L2 just as an enemy attack is about to connect causes them to stagger, take a knee, and make them vulnerable to a special attack that deals massive damage. The timing window is quite tight, leading to numerous missed parries and devastating punches to the face. It’s risky, but landing a parry feels quite satisfying—especially once you learn a boss’s moves and can humiliate them.
AI LIMIT is heavily influenced by Souls games in every way, yet it presents novel new ideas too. Much like how Bloodborne encouraged aggression with the rally system (attacking after being attacked would restore a portion of health), AI LIMIT has the sync system. The sync gauge serves many purposes. For one, the higher the sync gauge, the more damage the player will deal. Lower sync, lower damage. Sync is also required to use spells like the railgun and weapon arts, so aggression is heavily encouraged and rewarded. Being aggressive and parrying attacks promotes learning boss patterns quickly, being in the enemy’s face with swift combos, and carefully managing the gauge in the middle of combat. Thankfully, dodging and rolling don’t use up any of the gauge, and there is no stamina system to deal with.
Throughout the demo, I found three of the four weapon types available in this early build. While I didn’t come across a great sword, I’m certain I would’ve found one eventually after the point where the demo ended. That said, the one-handed sword felt smooth, and while the dual blades made me feel like Eileen the Crow from Bloodborne, their special attack wind-up was a bit too long and resulted in me eating damage before the attack let off. The katana was the star of the show, and I certainly hope there are many weapons in the full game that produce elemental or status effects with their weapon arts. Naturally, as a Souls-like, weapons scale off specific stats. Having learned my lesson from getting insta-killed in Elden Ring a couple of hundred times, I dumped a healthy amount of points into HP.
As the demo took place underground in a sewer, it was difficult to understand the full scale of AI LIMIT. In addition to NPCs with dialogue, story scenes, and flashy boss battles, trailers show a large walled city, so I’m curious how the game’s suggested verticality plays out. The brief demo had a miniboss with a bespoke boss battle to close out the demo, yet it was much smaller in scale than what appears in trailers—which makes sense, given it is one of the first bosses players will fight.
Another unique mechanic that allows AI LIMIT to stand out from the crowd is how it handles the loss and gain of souls. Players equip necklaces known as a Nucleus, which has a handful of stats that determine how many souls are retained on death and how many are gained upon defeating an enemy. While only two of these were in the demo, I can already see the possibilities forming. Want to farm a route with high soul gain but risk losing them all? Want to retain your collection between bonfires (or branches, as AI LIMIT calls them) with low gain but high retention? The Nucleus items allow a bit more freedom in an otherwise fairly rigid subgenre.
While the game is still in development—and the demo has a permanent disclaimer about it being a work in progress—there are a few things that need fixing. The bespoke boss battle at the end of the demo had the boss sliding around in awkward animations, and enemy tracking still needs some work, as I watched said boss jump attack a wall several times. That said, the game feels quite polished already, with smooth attack animations and satisfying sounds that pack a punch.
With AI LIMIT’s release planned for later this year, I look forward to getting my hands on the full product. As part of Sony’s China Hero Project—a program designed to fund and support Chinese game developers—it’s exciting to see more Chinese developers bring their games to the global market. AI LIMIT is set to release in 2024 for PC and PS5, so stay tuned to RPGFan for more coverage in the future.
