Remember Soul Sacrifice? Released not too long ago as well as given an updated version with even more content, this PlayStation Vita game offered a new take on monster hunting by giving it a focus on story and a grim setting unlike anything the genre had previously seen.
The roots of Soul Sacrifice weren’t simply in dragons and other traditional monsters, but in real world myth and fairy tales. With a core story drawn from the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, the characters and monsters of Soul Sacrifice are based on the likes of Alice, the Werewolf, Beelzebub, Red Riding Hood, and many more.
For as many choice stories chosen to create content for Soul Sacrifice, so many more were left out. This in mind, here are some stories that could make for terrific additions to this grim fairy tale.
Happy Halloween, SWOOORDPLAYers!
1. The Little Mermaid
Considering Soul Sacrifice already has Cinderella and Alice in the game, what’s another princess for the bunch?
The Little Mermaid could add a lot simply by nature of being an aquatic enemy. Diving underneath an area’s watery portions, the player would need to wait for her to surface to damage her, splitting her tail in half and force her onto land, as in the story, to fight her on equal footing.
With the mermaid’s voice being another core part of her, she could perhaps work similarly to Siren in that the player would need to damage her face to stop her from unleashing vocal attacks as well.
Not to mention that there are so many things that could be done with the design. With Cinderella as a centipede monster and Alice is, well… Alice, I would love to see what they could pull off just based on that alone. Maybe a monster that looks beautiful at first sight, like Valkyrie, or one that is horrifying right away like Cinderella?
2. Orobas
Soul Sacrifice has its share of demons already, with the likes of Succubus and Beelzebub already spooking up the game, but Orobas in particular might make for an interesting choice given the particular lore surrounding it.
It isn’t that Orobas is a horse demon that can turn into a man that would make it an interesting addition to the series, though that would be pretty a pretty interesting thing to approach as well, it’s that Orobas is known to be loyal to the one that conjured it above all else. How would this trait be worked into Soul Sacrifice, especially in combination with Orobas’ ability to know the great truths of the world?
Maybe this trait could be applied to the person Orobas was in life before turning into the Soul Sacrifice monster known as Orobas, or maybe it could be worked into how it attacks somehow. Either way, it would definitely be a sight to see.
3. Sphinx
When you get right down to it, the sphinx already sounds like a Soul Sacrifice monster. A combination of woman, lion, and bird, the sphinx is ferociously strong and forces those wanting to pass by to partake in a riddle. Anyone who gets the riddle wrong, well, they’re eaten alive by the beast.
The sphinx is a great choice for a lot of reasons. The three pieces that use to make it up could be rearranged very easily to create a particularly terrifying monster for Soul Sacrifice, and even using them as they are would make for an unsettling creature in the hands of the Soul Sacrifice team. With the idea of riddles involved, perhaps the sphinx’s elements could change as players fought it, presenting “riddles” in the form of hints as to what element it is.
However they would approach the sphinx, I’m confident that it would be an excellent addition to the Soul Sacrifice universe.
4. The Invisible Man
The Invisible Man is another character that would make for a great addition for its gameplay. Most obviously, the monster form of this character could phase in and out of the player’s sight, but unlike other monsters that disappear from sight, like Wraith, it could lack the ability to disappear and reappear elsewhere in an area, using only its ability to become invisible to trip players up.
Given that the original Invisible Man’s invisibility came from a self-inflicted experiment, the lore surrounding the monster in-game could go any number of interesting ways. A sorcerer researching a new magic to fight monsters? A non-sorcerer trying to give regular folk some way of their own to deal with the beasts that plague them? Or perhaps someone who wanted invisibility for something more perverse or horrible?
With a potential for a backstory like that, as well as the option to include eye imagery and the idea of reflections in its design and how it fights, The Invisible Man could make for an especially fun monster for players to have to deal with in Soul Sacrifice.
5. Vampire
Sure, Soul Sacrifice has the Wyvern already seemingly filling the role of Vampire, but that just means the actual Vampire can fill it all the better, can’t it? Not to mention, who better than to end this Halloween list with?
The Vampire could trap players in its gaze, suck their health away to recover its own during battle, unleashing a swarm of bats upon them, and fly around the stage in a shadowy bat form. Perhaps it could infect normal enemies and turn them into Vampires as well, or spawn smaller versions of itself in lieu of Vampires born from victims?
Or perhaps… It could do something completely different than all of that. The only way we’ll ever know is if it’s added to Soul Sacrifice, isn’t it?
That’s it for this Halloween edition of SWOOORDPLAY! Hope it provided some kind of spooky fun, if only a little. Who knows what the future has in store?
Have any of you played Soul Sacrifice, readers? Are there any characters or monsters from fiction and fairytale you’d like to see transformed into a monster for the series? Let me know!
Until next time–
Happy Halloween!
SWOOORDPLAY 