Deathbound Hands-On At PAX East 2024

I was able to get some hands-on time with Deathbound. This game is an interesting take on the souls like formula where the game gives the player a party of playable fighters. Each character has a different set of skills and abilities and you will have to find the play style that suits you.

It was tough to figure out where to go at first during the Deathbound demo but once I figured that out, I was having a fun time with the game. As I mentioned earlier, Deathbound has a party based system where each character has different attacks and abilities. You can have up to four characters at one time so think of it as creating four playable characters at the start of a souls like game. You find fallen warriors and bind with them throughout your journey. Binding with characters adds them to your arsenal. You’ll be able to upgrade attacks and abilities for fighters you’re bound with. You’ll be able to learn backstories of the fallen warriors as well.

An interesting mechanic is how synergies work between characters. You’ll be able to set four fighters to use at one time. If their synergy is strong, they could buff abilities but could have a negative effect if their synergy is bad. During the demo, I was running three warriors because I liked their attacks and their synergies were positive. It wasn’t until I found the fourth warrior,Mamdile,that I started running four and had all positive synergies.Mamdile uses Capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial arts style and I enjouyed her moveset.

You can also have a sync meter that is like a special attack that is shared across every character. I didn’t understand how to use this meter until the developer explained it to me. You charge up the meter and then switch into another character using a Morphstrke. Think of a fighting game combo where you charge up the meter during battle and then switch out to a new fighter to use said special attack.

The skill tree was interesting because you have to purchase/unlock skills for multiple characters, not just one. You might unlock a hit point boost for one but still have it locked on all the other fighters. You can also find weapons you like to use and find that perfect play style.

I was using three warriors until I found a fourth because I didn’t like the attacks/combos of a warrior I already had. In the demo, I had a warrior with a quick claw weapon, a warrior with a giant hammer, and a knight with a sword a shield. I found a fourth that was an ancient warrior who attacked with kicks. She was quick and her combos did a lot of damage. The Knight played a lot like a Dark Souls character that had sword and shield to fight. The lock on mechanism also felt like Dark Souls and in Dark Souls fashion, I found it locking on to the wrong enemy several times.

I wanted to get to a boss fight before I ended my demo playthrough and I was able to do that. The boss fight had at least three phases and I was able to get part of the way through the third phase before it killed me. It has moves that I could dodge but I was out of healing potions by the time I got to the boss.

It’s an interesting take on souls like games and I’m interested in seeing where Deathbound goes. I’m really curious in what other warriors are we going to be able to play with!