Image credit: Project Cloud Games/Perp Games
Soulslike games can vary drastically in their theming, with some veering into more fantastical, anime-style worlds and others keeping to the niche’s dark roots, focusing more on gritty, blood-soaked combat and intense boss designs.
The Relic: First Guardian falls squarely into the latter genre, offering a foreboding world packed full of deadly enemies. I had the chance to dip into a hands-on preview of the game ahead of launch, trying out the game on PC and putting my rusty Soulslike combat skills to the test.
Simple in concept, stylish in battle
Developed by Project Cloud Games and published by Perp Games, The Relic: First Guardian is a dark, action-heavy RPG with Soulslike combat, with inspiration being pulled from Asian folklore and mythology.
I had the opportunity to dip into the game for a hands-on preview, courtesy of the game team, and found the experience to be a lot of fun as a Soulslike lover.
In The Relic: First Guardian, you’re tasked with exploring a devastated world called Arsiltus, populated with ruins and smoldering buildings, and bringing it back to its former glory, using powerful items called Relics to help you along the way.
It’s a simple premise and immediately sets the stage for how open The Relic: First Guardian feels. After a cinematic introductory sequence, you’re plonked down into the world and given free rein to start exploring, guided by the compass at the very top of your screen, along with incredibly minimal yellow paint.
As someone who’s got the directional awareness of a pigeon, I did promptly get lost after dying and respawning the first time, but the semi-open-world format of the game made finding a new area feel incredibly exciting.
Every new area I came across in The Relic: First Guardian either had a boss, a slew of enemies, a special event, or a mixture of the three. Special events varied drastically; in one, I was helping fight against a group of bandits, and in another, I was breaking into a house that was on fire, trying to save someone inside.
While most of the events did center around combat to some extent, there were also lore snippets tucked away in torn pages and mislaid letters, making it rewarding to poke around each time I entered a new building.
I found the lore in The Relic: First Guardian to be simple but well written – the idea of restoring a ravaged world isn’t reinventing the wheel by any means, but the writing felt engaging and believable, particularly when paired with the game’s quality voice acting.
A gorgeous soundscape
The Relic: First Guardian is a game that I’d highly recommend playing with headphones if you can. It adds to the experience tenfold.
The sound design and music were exquisite and helped with immersion greatly – almost to a fault in one instance, where exploring a burning village ended up feeling genuinely harrowing with screams of people running for their lives.
Visually, I felt as if The Relic: First Guardian was giving a nod to classic RPGs and Soulslike games from the PlayStation 3 era. The aesthetic was dark and ever-so-slightly retro, with wicked particle effects surrounding each attack, and the enemy designs felt like an homage to titans of the genre, too.
Speaking of enemies, combat was a real highlight for me with this preview. It takes some practice to get the hang of fighting in The Relic: First Guardian – as it should for any Soulslike, in my opinion – but once you master it, the combat feels weighty and impactful, and it’s possible to pull off some nasty combos.
Something that subtracted from this a little was the main character’s movement outside of combat, namely, their dashing ability. When compared to the dramatic, heavy style of fighting, the ability to run headfirst with your arms out into a stack of crates to break them was somewhat bemusing.
Performance-wise, I found my PC struggled a little with The Relic: First Guardian, which was to be expected as it’s a low-range set-up.
Outside of player-side issues, the game looked good and didn’t throw up any major bugs or quirks during my time with the preview, which led me to feel optimistic about how the full release will look come July.
The controls felt intuitive, and the menus were easy to navigate, making for a smooth user experience. I can see the full release of the game being incredibly fulfilling for folks who like to experiment with unique builds and tweak their characters in Soulslike games, and the menus certainly play to this.
Fans of iconic Soulslike titles and combat-heavy RPGs will have a lot to get excited about with The Relic: First Guardian. While I would class it as more of a mechanical-leaning game than a lore-heavy game, I found the preview to be exciting and full of bloody battles, and I’m excited to see it get released in full on July 31, 2026.
FAQs
The Relic: First Guardian was developed by Project Cloud Games and published by Perp Games.
The Relic: First Guardian is a dark action RPG with Soulslike combat.
The Relic: First Guardian is due to come out on July 31, 2026, as per its Steam page.
The Relic: First Guardian will launch on PlayStation 5 and PC on July 31, 2026, with an Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch 2 release following later in the summer.
About The Author
