One day when you walk down the stairs, you trip and fall yourself to death. But fortunately you catch Death himself in a difficult situation. He has lost his Soul Gem to Phobos and he has to get it back. He is willing to send you back to life when you help him with this problem. So you grab a new body (must be very ugly, which is the reason that you wear your hood over your head and look like Kenny of “South Park” for the rest of the game) and a magic sword (the magic machine gun is still in the pawnshop) and get yourself on your way…
The game is well designed, animations of main character and enemies are ok, the music is spooky, controls and handling are ok, the storyline is interesting, there’s a good dose of hidden rooms, automap feature, cool powerups and various attack and jumping techniques.
But “Soldexus” is insanely hard. And insanely means not “very hard”. It’s as hard as hardest 8bit arcades and platformers. Difficulty level doesnt rise as you progress the game, first two “guards” are already so hard to beat that less experienced gamers may spend hours trying to get past them.
So here’s my strategical hint for the first minutes of the game: Don’t even try to fight these monsters but jump over them and run like hell! This way you might live long enough to get the first few power-ups which will make “Soldexus” much more fun to play.
I think because of the difficulty many gamers might loose interest in the game, before they reach the first few save points, but as the developer said himself: “As for the difficulty, it will probably appeal more to people who are into extremely difficult games.”
Another thing that really makes Soldexus enjoyable for me is how it manages to stay interesting even after playing it multiple times. Many games feel repetitive after a while, but here, the experience still feels fresh because of the small details and different ways you can approach the gameplay. As you continue playing, you naturally start improving and understanding the mechanics better, which makes everything feel more rewarding. I also appreciate the balance the game maintains—it’s not too difficult, but it’s not too easy either. You can play it casually for a short break or spend longer sessions without getting bored. That flexibility is one of the biggest reasons why I keep coming back to Soldexus. Overall, it’s the kind of game that doesn’t just entertain you for a moment, but actually gives you a consistently enjoyable experience every time you play.
