Impressions

Young Souls Hands-On: A Refined Beat ’Em Up That Shows Significant Promise

Here's our hands-on with the PC demo in preparation for Steam Next Fest.

There’s something moreish about a good brawler. They’re not always my go-to, sure, but between old-school beat ’em ups with Streets of Rage to more recent hits like Yakuza, they keep me coming back.

So, when I learned about French studio 1P2P’s co-op brawler Young Souls last week, I was curious to dive in. Playing as two rebellious twins, Jenn and Tristan, you’ll be fighting to save their foster father from the Dwarvengobben, a force intent on invading humanity’s surface world. Diving into a demo build on PC via Steam, I've come away optimistic.

Player Two Enters The Fight

Young Souls’ demo comes in two parts. Demo A, “The Beginning”, placing you into a brief combat sequence before revealing what sparked Jenn and Tristan’s journey several weeks prior. As the troublesome twins skip school to head into town — later called the “Human City” — it’s a nice introductory segment. As for Demo B, “Exploring Dungeons”… well, that’s self-explanatory, as we fight Dwarvengobben’s forces in real-time combat.

Demo B takes place two hours into the main game when the Twins are fully armed. If you’re playing alone, 1P2P’s implemented a Tag System that lets you switch between the twins, welcomely providing assist attacks. Initially packing a sword and shield, you can equip both with daggers, hammers, and axes for nice variety. Performing quick attacks by pressing X, holding X down unleashes charged attacks, sometimes launching enemies into the air. We’ve got magical weapons too — namely summoning or elemental spells — which use mana cells, acting like your traditional MP systems.

Accessories aren’t your traditional stat boosts either, offering players items like mines, bombs, grappling hooks and more. Finally, Jenn and Tristan can be kitted out with armour too, and all three are upgradeable. Clothing’s also an option, which doesn’t affect stats. With combat, Jenn and Tristan have an identical base build, and you can customise them through your equipment. As a bonus, matching sets provide extras like increased defence, be careful. Items are weighted, so a heavy build makes your character slower, adding strategic considerations.

On The Defensive

There’s plenty of room for defensive strategies too. Both twins can block/parry attacks, yet some strikes are unblockable and require a dodge roll. That has to be used sparingly, though, as rolls use up your stamina gauge, which only regenerates upon leaving battle. Should you die, the other twin can revive you, using up one of your lives. Lives replenish after leaving a dungeon, so don’t worry too much.

I'm impressed with these systems. Backed up by various in-depth mechanics, Young Souls always offers clear explanations to each aspect of gameplay, and it’s hard to fault 1P2P’s efforts here. Combat feels straightforward, there’s plenty to keep you busy, and mowing down foes feels satisfying. Alongside four difficulty modes, Young Souls includes optional accessibility modifiers, letting players adjust settings like attack speed, damage dealt to enemies and more. For anyone finding it tough, you’ve got significant customisability here.

I can’t find much to truly dislike about 1P2P’s upcoming beat ’em up so far. Backed up by in-depth gameplay, satisfying combat and a lovely visual presentation to boot, there’s significant promise within, and I'm having a great time diving in. How that’ll shape up in the full release remains to be seen, but I’m excited for it.

Demo copy provided by the publisher on PC.