Review – Codex Lost

Dark Souls has left a lineage full of die-hard fans only bolstered by the scores of new fans Elden Ring won over in 2022. With a few exceptions, From Software has shown itself to be the proverbial keeper of the flame for good reason. That leaves independent game devs with big shoes to fill, though. Enter Codex Lost from Freemana Game Studio. It’s looking to play with the big boys with a few ideas of its own. Has it been able to find its place or should we keep on looking?

Content Guide

Violence: Enemies disintegrate when defeated by your attacks.

Sexual Content: None.

Drugs and Alcohol: None.

Language/Crude Humor: None.

Dark/Spiritual Content: There are mysterious forces and monsters everywhere. The world is rife with magic and you can control spells of various elements.

Review

Until the release of Elden Ring, the souls-like genre was largely a niche only the most stubborn or hardened players dared approach. Over the years, a variety of titles have helped the formula spread from its dark fantasy roots, offering unique fare in everything from science fiction to alternate history and even the retelling of classic folk tales. Most of the games have been from larger studios. Indie developer Freemana Game Studio has set out to make a dent in that with Codex Lost, an open-world souls-like focused on the casting of magic.

You are the Curator, an avian mage tasked with recovering the magical grimoires to save the world. Along the way, you’ll have to venture across a vast landscape and defeat horrors of all kinds. Steel yourself, take up your tome, and let’s go.

There have been plenty of games in the genre that allow spellcasting, sure. Codex Lost aims to distinguish itself by making the game’s entire combat system focused on it, though. The game boasts 80 spells across eight schools of magic. From basic melee-adjacent spells to devastating elemental powerhouses, you’ll have to choose how to approach each situation in an attempt to recover the grimoires and save the world.

All the basic pieces I would expect from a souls-like are here. There’s a huge, intricately designed world for you to journey through. Every twist and turn houses some kind of horror intent on ending your existence. They even leave the story kind of enigmatic and slow to discover as you encounter different NPCs and take on various bosses. You can even upgrade your staves and use the arcana you gain from defeating foes to make yourself stronger.

Any fan of the genre would see all the pieces in place. That in itself is an impressive achievement for a smaller studio to assemble. Souls games are typically known for pixel-perfect invincibility frames and smooth, responsive combat. Unfortunately, it feels like some of the cracks start to show when you spend more time with the game.

The best way I can describe the combat is “janky.” In my experience, Codex Lost is missing the polish needed to place it on par with its contemporaries. I often found parry timing to be finicky or the game would downright ignore my block input. Taking hits from enemies lacks the audiovisual feedback I’ve come to expect, often leading to my failure to realize I’ve taken an unexpected hit. This led to my death more times than I care to count. I often had to be overzealous with blocking to stand a chance in boss fights. There were situations where I was able to accidentally cheese a boss here or there, too. It all just lacked the fine shine I’ve come to expect from titles in this space. On top of that, while I know the genre encourages exploration, there were times I spent hours wandering without being able to figure out where I needed to go. There were a couple of icons here and there that vaguely suggested I was on the right path but it never really felt like I was locked in. It was frustrating.

I don’t want to just bag on the game. I think Codex Lost does some neat things that feel fresh. The idea of a spellcasting-only souls-like was appealing to me as someone who normally runs sword-and-board on souls-likes. The way elemental magic was so central had Codex Lost almost feeling like the game was a fusion of Demon’s Souls and Quest 64. I enjoyed checking out the new spells. The characters you’ll encounter feel fairly personable too. I also love the world’s setup: the concept of a Curator working to return these powerful tomes and your own power growing with knowledge felt enticing in its own unique way.

From an audiovisual standpoint, Codex Lost doesn’t do anything particularly special. The animation looks smooth and the spell effects are neat, but a lot of the textures and environments feel a couple generations old at this point. The sound design was passable but didn’t do anything to really wow me.

Ultimately, I think Codex Lost is a mediocre souls-like with some neat concepts and a lot of room to grow. As a debut title for the studio, it almost feels like they’ve bitten off more than they can chew. Part of that encourages me, though. If they were willing to take on such a massive project for their first, this studio has a lot of promise for the future. That said, unless you just want to dive into something completely new from a small studio, Codex Lost is a little harder to recommend, particularly when it was released the same year and in a similar price bracket as Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. There are things here to enjoy but your patience will be required to get there. Then again, we’re used to that as souls-like fans.

Review copy provided by Jandusoft