Lifespace Traveler Review

Lifespace Traveler is a soulslike game developed by Dino Trnka, a solo developer. Initially announced on the 11th of December 2022, this game claims to be an action-packed adventure with easy-to-understand combat yet brutal challenges that won’t hold your hand. Will it leave more than a bloody smear?

In this cyberpunk dystopia (because when is it not?) you play as an amnesiac who must travel to different alternate-reality dimensions called Lifespaces to… okay, I have no idea. The story is kind of out of the way and it's up to you to seek it out by interacting with NPCs scattered throughout the map. This is fine as you can either dive deep into the lore and learn why you're running around with a katana stabbing people, or completely disregard that and kill without a care, but it can get a little boring having to talk to NPCs multiple times to get all the dialogue before moving on. The story isn’t bad, but there are definitely better ways to tell it.

The graphics are fine, with nice lighting reflecting on the puddles and the sun shining over the horizon. However, it does kinda seem a little… generic? I've played a few cyberpunk games this year and they all have the basics of neon, rain, and dirty streets to run through, and while it isn't necessarily a gripe, it does blend a little amongst them all in my mind even though they have vastly different gameplay. Still, I liked it. The different Lifespaces you go through have unique designs and challenges to conquer as you explore and fight through them. The environmental puzzles are a nice change of pace from combat encounters.

But enough about the fluff, we're here for gameplay. The game controls fairly well on a gamepad, and it feels natural to move around and engage in combat even without needing a tutorial to tell me what the controls were, which is something of a blessing and a curse. You'll need to learn fast as Lifespace Traveler doesn't really hold your hand all that much. Your attacks and dodge cost stamina, basic enemies can easily end you if you aren’t careful, and healing in the middle of a fight will just kill you faster. Even the world itself is actively hostile with lasers and gun turrets to watch out for, and that’s nothing to say about the bosses you'll encounter, who can either be tests of your combat prowess, a puzzle to solve, or is a literal Bullet Hell depending on the phase. It's not soul-crushingly difficult – there are plenty of checkpoints – but it will keep you on your toes throughout your playthrough. Expect to die a lot. However, it sometimes doesn’t feel fair, with some enemy types stunlocking you to death.

I have to give special mention to the music. While synthwave is not my preferred genre, I liked the tunes that play over fights, taking notable inspiration from Hotline Miami and Furi. They fit the atmosphere, and they definitely had me pumped during boss fights. If you wanna listen to it on your own time, all the tracks are officially available on YouTube, or you can buy the album.

Onto technical performance. I had no real problems with the game, encountering major glitches or performance drops. I don’t have the best computer, but it ran well at 60 FPS on Medium settings.

Overall, I have nothing else to say about Lifespace Traveler other than it’s good. If you want a game with easy-to-understand combat that will give you a challenge, Lifespace Traveler is definitely recommended, especially at the price it currently has. Not quite for the faint of heart, but it’s one of the few soulslike games I’ve played that doesn’t make me angry or frustrated, but ready and willing to face new challenges, katana in hand.