The Last Soldier of the Ming Dynasty Review

The Last Soldier of the Ming Dynastyis the most recent game from 2P Games, and boy, howdy is there a fair amount to say. For those who don’t know, the game is essentially soulslike with a fair amount of inspiration coming from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Now, I should state that I am by no means a master of the soulslike genre, so this review is coming from a relative noob. 

If you haven’t played a soulslike, then you may not know what to expect. Essentially, the style involves crushing difficulty, knowing how to evade or block attacks, and managing stamina. For a game of this type to work, it needs to do a few things. For starters, the combat needs to be fluid! Additionally, the difficulty needs to feel fair while still feeling challenged, and this is the point where many games fail. So, the question is, does The Last Soldier of the Ming Dynasty have what it takes to roll to victory?

One of the interesting design aspects of the DARK SOULS games is their lore and story. While the games seem initially empty, there is a lot for the dedicated player to discover. The Last Soldier of the Ming Dynasty takes more from Sekiro, in that it has an obvious plot. You play as a Qi army soldier, who has been tasked with fighting back the Japanese pirate raids in the Ming Dynasty. Sadly, it doesn’t go well from the start as you are caught in a shipwreck that kills all your soldiers and leaves you wounded and in the care of a small village. You will need to clear out the five pirate leaders of Fuling Island by yourself. It’s a simple enough plot, but there is plenty here to get started with and the simple goal of fighting each of the five warlords gives a great starting point for the game to build from.

When it comes to gameplay, there are two modes: either keyboard and mouse or controller. I will tell you know: go with a controller; it is really the only way to play. I initially tried to play with the keyboard and mouse, but the control mapping was just bad. 

Combat in The Last Soldier of the Ming Dynasty is based around three attacks: sweep, stab, and cleave. You can mix and match them to form combos but the main way to hurt most enemies is to break their stamina. You see, each mini-boss and boss has a stamina and health bar, and so do you. You can hit them, but the damage is minimal. Instead, you’ll need to dodge their attacks by selecting the same attack they are attempting the moment before you are hit. If it is done correctly, you will be able to parry and counterattack, thus lowering their stamina. It’s an interesting system that works most of the time, but there are some issues. 

Firstly, the enemies’ attacks track you to such a degree that dodging is just too difficult, plus blocking attacks will still lose your health even if you have full stamina. This means your only option is to always hit the right key to parry. This would be fine, but the problem is that the attacks in the later game become more guesswork than anything else. Thankfully, the timing to parry is pretty lenient and thus it becomes less stressful than it could be.

Your soldier has access to swords, spears, bows, and muskets, as well as several special moves. The special moves are simple enough, but they vary highly in usability, so it doesn’t feel like there’s a lot of room for building your own character and playstyle. Fortunately, the weapons do have some variety and it's easy to switch between the selected sword or spear. It becomes a game in itself to figure out what the ideal weapon is versus which enemy. There is some variety in enemies, but the non-boss enemies require a completely different method of play and don’t really bother with the parry system at all. As such, they often feel more like padding, and I kind of feel as though the game could have done without them and just focused on more mini-bosses and the like. 

Visually, the game has a style all its own, with the developers citing that the design is inspired by traditional Chinese ink and wash paintings. There are splashes of colour in the attacks, and the use of black in like movements helps to make the game’s movement feel stylish and fluid. Unfortunately, the character models suffer a bit due to the design as they all seem off in their builds with big bodies and tiny legs. I don’t know if this is in the traditional style, but when you start playing it feels off. Meanwhile, the music does its job, but I won’t be buying the soundtrack anytime soon.

The Last Soldier of the Ming Dynasty might not be perfect, and the developer’s relative inexperience is apparent. However, what they have done is commendable and there is plenty of room for the game to improve and grow. While there are some issues with the controls, and the translations need serious work (half of the menu isn’t translated at all), this one is worth a look if you haven’t had your DARK SOULS fix in a while.