Month: March 2010

Soulcaster has really exceeded my expectations in critical reception.

“This is an absolutely amazing little action / strategy game that isn’t easy to categorize. It combines the best elements of Shining Force / Final Fantasy Tactics with dungeon crawling and tower defense games, and it all comes together with great results.”

– Curious Soft/XBLARatings.com

“Soulcaster was a pleasant surprise: a mash up of an 8-bit RPG and Tower Defence, thereby ticking virtually all of the right boxes for anyone who’s ever ordered pizza for a night in with their Nintendo controller…”

– xnPlay – The Juice Report

“… excellent …”

– Tycho/Penny Arcade

“Everything from the level design, item names, graphics, sound, gameplay, and little in-jokes, Soulcaster harkens back to the day of retro-RPGS and is a great buy for anyone with the points.” (8.5/10)

– Trace Aber/411Games

“Another one I checked out was Soulcaster, which I loved. … The music’s really great.”

– Signed In Podcast

“I’ve never seen anything like this … definitely, definitely worth your time. Very different.”

– NooBTooB Podcast

Huge thanks to all the critics who took the time to play through and review the game.

OK so this game has gotten much more attention than I ever imagined. There’s not much more I can say right now so I’ll just put up some pull quotes.

“I got to say I really enjoyed this one and if you are looking for a top-down action adventure role playing game with a retro look and feel it would be difficult for me to not recommend Soulcaster.”

– Two Fedoras

“I highly recommend action and strategy fans alike to check out Soulcaster, there’s good a reason why it has already shot up into the top 20 rated Xbox indie games.”

– GayGamer.net

“The soundtrack for the game is as amazing as it is fitting and makes me hope this guy is successful just so I can hear more songs by him in his games. The shopkeeper’s song is the most epic 8-bit metal song EVER and yes, I’m kinda serious about that.”

– Digital Quarters

“Soulcaster is completely playable, incredibly polished, nostalgically retro, and insidiously addictive.”

– XboxHornet

“Well worth the money.”

– Zeboyd

“With a shop to upgrade, multiple paths through each stage, and a ‘hardcore’ mode, this is pretty much the best Tower Defense game on XBLIG OR on XBLA, rivaling even Defense Grid for sheer amazingness.”

– WDesm on xblaratings.comm

And for the ultimate press any developer could ever hope for, still leaving me in a state of shock:

“I caught a trailer for an Xblig called “Soulcaster” that took me a while to parse, but it’s out already, so discerning the truth of it is a straightforward matter. It’s lovely. It plays for all the world like a combination of Bomberman and Tower Defense, and I hadn’t considered it previously, but them’s two things what might benefit from juxtoposin’.”

– Tycho on Penny Arcade