Age hasn’t been kind to Soulbringer and today it looks extremely dated. However, even at the time of release, Soulbringer was at best mediocre in the graphics department.
The characters, while animated using motion capture, are crudely modelled and polygons are constantly clippling. Textures are bland and the end result is that characters look really poorly rendered, especially when viewed close up.
The sound is adequate and functional, but voice acting sounds out of place in the game. While it has been done to a decent standard, the language and tone doesn’t really marry into a fantasy setting.
As you might expect from a game released in 2000, Soulbringer’s system requirements are hardly taxing. All that is required to play Soulbringer is a PC with the following specs:
Pentium 233,
32MB Ram,
8MB 3D Accelerator,
400MB HDD,
8x CD-ROM
Soulbringer could have been good, but there are too many flaws in its makeup to make it a Diablo-beater. While it has an engrossing storyline, there is a real need to make sure you read through the books and scrolls you find to ensure you know what is going on, otherwise the game begins to get confusing; Soulbringer isn’t really a game you can just pick up and play as a result.
The game is overly linear and there is no chance to do your own thing. Even though Diablo had a linear plot, you could still pick and choose which quests to do and when you did them. That isn’t the case with Soulbringer and there are no side-quests to perform either – each quest is necessary to drive the plot forward.
The game’s graphics and sound are poor and haven’t aged at all well, and combined with the poor character interface serve only to compromise what could have been a decent, if unoriginal RPG. The ‘fog of war’ issue is particularly irritating and the lack of a proper map is unforgiveable.
That said, the game itself is huge and will provide gamers with many hours of gameplay, which unlike many other RPGs – and games in other genres – can stretch into days, if not weeks of play. Soulbringer’s unique combat and magic systems are interesting and perform relatively well in the game, but sadly these factors are not enough to save Soulbringer from being anything other than a distinctly average RPG and it is hard to recommend Soulbringer in the face of other RPG titles released around the same time.