Skelethrone: The Chronicles of Ericona Review – It’s basically 2D Dark Souls, just a bit rough around the edges

Soulslikes have become an immensely popular genre, with many a developer trying their hand at crafting their version of what From Software began more than a decade ago. We’ve seen creators put their own spin on the genre in various ways, but what if I told you there was a game that sort of just... paid homage to the original Dark Souls in a very obvious way? Well, Skelethrone: The Chronicles of Ericona is more or less that game, and genuinely the easiest way I can describe it is to say that it’s essentially 2D Dark Souls – just a bit more rough around the edges. Indeed, there is a lot to like about solo developer 70`Strike’s project, from its art direction to its basic gameplay loop and challenging boss fights, although it also comes with its host of pesky issues.

Familiar territory

So, you’re an immortal skeleton warrior who wakes up in a hostile fantasy land filled with all sorts of ungodly abominations. You have a limited amount of healing items that can be replenished every time you rest at bonfires. You collect the essence of your slain foes, but if you die, you lose them all, and have to venture back to your corpse to regain them. Can you tell where I’m going with this? Of course you can. Skelethrone doesn’t try to hide its very obvious inspirations, and you know what? That’s totally okay. In fact, it’s one of the game’s biggest strengths: its wonderfully dreary and oppressive atmosphere, along with its variety of Souls-inspired locations designed to turn your life into a living hell make for a fairly authentic experience, one that will no doubt remind prospective players of their first venture into the Fromverse. It certainly gave me a few, uh... very pleasant flashbacks. Much like in Dark Souls, there’s a decent amount of variety between zones, and they each come with their own gimmicks and challenges, almost like an obstacle course – you’ll find swampy areas with giant mushrooms and jumping puzzles, a castle filled with a constant barrage of traps, and even an area deep underground that’s shrouded entirely in darkness, making navigation that much more difficult. To cut a long story short, the point I’m making here is that Skelethrone’s atmosphere and occasionally sadistic level design drew me in effortlessly, and I soon found myself spending hours upon hours just playing it without really taking much of a break. Some of the areas are hauntingly beautiful, and the melancholy soundtrack only adds to the game’s constant feeling of hopelessness.

Just one more attempt

Combat in Skelethrone is most certainly meant to be punishing, requiring a careful, methodical approach even during encounters with regular enemies, to say nothing of bosses. Gear can be found in a variety of types, allowing for a handful of different play styles – whether you’re into daggers, short swords, bows or massive two-handed weapons, you’ll find something to suit your tastes. Your character can then be further customized with the game’s upgrade system, allowing you to invest knowledge points in passive abilities and status upgrades like more health, more ammo for ranged weapons, or being able to wield two-handed weapons with a reduced stamina cost, just to name a few. I will say, though, that while I personally wasn’t all that bothered by this, the game really could’ve used a greater and more varied selection of these passive upgrades.

As for the overall level of difficulty, it felt just right: it can get absolutely infuriating and seem impossibly daunting at times, but so did the original Dark Souls. And yet, the more you play, the more you’ll recognize the patterns and learn the tricks necessary to defeat a given boss, even if it takes over a dozen attempts and several one-sided shouting matches with your monitor. If you’re looking for a game that will have you clutching your gamepad in a sweaty gamer grip as you tackle the same annoying boss for the millionth time, telling yourself that this attempt will surely be the one, well... in that case, you’re in the right place. I mean, back when I played the original Dark Souls for the first time more than a decade ago, some of the early bosses and locations nearly made me quit the game – and Skelethrone, like a morbid time machine of sorts, took me back to those days with relative ease. It is, however, also notably more lenient than From Software’s games, as the introduction of soft checkpoints (lanterns) in addition to regular bonfires makes progress significantly smoother. Dying and being resurrected at a checkpoint lantern not only refills your healing items, but it also doesn’t trigger the respawning of already defeated enemies like a normal bonfire would, which is pretty nice.

The cracks begin to show

That said, there are some issues. Most notably, the game’s controls can sometimes leave a lot to be desired, and don’t quite feel as responsive as they should be. Hitboxes in particular can feel a little off, and you’ll most likely encounter situations where you end up getting hit by an attack that you really should’ve dodged, or miss a swing that should’ve probably hit the enemy. There is some noticeable clunkiness, basically, and it’s certainly cost me a few boss fights here and there. The game’s art style, while generally enjoyable for the most part, can also be a source of frustration at times – on several occasions, I got hit by something simply because it blended into the background, or got stuck because I failed to notice an overly inconspicuous ladder. At times, there’s simply too much clutter on screen, and you find yourself getting lost in a mish-mash of poorly placed background/foreground elements.

Additionally, the narrative is by far Skelethrone’s weakest aspect: not only is it kind of incoherent and difficult to follow, the game’s subpar and often anachronistic writing also clashes with the dark and grim mood radiated by the setting, making it nigh-impossible to get invested in the characters or the story. I often had no idea what my goals were, what I was fighting for, or if I’m even supposed to recognize the dozen different characters being casually name-dropped by NPCs.

Another thing that really stuck out to me was a specific part during the storyline where the protagonist gets teleported to an otherworldly arena and forced to compete in several matches before being allowed to leave. In practice, this means having to fight 7 or 8 bosses, one after the other. The game’s metroidvania-style exploration takes a complete backseat here, and instead you’re expected to just... fight half a dozen bosses in a series of Mortal Kombat-esque matches while being stuck in a fixed location with nowhere else to go. It was just... utterly bizarre, and completely killed the otherwise fairly balanced flow of the game up to that point. I genuinely have no idea why this segment was included in the game, because all it did was hurt the overall experience – maybe the developer wanted to include several more bosses in the game but couldn’t figure out how to incorporate them into the main campaign, so instead they got dumped into this glorified filler episode? Who knows.

The final verdict

Skelethrone: The Chronicles of EriconaPlatform: WindowsGenre: Action, RPGDeveloper: 70`StrikePublisher: Valkyrie InitiativeRelease: 08/07/2023Either way, despite a variety of issues and design decisions that left a bad taste in my mouth, Skelethrone still manages to provide a generally positive experience that channels the spirit of classic Soulslikes with an admirable amount of success. Its world is grim, merciless and filled with a satisfying repertoire of challenges, both in terms of boss fights and level design – from its approach to combat to the usage of bonfires and soul currency, everything feels heavily inspired by the original Dark Souls. That said, the combat system and overall controls can be a little clunky at times with some rather questionable hitboxes, and the narrative/writing quality is extremely lackluster to the point of making me wish the game didn’t have any dialogue at all. Yet even with these issues, Skelethrone is, at the end of the day, a decently enjoyable dark fantasy romp that successfully emulates the style of the many influential titles that came before it. I have no trouble recommending it, provided you can tolerate its shortcomings.