AI LIMIT Review
Everyone Has a Limit
AI LIMIT, the latest release to come out of PlayStation’s China Hero Project designed to foster game development in China, has stiff competition. Soulslikes have been growing in both popularity and quality over time, and games like Lies of P prove that the genre doesn’t solely belong to FromSoftware. AI LIMIT doesn’t quite reach the same heights as its inspirations and is held back by some notable technical issues. However, some small but key innovations in the combat system and an enthralling setting more than make up for the game’s shortcomings to make the game an enjoyable and worthwhile experience overall.
AI LIMIT is set in and around the city of Havenswell, the last bastion of humanity after the planet has been devastated by multiple disasters that occurred well before the events of the game. A mysterious substance called “Mud” has also appeared, which, while corrosive to the environment is also able to be harnessed as a source of nutrients for humans. However, players will quickly discover that Mud has utility that goes far beyond nutrition.
Players control Arissa, a girl whose origins are completely unknown to the player and herself. It is quickly revealed that she is a “Blader,” a group of artificial lifeforms with incredibly mysterious origins. Bladers are able to use Mud to activate special abilities known as spells, and travel between “Branches,” which are AI LIMIT’s rest spots. A projection of a woman named Asteria, who claims to be her creator, compels Arissa to find and repair Branches, explaining they are the key to their world’s salvation. With no other directions or purpose, Arissa ventures forth and goes deeper and deeper into Havenswell, encountering several other characters and learning the truth about both her origins and the world.
AI LIMIT has a beautiful art style that manages to be both colorful and bleak.
AI LIMIT has an incredibly compelling narrative that is somewhat undermined by its presentation. The voice acting is awkward with a few exceptions and the scant few cutscenes have incredibly stiff animation. While often an issue with the Soulslike genre is that the most interesting narrative events happen before the game starts, AI LIMIT solves a lot of the detachment by focusing on the development of its protagonist. Though Arissa is a flat, expressionless character at first, having a predetermined personality with full voice acting and motivations allows her to develop relationships with the various characters she will meet throughout the game, which in turn causes many of the more climactic fights to feel much more personal than the simple “overcome this obstacle” encounter that most bosses in the genre become.
Combat in AI LIMIT will be familiar to those who have played any game in the genre. Light and heavy attacks, an emphasis on dodging enemy attacks and punishing them in return, and limited healing are all present. This game employs a system where the player has two dodges, a quick step when locked on to enemies and a more traditional dodge roll when not locked on. The most interesting change AI LIMIT makes to the core combat system is the lack of a stamina bar, replacing it with the Sync Rate gauge. Arrisa’s Sync Rate increases as she lands attacks and decreases each time she takes damage. The higher the Sync Rate, the more damage her attacks will deal. The gauge restarts at 100% every time Arissa dies, but if it reaches 0% she is left wide open and takes increased damage. In addition to affecting damage dealt, Sync Rate can be consumed to utilize either a weapon’s special attack or a spell that can be separately equipped, though the player must be over 50% Sync Rate to activate these abilities or Arissa will fail and be locked in an animation that can be easily punished by their opponent.
Combat has a fun pace that is amplified by the Sync Rate gauge.
The especially fun thing about the Sync Rate gauge is that Lost Bladers, Bladers who have gone insane for one reason and who Arrisa must face off against, all have their own Sync Rate gauges that act exactly like the Arissa’s, including decreasing when they miss a special attack. Using this game’s parry, the “Counter Field”, greatly decreases the enemy’s Sync Rate as well, allowing for some encounters to transform into a fun back-and-forth where the player is constantly looking for ways to decrease their opponent’s Sync Rate while maintaining Arissa’s. Despite this, most other major enemies and bosses in AI LIMIT feel like little more than souped-up regular enemies, especially towards the early game. This wouldn’t normally be a major problem, but this has the knock-on effect of some late-game standard enemies feeling too spongy and some early-game bosses feeling weak. This is compounded by the lack of a stamina meter. In most Soulslikes, the stamina meter acts as a way to deter players from spamming attacks and dodges. Not so in AI LIMIT, where the player can attack and dodge as much as their heart desires. This, combined with many of the the bosses’ propensity for staggering after taking a few hits, means the player is encouraged to attack as frequently as possible. While this makes combat feel less passive, it can make the various larger, non-human bosses boil down to the exact same strategy. Thankfully, there are plenty of bosses that avoid these issues, and they shine quite brightly in their utilization of the game’s mechanics and their spectacle.
In addition to the combat system, AI LIMIT features similar level design and structure to other Soulslikes, down to the regrettably clunky platforming, tight corridors, surprise enemies, myriad shortcuts, and other staples of the genre. AI LIMIT does a wonderful job of making its world feel connected through the level design, as several areas will lead to one another in ways the player wouldn’t expect while still making sense logically. However, the presentation and the art direction are a bit at odds. Often, the art direction is stellar, with beautiful environments that feel distinct while also cohesive, and the game’s anime-inspired aesthetic allows for the combat animations to feel appropriately over the top. Unfortunately, other animations, especially ones found in cutscenes, are often stiff and fail to portray the emotion of the moment. The music stands out as well, providing eeriness to many of the early areas while adding a touch of finality and climax to bosses and later areas. It’s a shame, then, that the voice acting often fails to impress, with awkward delivery and voiced lines that don’t match the subtitles.
Players will find themselves at branches after dying, or after the game crashes.
Unfortunately, technical issues hamper this game from greatness. The game is prone to outright crashing in the PS5 version. Worse is the instances where it sometimes locks itself in a loading screen, forcing the player to close the game altogether and restart. Finally, there was one particularly funny moment during the review playthrough where the Arissa loaded into an out-of-bounds area and began falling to her death, only to respawn out of bounds again and again. Thankfully the problem was fixed by closing and restarting the game. Mercifully, thanks to the auto-save function, these issues only caused an insignificant amount of lost progress. However, these events occurred frequently enough that they became annoying in their own right.
On the whole, AI LIMIT hits the target it aims for. It is a solid, if somewhat thin, Soulslike with a pleasing anime aesthetic. The combat is fun with a few decent innovations, the narrative is compelling, and the presentation manages to toe the line of being unique while also feeling familiar to its contemporaries. Unfortunately, a few missteps in the enemy design, voice acting, and technical departments hold it back from true greatness. Those that don’t enjoy the genre are unlikely to find that AI LIMIT solves any problem they might have, but those that do will find a fun addition to their collection.
Disclosure: This review is based on a free copy of the game provided by the publisher.
Beautiful art direction
Amazing narrative and world building
Solid combat
Frequent technical issues
Some lacking enemy and boss designs
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