An hour is hardly enough time to get a feel for any RPG, let alone a Souls-like game. How could you predict what Elden Ring is like if you only made it as far as the first lush forest before the demo ended? You can’t. All you can do is finish the game in anticipation of what’s to come.
So that was my experience with AI Limit. The developers showed me the first hour of gameplay. This was basically a primer and I was promised something. Thankfully, it was a very strong promise. Will AI Limit redefine the genre and rival Elden Ring? Probably not, but as a first effort from a gritty newbie developer tackling a very difficult genre, I was relieved on the developer’s behalf that the tutorial left such a strong impression.
The main takeaway from my first hour of play is that AI Limit was made by dedicated students of the genre. Mechanically it’s very safe, with very little effort put into offering the player anything new. The only meaningful difference I noticed is the “sync rate” mechanic, which is awesome. It accumulates as you deal damage to enemies. As it accumulates, it actually makes your weapon attacks do more damage and also charges up special abilities like The Boys’ railgun laser shots of pure energy. Its attacks are brutally effective, but it does have a drawback: when the energy meter depletes, weapon damage is reduced again until the meter refills again.
Also, because enemy attacks drain your energy, AI Limit quickly adopts a rhythm of risk and reward, constantly analyzing the best time to unleash your most powerful weapon. Get the timing wrong and you’ll be busy recovering. Without AI Limit, some fights are harder than they should be. We hope that deeper into the game, especially in boss battles, this system will really test your sense of timing and confidence.
Another big difference between AI Limit and other Souls-like games is the aesthetic. AI Limit is anime. Not Stellar Blade-style anime (though it does seem to share a similar interest in handing out alternate costumes quickly). The game doesn’t seem interested in fan service at all; rather, it’s more like a sexless NieR: Automata. In this game, you play as a very cool girl with a cool attitude, roaming a wasteland-like post-apocalyptic world with a very subtle beauty. With a very appealing aesthetic and setting, I’m still not particularly convinced about the main character, but I would like to see more of the world to get a better understanding of the context.
Many questions remain about AI Limit. Will the difficulty be engaging and well-scaled? Balancing difficulty is a very tricky thing. Will the bosses have enough combat variety that each one is a highlight? Will the game be rich enough in story and setting to forgive the general lack of ambition in its mechanics? An hour is not enough time for a game like this, but it intrigues me.
