Garden Souls preview: a fast 2D action roguelite with combo-based combat

Garden Souls enters a busy action-roguelite market with one clear goal: make every fight feel good in your hands. That sounds obvious, but plenty of games in this genre lean heavily on upgrades, damage percentages and passive effects while leaving the actual combat fairly basic. Garden Souls looks ready to push in the other direction. Builds still matter, of course, but the game also expects you to move well, react quickly and understand how attacks connect. Developed by Statera Studio and published by Nuntius Games and Vsoo Games, this upcoming PC game combines side-scrolling action, procedural stages and character-based combat. There’s no confirmed release date yet, but the current development preview gives us a solid idea of what the team wants to achieve.

Combat sits at the centre

The fighting system is the main attraction. Players can dash, double jump and wall jump, then use those movement options to reposition or keep a combo going. Ground attacks can lead into aerial strikes. Dashes, jumps and spells can cancel certain moves. Enemies can be launched, knocked into walls and held in the air if you time things properly. It sounds closer to an arcade brawler than a typical roguelite.

That distinction matters. In many action roguelites, your build does most of the heavy lifting. Find the right bonuses, stack enough effects and watch the numbers climb. Garden Souls still uses upgrades, but it appears to ask more from the player. A strong build won’t automatically save poor timing or sloppy movement. That could make each run more satisfying. You’re not only waiting for better loot. You’re learning.

Four characters bring different play styles

Garden Souls features four playable Garden Princesses, and each one uses a separate combat style. Rose focuses on speed, mobility and quick combo routes. She looks built for players who enjoy staying close to enemies and moving constantly. Eris uses precision, pogo-style attacks and tighter space control, which may suit players who prefer more deliberate positioning.

Solaris relies on projectiles and battlefield control. She seems designed to keep enemies at a distance while shaping where they can safely move. Yuni takes the opposite approach with slower, heavier attacks that should reward patience and good timing. These characters don’t look like simple reskins.

Each one has unique attacks, abilities, animations and combo options. That gives the game a better chance of staying fresh across repeated runs. Switching characters should change how you approach encounters, not just which damage number appears on screen.

The key question is balance. Fast characters often feel easier at first because they can recover quickly from mistakes, while slower fighters need stronger feedback and carefully designed enemy patterns. Garden Souls will need to make all four choices feel equally viable without making them feel identical.

Builds should change how you play

During a run, players can unlock extra strikes and combine them with six elemental forces. Spells can reshape a build, while artefacts add further bonuses and effects. There are also Bombogs, small companions that attack automatically, and Strikers, summoned allies that can extend a combo or interrupt an enemy at the right moment. This could give the build system real depth.

The most interesting upgrades in a roguelite don’t simply raise damage by five per cent. They change your decisions. A new strike might open a different combo route. An elemental effect might push you toward crowd control instead of raw damage. A well-timed summon could create an opening that your character couldn’t produce alone.

That’s where Garden Souls has potential. Its upgrades appear connected to the combat system rather than placed on top of it. You may still chase powerful combinations, but you’ll also need to use them properly.

Procedural stages shape each run

The broader structure follows familiar roguelite rules. Players move through procedurally generated areas filled with regular enemies, minibosses and larger boss encounters. Between battles, they can choose abilities, visit shops and discover special events. After a failed attempt, they return to a central hub and unlock permanent improvements. Nothing here sounds revolutionary. It doesn’t need to.

The bigger challenge lies in the stage design. Fast movement only works when arenas support it. Players need space to dash, jump and launch enemies without losing track of incoming attacks. Platforms, walls and hazards must add tactical options rather than getting in the way.

Enemy groups will matter just as much. The game needs opponents that encourage different responses, especially when four characters and a wide range of builds are involved. If every room becomes a simple damage race, the deeper combo system won’t have room to shine.

Visual clarity may decide the outcome

Garden Souls uses a colourful 2D style with large characters, detailed animation and busy combat effects. It looks lively. It could also become hard to read.

Combo-heavy action games need clear hit reactions, obvious enemy tells and effects that don’t hide important movement. Add elemental powers, companions, summoned allies and several enemies at once, and the screen can get crowded fast. The developers will need to control that chaos. Players should always understand why they took damage and where the next threat is coming from.

On the technical side, the listed PC requirements look modest. The current minimum specification includes Windows 10, an Intel Core i3-class processor, 6 GB of RAM, DirectX 11 support and entry-level graphics hardware. The storage requirement currently sits at 500 MB, though that figure may change before release.

Garden Souls has a clear direction

Garden Souls isn’t trying to rebuild the roguelite genre from scratch. It uses procedural runs, shops, permanent upgrades and escalating battles. We’ve seen those systems before. The combat may give it an edge. Cancels, wall interactions, aerial attacks and character-specific move sets suggest a game where execution matters just as much as the upgrades you find. That’s a strong foundation, especially for players who want more control over how a run succeeds or fails.

There are still open questions. We don’t yet know how varied the stages will feel, how many bosses the final game will include or whether its progression can hold attention over dozens of attempts. Still, the development preview shows focus. Garden Souls knows what kind of game it wants to be: a fast 2D action roguelite where smart builds help, but skill finishes the job.