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Forums - Sony - PlayStation Nation |OT| Playing Astro Bot on the Horizon Until Dawn

GymratAmarillo on 01 September 2025
twintail said:
GymratAmarillo said:

I wasn't expecting Lost Soul to sell millions but the poor embrace from the chinese market after all the exposure the game had in China for years tells a lot. It's starting to make sense why they didn't pay any marketing in this side of the world lol.

Personally I'm still interested but I don't have money right now lol, I'll get it later so I'm not going to watch gameplays nor read reviews.

it's released at least 5 years too late. Nevertheless, it's good the director and his team got the game out finally. I hope for good things with their next work. 

Yeah pretty much, all the mysticism of "look at this game in development by one person" was lost when that one person got a team lol. I admire the commitment of chinese people to the games made in China but can't blame them for losing interest after 10 years and tbh I can't be disappointed because the developers were learning and developing at the same time and Sony backing small projects is something I want so Lost Soul bombed successfully lol.



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Otter on 01 September 2025
Kyuu said:

A shame Lost Soul Aside bombed. Out of all the anticipated Chinese/Korean games, it was one of the least impressive to me. The story direction seemed cringe, graphics weird, some animations goofy af, but the worst part to me was the particle effects abundance lol, I'm shocked they didn't dial that down..

I really wanted it to be good, and hope some fans are enjoying the game for what it is. But I don't think the studio is going to survive this...

The real big Chinese single player game to look for is Phantom Blade Zero. I have some gripes with it, but its potential is huge. Expecting high 80's score and 10 million+ sales.

What numbers are we referencing?

Even though this went from a single developer game to a whole team, I think our expectations should still be that it is a relatively low budget project. If it manages to do 1m I'd imagine that'd be a success. 

I'd be wary of using recent mega success' like Wu Kong to extrapolate on what success means from China Hero Project. Even Stella Blade was a much bigger success than internally forecast. These games overperformed and it could be that Lost Soul Aside sits closer to expectations of an indie slasher game dressed as a AAA




PotentHerbs on 01 September 2025

Lost Souls Aside being bomba of the year is the reality of game development.

Not everything Sony develops/publishes is going to be a smash hit or critical darling. Whether it be a single player game or a multiplayer game. But I'm glad Sony is taking these sort of risks if it means the China Hero Project gets off the ground running. I feel the same about their live service failures that lead to a few quality franchises like Helldivers 2 and Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls.

Last edited by PotentHerbs - on 01 September 2025

BasilZero on 01 September 2025
Kyuu said:

A shame Lost Soul Aside bombed. Out of all the anticipated Chinese/Korean games, it was one of the least impressive to me. The story direction seemed cringe, graphics weird, some animations goofy af, but the worst part to me was the particle effects abundance lol, I'm shocked they didn't dial that down..

I really wanted it to be good, and hope some fans are enjoying the game for what it is. But I don't think the studio is going to survive this...

The real big Chinese single player game to look for is Phantom Blade Zero. I have some gripes with it, but its potential is huge. Expecting high 80's score and 10 million+ sales.

Did it bomb? 

Shame though. 

Animation did seem rough at least from the footage I've seen someone play.



Leynos on 01 September 2025
Still say anything can change, but 12 hours in LSA. I see a game with good combat. I mentioned how the levels are designed, mostly fairly linear, so it's not elaborate in any way. Had some minor puzzles or platforming sections. One wide open area. The music has been great. The bosses are varied enough, and they are frequent. I think the game is a little stiffer in the early hours as you don't have your proper weapons or skill tree yet. I take into account the troubled development. Basically, 30 people made this. Sony charged a AAA price for an AA game. In that way, it's kinda like Grasshopper games. It is an ARPG but really light on the RPG side. At least it's not advertising itself as a big RPG like FF16 (and FF16 falls flat in that regard), without finishing it. My mind could change from a bullshit section or boss. I have had a couple of areas that were a bit annoying. So far, maintaining my 7.5/10. This is a game for combat fans but not for people looking for an in-depth story. I played worse stories in better games.
This might be a personal taste thing, but if I were to say a flaw with this game. It's a bit dry. No wit. No dialogue that interesting. While Arena and Kaser work somewhat well together. No one else really stands out as a character. Not saying it needs to be zaney, but a little more character would have helped
Even Kaser is a cliché stoic anime trope.
Last edited by Leynos - on 01 September 2025

Bite my shiny metal cockpit!

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twintail on 01 September 2025
Leynos said:
Still say anything can change, but 12 hours in LSA. I see a game with good combat. I mentioned how the levels are designed, mostly fairly linear, so it's not elaborate in any way. Had some minor puzzles or platforming sections. One wide open area. The music has been great. The bosses are varied enough, and they are frequent. I think the game is a little stiffer in the early hours as you don't have your proper weapons or skill tree yet. I take into account the troubled development. Basically, 30 people made this. Sony charged a AAA price for an AA game. In that way, it's kinda like Grasshopper games. It is an ARPG but really light on the RPG side. At least it's not advertising itself as a big RPG like FF16 (and FF16 falls flat in that regard), without finishing it. My mind could change from a bullshit section or boss. I have had a couple of areas that were a bit annoying. So far, maintaining my 7.5/10. This is a game for combat fans but not for people looking for an in-depth story. I played worse stories in better games.
This might be a personal taste thing, but if I were to say a flaw with this game. It's a bit dry. No wit. No dialogue that interesting. While Arena and Kaser work somewhat well together. No one else really stands out as a character. Not saying it needs to be zaney, but a little more character would have helped
Even Kaser is a cliché stoic anime trope.

7.5 is good. I'll def look into it when it's perhaps cheaper and had a few patches out. I have no issue with Sony charging full price for this because I think it's been in development for a long time, and I don't think they want their China Hero Project titles to appear not AAA. 

How's the Accessibility options? Are there any?



twintail on 01 September 2025

Can I just say, that Sony potentially having only this 007 SOP for September, a month where they always have standard SOPs, is incredible.

Mad men... that's what they are.

Or they have another SOP end of the month. Then even madder men? lol



Leynos on 01 September 2025
twintail said:
Leynos said:
Still say anything can change, but 12 hours in LSA. I see a game with good combat. I mentioned how the levels are designed, mostly fairly linear, so it's not elaborate in any way. Had some minor puzzles or platforming sections. One wide open area. The music has been great. The bosses are varied enough, and they are frequent. I think the game is a little stiffer in the early hours as you don't have your proper weapons or skill tree yet. I take into account the troubled development. Basically, 30 people made this. Sony charged a AAA price for an AA game. In that way, it's kinda like Grasshopper games. It is an ARPG but really light on the RPG side. At least it's not advertising itself as a big RPG like FF16 (and FF16 falls flat in that regard), without finishing it. My mind could change from a bullshit section or boss. I have had a couple of areas that were a bit annoying. So far, maintaining my 7.5/10. This is a game for combat fans but not for people looking for an in-depth story. I played worse stories in better games.
This might be a personal taste thing, but if I were to say a flaw with this game. It's a bit dry. No wit. No dialogue that interesting. While Arena and Kaser work somewhat well together. No one else really stands out as a character. Not saying it needs to be zaney, but a little more character would have helped
Even Kaser is a cliché stoic anime trope.

7.5 is good. I'll def look into it when it's perhaps cheaper and had a few patches out. I have no issue with Sony charging full price for this because I think it's been in development for a long time, and I don't think they want their China Hero Project titles to appear not AAA. 

How's the Accessibility options? Are there any?

Sadly, I don't see any accessibility options, so for some, that can be a mark against it.



Bite my shiny metal cockpit!

GymratAmarillo on 02 September 2025
twintail said:

Can I just say, that Sony potentially having only this 007 SOP for September, a month where they always have standard SOPs, is incredible.

Mad men... that's what they are.

Or they have another SOP end of the month. Then even madder men? lol

Likely the second. Ghost of Tsushima and TLOU 2 had focused SOP with around 10 days of difference. Howards Legacy one week after a state of play and FFR2 one week after a state of play. Why they decided to do it now when the game will release next year, that's what I don't get but it's still a long way before the game awards so let's see what happens. 



GymratAmarillo on 02 September 2025
PotentHerbs said:

Lost Souls Aside being bomba of the year is the reality of game development.

Not everything Sony develops/publishes is going to be a smash hit or critical darling. Whether it be a single player game or a multiplayer game. But I'm glad Sony is taking these sort of risks if it means the China Hero Project gets off the ground running. I feel the same about their live service failures that lead to a few quality franchises like Helldivers 2 and Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls.

China Hero is already a success, the whole point back in 2016 was to for a relationship with the chinese market and industry and these days that's already a reality. Obviously getting a hit would be a great bonus but that will come with time. The third generation looks very promising but still no games have been announced to be under the PS publishing label other than Convallaria from the second gen. 

The best part of all of this is that LSA doesn't affect PS at all. XDEV weren't involved and the money wasn't taken from PS Studios, even better the money used for the project doesn't come from SIE alone, Epic and other companies are partners of the project so the good ol "They could have used that time/money/developers to make ..." doesn't apply here. 

I'm looking forward for Lokko from the India Hero project, it looks super raw and it isn't under the PS publishing but I like the idea of Sony investing in platformers. It was part of their booth at BitSummit this year.