I remember when roguelikes were first getting popular, they were a bit of a… dense genre of game. Lotta rules and mechanics coupled with a lot of grinding; it was a bit of an intimidating prospect. Things are much clearer nowadays, especially in games like Soulstone Survivors, but if you still find the prospect intimidating, there is a risk-free way to get your feet wet. Here’s a guide for Soulstone Survivors: Prologue.
Soulstone Survivors: Prologue Guide
Soulstone Survivors: Prologue is a free, standalone version of Soulstone Survivors that gives you a taste of the full game. While it’s not as fleshed out as the whole enchilada, Prologue features a great vertical slice of the primary gameplay loop, not to mention a surprisingly big list of things to unlock for a free game.
To help you adjust to this new game, let’s cover a few basic help topics:
- The Basic Gameplay Loop
- Upgrades and Unlocks
- Available Content
The Basic Gameplay Loop
Soulstone Survivors is similar to Vampire Survivors, placing you in an enclosed combat arena and pitting you against waves of baddies. Your character has a basic ability they can use, as well as a hotbar under their health bar that contains other weapons and abilities.
Related: Full Vampire Survivors Evolution Chart – All Evolutions in Vampire Survivors, Explained
As you defeat enemies, you’ll obtain XP Crystals, as well as Soulstones and Materials, which we’ll get to later. Whenever you obtain a certain number of XP Crystals, you’ll level up and get to choose one of a handful of possible upgrades or abilities. Besides enemies, you can also hunt down large crystals scattered around the map to harvest Materials from them.
The only real goal is to survive as long as possible, dealing with any boss enemies as they appear. Outlast the opposition and upgrade your abilities!
Upgrades and Unlocks
On your main menu, you can utilize any Soulstones and Materials you obtained in-game to upgrade your characters and equipment.
Every character has their own Skill Tree, containing a variety of stat upgrades and bonuses. To unlock and upgrade the nodes on the Skill Tree, you’ll need to spend Minor Soulstones, which you get one of for every regular enemy you defeat.
If you visit the Blacksmith, you can use the various Materials you found to upgrade your characters’ baseline combat abilities and armor to buff their stats.
Available Content
Since it’s a free game, Soulstone Survivors: Prologue only features a small chunk of the content that’d be present in the full game. Specifically, you get access to three playable characters and three maps.
The playable characters are:
- Barbarian
- Pyromancer
- Hound Master
The available maps are:
- Scorching Valley
- Caves of Dhal Zhog
- Whispering Grove
The Barbarian is unlocked by default, but you’ll need to spend Minor Soulstones to unlock the Pyromancer and Hound Master. All three maps are immediately accessible.
That’s pretty much all you need to know about Soulstone Survivors: Prologue. Give the free version an honest try, and if you like what you see, don’t forget to check out the full game!
