Set in a gothic fantasy world, players control Soren, a knight who has been resurrected by Death himself to fight the evil Immortals and destroy the source of their power, restoring balance to the land. That sounds… a little familiar.

Death’s Gambit thrusts its influences in your face immediately with a character select screen straight out of Dark Souls itself. It doesn’t stop there though – combat is similarly challenging, with players needing to keep one eye on their stamina bar while the other pays careful attention to enemy attack patterns. Two weapons can be equipped at any one time, along with various pieces of armour, and there are tons of weirdly-names items to find whose uses become clear when reading their descriptions on the inventory screen. Individual stats can be levelled up when resting at shrines (bonfires) by spending shards (souls) which are used as both currency and experience points. Unlike Dark Souls though, shards aren’t dropped on death – instead, players lose their supply of healing “Phoenix plumes” (Estus flasks), which can be reclaimed by revisiting the scene of death.

The main difference is of course the shift from 3D to 2D, but Death’s Gambit throws in a couple of other ideas such as the inclusion of “talent points” which unlock additional skills, and hidden “boss journals” that give the player an advantage in battles with the relevant Immortal.

Controls take a bit of getting used to (the decision to use Square and R2 as attack buttons is a little odd), but everything is nicely responsive and works pretty well when you get the hang of it. Navigating the world might be problematic for some – the game often hints at visiting specific areas, potentially leading players past various essential paths which could lead to being severely underpowered at certain points. This will be nothing new to Dark Souls veterans, but it’s something for newcomers to bear in mind.

The recent popularity of Metroidvania/Soulslike games has seen several extremely high quality titles such as Dead Cells and Hollow Knight, and while Death’s Gambit looks and sounds great, it might be a little too derivative. It doesn’t quite reach the heights of some of its contemporaries, but it’s still a solid enough attempt.

DEATH’S GAMBIT / DEVELOPER: WHITE RABBIT / PUBLISHER: ADULT SWIM GAMES / PLATFORM: PC, PLAYSTATION 4 (REVIEWED) / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW