ZHUST- THE ILLUSION SOUL will most appeal to fans of the Devil May Cry / Chaos Legion / El Shaddai games as its enemy, world, and character designs resemble some of the gothic influence of those games, while depicting a strange, dream-like, sci-fi realm unique to itself. This game is VERY rough around the edges, however. From its graphics to its animations to the layout of the worlds, the game isn't the "best-looking" but it all works together into a cohesive whole which fits the game's unique identity.
I personally really like the graphical style, its somewhat sketchy feeling figures have a unique aesthetic. The character faces up close, however, appear for lack of a better word "ugly" at times, especially when they inexplicably seem to contort their face or wink with one eye for no reason. It's unfortunate that some of the animations (most notably your character's running) look a bit wonky. (the developer addressed this in an earlier patch to make it appear less so, but when moving from left to right while running straight ahead your character still kind of jumps from facing forward to facing a 45 degree angle kind of abruptly) the character's default jump animation looks pretty bad as well, but once you unlock the double jump it appears to be more natural.
In combat the game moves smoothly, and the actions you input are pulled off reliably. The game features logical controller support (on Xbox One USB) which makes using your abilities, such as pulling enemies toward you (or yourself toward enemies ala DMC) fluid as you rack up combos similar to DMC's "style" system. You are rewarded with a currency in the game to purchase a variety of upgrades from better combos to a double jump to items to assist you as you navigate the areas.
The levels seem varied and the story is well-presented, including full cutscenes with a variety of characters and frequent, large boss fights that shake up the action.
The level design, while looking quite nice and colorful at certain moments can look pretty bad in others. A pet peeve of mine in games is when there are invisible walls restricting your movement through an area and this game has many of those in its city sections, you just "cant go that way" a lot of the time and while there is some exploration and hidden areas to discover, other areas are simply cordoned off and unexplorable due to these invisible walls, which is unfortunate and breaks some of your immersion in the interesting world being presented.
Despite this game's low price, quite a bit of content is present including the broad storyline, numerous levels, player upgrades, and enemy variety. While at times the game can look a bit "cheap", it's obvious the developer(s) want their product to be received well and are very receptive to feedback and addressing bug issues encountered with the game.
This game was a nice surprise to find! Its world and design are unique, which make its shortcomings in other areas (animation / some low-budget looking sections) less noticable. I would recommend looking up some raw gameplay footage to get a better idea of how it looks in motion (and to perhaps temper your expectations a bit) before pulling the trigger, but I'm glad I did and I hope this game can find its audience.
