Of all the emotions you could possibly feel, there aren’t a whole lot worse than loneliness. Feeling like you’ve got nobody in your corner while going through life is just miserable, so holding onto those loved ones and making more close connections is crucial if you want to thrive in life. The reason we’re talking about the concept of loneliness in a video game preview today is because of The Lonesome Guild, which is a game in which the main antagonist is loneliness.
Our hero in this battle for happiness is Ghost, who is, well… a ghost. The game opens with the story of a comet falling towards the fantasy land of Etere, and this comet is battling those feelings of being alone. That’s because the comet is Ghost, but with no memories of the prior interstellar journey this spectral fella arrives on the planet rather confused. Fortunately a rabbit inventor called Davinci is on hand to befriend our protagonist, and take them on an adventure.
There’s trouble brewing on Etere, where deep in the forest a sinister red mist is spreading and causing havoc. This mist is the physical manifestation of loneliness, and if you get caught up in it you get hit with a whole heap of negative emotions. Determined to figure out why this is happening the duo head off to talk to the wisest animal in the land, and on the way meet some friends and start a guild. Even after only playing a couple of hours of The Lonesome Guild it was obvious that the narrative would play a huge part in this action RPG, which I really appreciated.
Between narrative and friendly chats with potential new friends though you will need to fight enemies. Battles in the early portion of the game I played were really satisfying, and mainly involved a whole lot of melee attacks and dodge rolls. You control your party by merging your ghostly form with them (which just involves a press of the D-Pad) and then hitting that attack button when needed. As you attack you’ll also build up a special attack meter, which is the perfect way to deal a nice chunk of damage to an enemy and hopefully dispatch it. Both the ranged bow shot of Mr Fox and the massive hammer of Davinci put in work against the animal foes standing in my way, so swapping between the two was a must.
Another reason to switch between the characters is that you can pump them up when you possess them with Ghost, and this buffs your damage output massively if you swap to them as a prompt pops up. Doing this also boosts your ghost meter at the bottom of the screen, which when full allows you to do a massive attack that damages everyone a ludicrous amount. This was how I was able to take down a massive mech boss, which was the perfect test of my fighting skills.
Outside of battle the environments I explored in this preview build had a fair few branching paths, which was a little concerning as there’s no map button. At campsites (which double as safe healing spaces) you will find maps you can look at, but you don’t take these with you and have to try and remember the layout as you venture forth. It’s an interesting decision which not everyone will appreciate, but at least in the early hours I didn’t get lost.
Despite only playing a few hours of The Lonesome Guild, I got to see a lot of how levelling up works. Your party members get experience for beating baddies like any other RPG, but to use the skill points they provide to unlock buffs and abilities on the skill tree you’ll need to make sure you’re good enough friends with them. You’ll earn relationship points with each character by chatting to them around the campfire and choosing conversation options that please them, which is just a great way of combining the friendship theme with the combat.
After a couple of hours with The Lonesome Guild, I’m incredibly keen to play more. The story despite its heartwarming side had some powerful moments, and how it bleeds into the combat and leveling up is so clever. Battles are a lot of fun too, thanks to the fast pace and constant encouragement to switch characters. The Lonesome Guild really could be the total package, and I’m ready to make more friends when it releases in full.
The Lonesome Guild is coming soon to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
